Bluegrass music facts for kids
Bluegrass music is a special kind of American roots music. It grew from older music styles from Ireland, Scotland, and England. Bluegrass is usually played with acoustic (not electric) musical instruments. You'll rarely hear electric instruments in bluegrass.
Some common instruments you'll see are the banjo, mandolin, guitar, and bass. Sometimes, other instruments like the dobro are also used.
Many famous bluegrass artists include Bela Fleck, Tony Rice, Alison Krauss, Laurie Lewis, Sam Bush, Bill Monroe, and Earl Scruggs. There are also groups like the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) that help support this music.
Lots of festivals happen across the country where professional musicians play. Amateurs also gather to play, and workshops are often held to teach people about bluegrass.
Contents
What Makes Bluegrass Special?
Instruments Used
Unlike regular country music, bluegrass is almost always played on acoustic string instruments. The fiddle, five-string banjo, guitar, mandolin, and upright bass are very common. Sometimes, you'll also hear a resonator guitar (also called a Dobro), a harmonica, or a Jew's harp. These instruments were first used in old country dance bands, and they became the foundation for early bluegrass groups.
Today, the guitar is often played with a style called flatpicking. This is different from how early bluegrass guitarists like Lester Flatt played, who used thumb and finger picks. Banjo players often use a special three-finger picking style, made popular by players like Don Reno and Earl Scruggs. Fiddle players often play notes that sound good together, like in "thirds" and "fifths," which gives bluegrass its unique sound. Bass players almost always pluck the strings (`pizzicato`). Sometimes, they even slap the strings to make the beat stronger. A bluegrass bass line usually switches between the main note of a chord and another important note, sometimes adding fancy walking bass lines.
There's been some debate about which instruments are "correct." Traditional bluegrass players believe the original instruments used by Bill Monroe's band, the Blue Grass Boys (mandolin, fiddle, guitar, banjo, and bass), are the only true ones. However, some groups have added other instruments like the dobro, accordion, harmonica, piano, autoharp, drums, electric guitar, or electric versions of bluegrass instruments. This newer style is sometimes called "newgrass."
Singing Styles
Besides the instruments, a key part of bluegrass is the way people sing together. They often sing in two, three, or four parts. The highest voice sometimes has a slightly "dissonant" or "modal" sound, which is often called the "high, lonesome sound."
The way the voices are layered is called the "stack." A common stack has a baritone voice (a lower male voice) at the bottom, the lead singer (who sings the main tune) in the middle, and a tenor voice (a higher male voice) at the top. This stack can change, especially when a female singer is involved. For example, Alison Krauss and Union Station often use a different stack with a baritone and tenor, but with a high lead voice sung by Alison, an octave above the usual melody.
Song Topics
Bluegrass songs often tell stories about the everyday lives of people from the areas where the music began. Many songs are about lost loves, disagreements between people, or changes happening in their region (like the effects of mountaintop coal mining). Bluegrass vocals often talk about the tough life of living in Appalachia and other rural places where money was scarce.
Some protest songs have also been written in the bluegrass style, especially about the challenges of the Appalachian coal mining industry. Railroading has also been a popular topic, with famous songs like "Wreck of the Old 97" and "Nine Pound Hammer" (from the story of John Henry).
How Bluegrass Started
The Beginning
Bluegrass music, as its own unique style, grew from old-time music and traditional music from the Appalachian region of the United States. Many English and Ulster-Scots immigrants settled in Appalachia, bringing their music traditions with them. This is why the sounds of jigs and reels, especially played on the fiddle, were a natural part of the music as it developed. Black musicians also added parts of the blues to the mix, and very importantly, they brought the iconic banjo to the region, which helped shape the bluegrass sound.
The music we now call bluegrass was often used for rural dancing styles like buckdancing, flatfooting, or clogging. As bluegrass spread to cities, people started listening to it just for fun, especially after audio recording became popular. In 1948, bluegrass became a recognized type of music within the country/western music world after World War II. This time is often called the "golden era" of traditional bluegrass. From its earliest days, both professional and amateur musicians have recorded and performed bluegrass. While amateur players and trends like "parking-lot picking" (where musicians gather informally to play) are important, touring musicians have really guided the style. Radio stations dedicated to bluegrass have also helped the music grow into different subgenres.
Images for kids
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Ralph Stanley on April 20, 2008, in Dallas, Texas
See also
In Spanish: Bluegrass para niños
