Alfred A. Farland

Alfred Adolphus Farland Sr. (April 10, 1864 – May 5, 1954) was a Canadian-American banjoist, playing in the classic banjo style for more than 40 years. He played the banjo wearing a tuxedo, bringing an air of sophistication to the instrument, when the 19th-century image for a banjo player tended toward the comic, the racist and the crude. He had a reputation for entertaining "cultivated audiences" with banjo adaptations of European classical music. Farland's adaptations included Bach violin sonatas, Beethoven violin sonatas, a Mendelssohn violin sonata, Brahms dances, and some of Chopin's nocturnes and waltzes. His performances of this kind of music on the banjo were seen in 1900 as successfully "stretching the limits of the instrument."

Farland based his performances initially out of Pittsburgh, but later moved to New York, in order to be closer to potential students during his off season. He wrote a banjo method and composed music for students to practice.

Farland was also an inventor and designed his own line of banjos with wooden rims. He held patents for banjo-related inventions, including an all-metal banjo head and an adapter to produce harp-like tones from a banjo.