Samuel Swaim Stewart

Samuel Swaim Stewart (January 8, 1855—April 6, 1898), also known as S. S. Stewart, was an American musician, composer, publisher, and manufacturer of banjos. He also published the S. S. Stewart Banjo and Guitar Journal from 1882 to 1902. He is known today for his efforts to remake the banjo into an instrument of cultural sophistication and for his high-quality banjos. For Stewart, that sophistication included learning to properly sight-read music, so as to be able to play the "proper repertoire" for middle-class citizens.

Childhood

Stewart's father was a physician and "medical director" for Swaim's Panacea, a patent medicine. His family was well off and pushed Stewart toward a music career. He began training on the violin when he was 12 under Professor Carl Gaertner.

Stewart was inspired to play the banjo by hearing banjoist Lew Simmons play at a concert, when Stewart was a boy. With his earlier training toward a classical-violin career, he didn't need much musical instruction; he became a good enough player, that after "several lessons, " he himself began teaching others to play. Initially, he taught what was standard for banjo performing repertoire, organizing a minstrel show. Then he took a step away from the minstrel music that was the popular music of its day, embracing European music and society culture and envisioning the banjo in that setting. Using his S.S. Stewart's Banjo and Guitar Journal he promoted performances and recitals.

As he began selling his banjos and publishing, Stewart began competing to with his former teacher George Dobson, who had come out with a simplified way of teaching people to play. He felt students should learn to read sheet music from the beginning so that they could progress into more complex and satisfying songs. The silver folded over a wire on top of the wooden rim, and the silver and wire were sandwiched between the wood rim and the skin. Stewart felt that the silver-and-wood combination would produce the best tone, a combination of the silver ring of metal with pure tones from wood.

His company became a major manufacturer, competing with Lyon and Healy, A. C. Fairbanks and William A. Cole. These men and their companies were producing some of the highest quality banjos of the Classic Era (1880s-1910s).

Stewart and his company were part of a larger movement to create the banjo into an instrument of concert halls. Others participating in this movement included Fred Van Eps, Vess Ossman, Frederick J. Bacon, Alfred A. Farland and George W. Gregory. These players were to take on European works by Beethoven, Paganini and Mendelssohn.

Gallery

Swain versus Swaim

His full name has been written as: S. S. Stewart Samuel Swaim Stewart Swain Stewart Swaim Stewart S. Swaim Stewart.

Swain appears on his obituary, on 8 April 1898 in the Philadelphia Times on city directories from his lifetime (including 1879, 1880, 1889, ), 1890, 1895 ), his church admission record in 1868, the 1870 U.S. census and US Patent number US355896A.