Beating Straws; also called Beating the Straws, Fiddlesticks, and when done with a banjo, Banjo Sticks. I don't know how common it was "back in the day",probably not very, but I have seen in increase in it's use recently (maybe because I have been looking for it.) It's pretty simple to describe...a fiddler plays the fiddle, while another person (often, his wife, apparently) drums on the strings over the fingerboard with some sort of light sticks, using them as drumsticks. It makes a very distinctive sound...adds some rhythm, as well as more droning. The sound is similar to that of a hammered dulcimer.
I got together with a friend, yesterday, to jam together. He is a drummer, and usually plays a djembe, and we have had a lot of fun playing banjo and drum together in the past, but yesterday I really wanted to try something different, a little more traditional (if unusual). Banjo Sticks! He took to it quickly. We didn't have much time, what with shoveling snow from a late winter storm, but here is our quick effort with "Sandy Boys". It's addictively fun. I often caught myself thinking, "hey, I didn't play that note! Oh yeah....)