Music is changing at a breakneck speed in today’s modern culture.
Spurred by new technology and increased access via the internet, new
genres are popping up nearly every day. EDM has influenced the popular
music sphere, rap has gone mainstream, and thumping bass seems to be
creeping its way into all sorts of music. If someone just a few decades
ago flipped through today’s radio channels, they would be utterly
confused by the futuristic qualities of the music. However, if a denizen
of perhaps the 1940’s or 50’s flipped to a modern alternative channel,
they would recognize something very familiar: the loud twang of a banjo.
To understand the banjo, we must first look at its history. It
started as an African folk instrument fashioned out of a hollow gourd
and sticks. Slaves brought the instrument over to the America’s where it
slowly evolved. These slaves taught their masters to play the banjo and
soon the instrument caught on in the popular culture of the South. In
the mid-19th century, minstrels brought banjo music on the vaudeville
circuit, exposing it to the nation. Many Dixieland Jazz bands featured
the banjo in their arrangements at the turn of the 20th century,
furthering its exposure as the Jazz became a wild hit nationwide.
