Cornman, De Russy play banjo; Students pick up new instruments

    Senior Zachary Cornman has been playing the banjo for two years. “I’ve always liked older country music, then it slowly turned into country bluegrass, and then listening to more bluegrass and already playing the guitar.”

     “I was interested in learning another string instrument, so I picked the banjo and started practicing it,” Zachary Cornman, senior, says. “I got it for Christmas when I was sixteen.”

     There are six strings on the guitar. The banjo–unlike the guitar–has five strings. “There are four strings at the top and the fifth one you only play with your right hand,” Cornman explains. “If you want to be good at it you have to practice every day.” When he is not trying to learn a song, he plays three to four times a week so he does not lose his skill. When he is interested in learning a song, he practices every day “for about a half-hour.” 

     Cornman likes to play different instruments for different songs. “I can play a variety of different songs,” he starts. “If I want to play bluegrass, it sounds better on my banjo than playing it on my guitar. You can do more. But if I want to play rock or older country, I [use] my guitar.”

     The banjo is “difficult,” Cornman says. “You have to do a lot with both hands. Guitar is difficult playing with your left hand, and [for the] banjo, it’s equally difficult with your right hand because of different picking motions. I am ambidextrous so it is not that hard for me.”

     Junior Peter De Russy has been playing the banjo for about six months. He says he enjoys playing it more than the guitar. It has “more of a bluegrass feel. There’s a lot more of a specific type of music to play with the banjo,” he says.

     He practices about twice a week so he does not forget how to play.

     “Your right hand, if you’re using it to play with the strings, you have to use that to do the different strumming patterns,” De Russy explains. “The [left] hand you have to use to move up and down the neck.”

     He compares it to guitar but says that it’s different. “Different strings, different instruments, different feel,” he says.