Editing Banjo (section)

===Classic era, 1880s–1910s===
[[File:Carnival of Venice, composed by Julius Benedict, arranged for banjo and played by Alfred A. Farland.flac|thumb|[[Carnival of Venice (song)|Carnival of Venice]], variations on the folk song composed by Julius Benedict, arranged for banjo and played on banjo by [[Alfred A. Farland]]. This song is an example of Farland's use of bare fingers to produce [[tremolo]] to get long notes from the instrument (much as the cornet or violin can naturally play.)]]
The term ''classic banjo'' is used today to talk about a bare-finger "guitar style" that was widely in use among banjo players of the late 19th to early 20th century.<ref name=banjoent1>{{cite book |last=Schreyer |first=Lowell H. |date=2007 |title=The Banjo Entertainers |location= Mankato, Minnesota|publisher=Minnesota Heritage Publishing |page=232 }}</ref> It is still used by banjoists today. The term also differentiates that style of playing from the fingerpicking bluegrass banjo styles, such as the [[Scruggs style]] and [[Keith style]].<ref name=banjoent1/>

The ''Briggs Banjo Method'', considered to be the first banjo method and which taught the ''stroke style'' of playing, also mentioned the existence of another way of playing, the ''guitar style.''<ref name=Stewart1/><ref name=banjoent3>{{cite book |last=Schreyer |first=Lowell H. |date=2007 |title=The Banjo Entertainers |location= Mankato, Minnesota|publisher=Minnesota Heritage Publishing |pages=151, 170 }}</ref> Alternatively known as "finger style", the new way of playing the banjo displaced the stroke method, until by 1870 it was the dominant style.<ref name=RTB3>{{cite book |last=Webb |first=Robert Lloyd |date=1984 |title= Ring the Banjar! The Banjo in America from Folklore to Factory |location= Anaheim Hills, California|publisher=Centerstream Publishing |page=13 }}</ref> Although mentioned by Briggs, it wasn't taught. The first banjo method to teach the technique was ''Frank B. Converse's New and Complete Method for the Banjo with or without a Master'', published in 1865.<ref name=RTB4>{{cite book |last=Webb |first=Robert Lloyd |date=1984 |title= Ring the Banjar! The Banjo in America from Folklore to Factory |location= Anaheim Hills, California|publisher=Centerstream Publishing |page=15 }}</ref><ref name=banjoent4>{{cite book |last=Schreyer |first=Lowell H. |date=2007 |title=The Banjo Entertainers |location= Mankato, Minnesota|publisher=Minnesota Heritage Publishing |page=126 }}</ref>

To play in guitar style, players use the thumb and two or three fingers on their right hand to pick the notes. [[Samuel Swaim Stewart]] summarized the style in 1888, saying,

{{blockquote|In the guitar style of Banjo-playing...the little finger of the right hand is rested upon the head near the bridge...[and] serves as a rest to the hand and a resistance to the movement of picking the strings...In the beginning it is best to acquire a knowledge of picking the strings with the use of the first and second fingers and thumb only, allowing the third finger to remain idle until the other fingers have become thoroughly accustomed to their work...the three fingers are almost invariably used in playing chords and accompaniments to songs."<ref name=Stewart1>{{cite book |last=Stewart |first=Samuel Swaim |date=1888 |title=The Banjo! A Dissertation|location= Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|publisher=S. S. Stewart |pages=43–45 }}</ref>}}

[[File:Banjo, from the Musical Instruments series (N82) for Duke brand cigarettes MET DPB883184.jpg|thumb|Banjo, from the Musical Instruments series (N82) for Duke brand cigarettes, 1888]]

