| Mandolin |
|
This page is generously sponsored by:
Virtual Sheet Music ® Sheet Music Plus Barnes & Noble Musician's Friend Woodwind & Brasswind Alibris Music123 Nordberg's eBay Store |
||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||
|
Unless otherwise stated, the content at Musica Viva is copyright © 1999-2010 Frank Nordberg. Some of the content, contributed by other persons or organisations, are copyright by the respective contributor(s) and reproduced with permission.
Permission is granted for personal, non-commercial use to all visitors of the site. This permission does not include any form of mass distribution. |
||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||
Diminutive form of mandola.
The term mandolin today is generally associated with the four-course, fifths tuned variants, but it's really a generic name for all small plucked stringed instruments of the mandola family.
Instrument history
Small mandolas may have existed as early as the 14th Century, but the word "mandolino" isn't known until the end of the 17th Century, It was first referred to in print by Tommaso Motta in his 1681 collection of two part music Armonia Capricciosa. At about he same time Antonio Stradivarius is known to have built instruments called mandolinos. Both those cases probably refer to the Lombardic mandolin.Even as early as 1700 there were a number of Italian variants of the mandolin, most significantly the Cremonese mandolin (the first known mandolin to use the fifths tuning common today) and the Genovese mandolin (the first metal-strung mandolin).
The first of the modern mandolins, the Neapolitan mandolin appeared around 1750.
In 19th Century musical tastes changed radically and the Lombardic mandolin construction evolved into the louder sounding Milanese mandolin while the Neapolitan was refined into the Roman mandolin.
During the second half of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th Century a number of variants of both the Neopolitan and the French mandolin also evolved, including the Portuguese mandolin, the smaller piccolo mandolin and pocket mandolin, the guitar-shaped mandolinetto, the harp mandolin and the lyre mandolin with their extended bodies and the twelve-stringed mandriola.
The most important new mandolin variant of that time was the archtop mandolin developed in the USA during the 1890s.
Later in the 20th Century further evolution and more inventions resulted in the resonator mandolin, the electric mandolin, the travelling mandolin, the Celtic mandolin and the ten-string mandolin.
Instruments family tree
Technical data
| No. of strings | 8 (in 4 courses) String/course configuration (top course first):
|
| Scale length | 320 - 365 mm |
| Frets | Fixed chromatic |
| Body shape | Lute or pear |
Tunings
| Name | Pitches | Comments | String gauges | Links |
Modal | ||||
| Modal D | One octave above the first four strings of a modal tuned guitar. | |||
Other instruments | ||||
| French cittern | Like the Italian cittern tuning, but with the fourth strings tuned one note lower. |
| ||
Fifths and fourths | ||||
| AD | ||||
Open chords | ||||
| Open A | The strings are tuned to a A major chord. | |||
Other instruments | ||||
| Renaissance guitar | One fourth above the first four strings of a guitar. This was the most common tuning for the early (16th century) guitar, usually with one of the g strings tuned one octave up and only a single a string. | |||
Fifths and fourths | ||||
| AE | Tune the third and fourth string pair one note up. | |||
Modal | ||||
| Modal A | A fourth above the first four strings of a modal tuned guitar. | |||
Fourths | ||||
| DGCF | First string may be a bit high, but worth trying. |
| ||
Other instruments | ||||
| Octave guitar | One octave above the first four strings of a guitar. |
| ||
Open chords | ||||
| Open D | The strings are tuned to a D major chord. | |||
Special | ||||
| Split A/F# | One - and only one - of the strings of the A course is tuned down to F#. | |||
Other instruments | ||||
| Plectrum banjo | It is a bit low for the mandolin, but it works. | |||
Fifths and fourths | ||||
| GD | Tune the first two string pairs one note down. | |||
Modal | ||||
| Dropped D | Standard tuning with the first string dropped one note - or Irish bouzouki G tuning one octave up. This may be the most common alternative tuning for the mandolin. | |||
Fifths | ||||
| Mandola | A fifth below standard tuning. You can tune and play a mandolin like an alto mandola, although not all instruments will sound good that way. | |||
Modal | ||||
| Modal E | You can actually get this tuning without retuning the mandolin. Just put a Shrubb partial capo on the second fret across the lowest three string pairs only. | |||
Fifths and fourths | ||||
| GC | ||||
Other instruments | ||||
| Italian cittern | The 16th century cittern is probably the direct ancient ancestor of the modern flat top mandolin. The tunings used on it works well on a modern instrument too. The cittern actually used three g strings with the middle one tuned one octave up. |
| ||
Fifths | ||||
| Low | A whole note lower than standard tuning. Can be useful if you prefer a slightly mellower tone to your instrument. | |||
Other instruments | ||||
| Ukulele | With a high fourth string pair that is (one note below the first string). This is the most common tuning for the soprano ukulele and it works well on a mandolin too. In Hawaii it used to be quite common to tune and play the mandolin like an ukulele. See also "Slack key" ukulele tuning | |||
Open chords | ||||
| Open C | Also known as "Slack key" ukulele tuning. This is a common tuning for the soprano ukulele and also work well on the mandolin. | |||
Other instruments | ||||
| Alto guitar | Same as the ukulele tuning but with a low fourth string. This is the same as the first four strings on a guitar one fifth up. | |||
Fourths | ||||
| C#F#BE | ||||
Other instruments | ||||
| Alto plectrum banjo | Plectrum banjo tuning one fourth up. | |||
Open chords | ||||
| Split open D | This is an interesting variant where the two strings of the outer string pairs are tuned to different pitches. Apparently Bill Monroe used this tuning occasionally. | |||
Special | ||||
| Split D/B | One - and only one - of the strings of the D course is tuned down to B. | |||
| Dead man's tuning | Tune the first string pair down to D and the fourth way down to D. Then you thrash out the tune on the middle strings and let them d strings ring as drones. Very effective. I use this tuning in a very different manner for playing Norwegian langeleik music, picking the tune on the first string (occasionally down onto the second) and using the others for drones. This approach would probably work well for other kinds of drone based music too, such as dulcimer and bagpipe tunes. | |||
Open chords | ||||
| Open G | The strings are tuned to a G major chord. | |||
Standard | ||||
| Standard | This is the one most mandolin players stick to. It dates back at least to the 18th century and is identical to the standard violin tuning, making it easy to play violin/fiddle music. | |||
Fifths | ||||
| Alto | A fourth lower than standard tuning. You probably need a mandolin with a relatively long scale for this to work. I use this tuning for Irish music to get an tenor mandola feel, playing the tune one octave down. | |||
Fourths | ||||
| BEAD | ||||
Open chords | ||||
| Open E | The strings are tuned to a E major chord. | |||
Special | ||||
| Split Dead man's tuning | Like Dead man's tuning, but with the string of the fourth string pairs in different pitches, one down to D and the other up to A, creating an even fuller drone sound. | |||
Links
Internal links
Links to relevant pages at Musica VivaExtrenal links
References
- Tomaso Motta: Armonia Capricciosa (Francesco Vigone, 1681)
|