The banjo, although popular, carried low-class associations from its role in [[blackface]] minstrel shows, medicine shows, tent shows, and variety shows or vaudeville.<ref name=olive1>{{cite thesis |last=Peters |first=Sean |title= An Olive Branch in Appalachia: The Integration of the Banjo into 19th Century American Folk Music |url= https://twu.edu/media/documents/history-government/An-Olive-Branch-in-Appalachia-Ibid.-Volume-7-Spring-2014.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://twu.edu/media/documents/history-government/An-Olive-Branch-in-Appalachia-Ibid.-Volume-7-Spring-2014.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|pages= 104, 105|access-date=28 March 2020|quote=In America it has always been seen as an instrument of the lower class...}}</ref> There was a push in the 19th century to bring the instrument into "respectability."<ref name=olive1/> Musicians such as [[William A. Huntley]] made an effort to "elevate" the instrument or make it more "artistic," by "bringing it to a more sophisticated level of technique and repertoire based on European standards."<ref name=banjoent11>{{cite book |last=Schreyer |first=Lowell H. |date=2007 |title=The Banjo Entertainers |location= Mankato, Minnesota|publisher=Minnesota Heritage Publishing |pages=152–153, 230 }}</ref> Huntley may have been the first white performer to successfully make the transition from performing in blackface to being himself on stage, noted by the Boston Herald in November 1884.<ref name=banjoent11/> He was supported by another former blackface performer, Samuel Swaim Stewart, in his corporate magazine that popularized highly talented professionals.<ref name=banjoent8>{{cite book |last=Schreyer |first=Lowell H. |date=2007 |title=The Banjo Entertainers |location= Mankato, Minnesota|publisher=Minnesota Heritage Publishing |pages=148–149, 169 }}</ref>

As the "raucous" imitations of plantation life decreased in minstrelsy, the banjo became more acceptable as an instrument of fashionable society, even to be accepted into women's parlors.<ref name=RTB6/><ref name=banjoent13>{{cite book |last=Schreyer |first=Lowell H. |date=2007 |title=The Banjo Entertainers |location= Mankato, Minnesota|publisher=Minnesota Heritage Publishing |pages=152, 230 }}</ref> Part of that change was a switch from the stroke style to the guitar playing style.<ref name=RTB6/><ref name=banjoent13/><ref name=RTB4/> An 1888 newspaper said, "All the maidens and a good many of the women also strum the instrument, banjo classes abound on every side and banjo recitals are among the newest diversions of fashion...Youths and elderly men too have caught the fever...the star strummers among men are in demand at the smartest parties and have the choosing of the society of the most charming girls."<ref name=banjoent9>{{cite book |last=Schreyer |first=Lowell H. |date=2007 |title=The Banjo Entertainers |location= Mankato, Minnesota|publisher=Minnesota Heritage Publishing |page=163 }}</ref>

Some of those entertainers, such as [[Alfred A. Farland]], specialized in classical music. However, musicians who wanted to entertain their audiences, and make a living, mixed it in with the popular music that audiences wanted.<ref name=banjoent10>{{cite book |last=Schreyer |first=Lowell H. |date=2007 |title=The Banjo Entertainers |location= Mankato, Minnesota|publisher=Minnesota Heritage Publishing |page=175 }}</ref> Farland's pupil [[Frederick J. Bacon]] was one of these. A former medicine show entertainer, Bacon performed classical music along with popular songs such as ''Massa's in de cold, cold ground'', a ''Medley of Scotch Airs'', a ''Medley of Southern Airs'', and Thomas Glynn’s ''West Lawn Polka''.

Banjo innovation which began in the minstrel age continued, with increased use of metal parts, exotic wood, raised metal frets and a tone-ring that improved the sound.<ref name=museumsign>{{Cite sign |title=The Classic Era |date=n.d. |type=Sign inside museum |publisher= American Banjo Museum |location=[[Oklahoma City]]}}</ref> Instruments were designed in a variety of sizes and pitch ranges, to play different parts in banjo orchestras.<ref name=museumsign/> Examples on display in the museum include [[banjorine]]s and piccolo banjos.

New styles of playing, a new look, instruments in a variety of pitch ranges to take the place of different sections in an orchestra – all helped to separate the instrument from the rough minstrel image of the previous 50–60 years.<ref name=museumsign/> The instrument was modern now, a bright new thing, with polished metal sides.<ref name=museumsign/>