The Mandolin

About

The mandolin is a small stringed chordophone instrument related to the lute. It is the soprano member of a family of instruments that include the mandola, mandocello and mandobass.

Mandolins evolved from the lute family of instruments in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Design

Being a chordophone, the construction is similar to the guitar with strings being stretched taut from the body of the instrument to the head. However, as with all soprano instruments the size of the body is a lot smaller with a correspondingly small scale length (the distance from the saddle to the nut). Thus, the range of the instrument is higher than the guitar.

There are three main families of mandolin. The Neapolitan is a round backed instrument with a flat soundboard, the carved-top (or arch-top) has a bowed back and soundboard, and finally the flat-backed mandolin has flat wooden boards for the back and soundboards, using a bracing system in a similar manner to the guitar.

As the main body of the instrument acts as an acoustic amplifier, the sound needs to escape the vibrating body. Typically two forms of holes are used, the ‘f’ hole (as seen in the above picture) and an oval or round hole directly underneath the strings.

Tuning

The strings of the mandolin are most often tuned to the notes G, D, A and E from the thickest course of strings to the thinnest. The notes are indicated on staff notation as follows:

As there are 4 courses of pairs of strings, each pair of strings are tuned to the same pitch in the same octave. This is known as ‘standard’ tuning. As with other stringed instruments alternative tunings can and are used on a regular basis.

The mandolin is tuned in perfect fifths like the Irish tenor banjo, the violin and fiddle, as opposed to the guitar which uses perfect fourths and a major third interval.

Playing

The double string courses of the mandolins construction combined with the narrow fretboard make fingerstyle playing problematic; the narrow space doesn’t allow ease of use of individual digits (especially for non-nail players) and the striking of both strings simultaneously is difficult. As a result, the mandolin is typically played with some form of plectrum.

The identical tuning allows music from the violin and fiddle to be easily translated to the instrument, albeit without some of the technical idiosyncrasies of the fretless instruments.

The body of the mandolin is small, allowing it to be held against the chest of the player whilst being played or strummed in a similar manner to the acoustic guitar.

Irish traditional players will typically use a flat backed type of mandolin with a sound hole, as their sound tends to be a compromise between the mellower tones of the round-backed and the slightly harsher tones of the f-hole type. However in traditional sessions where instrumental music is dominant, the f-hole mandolin can be used to cut through the sound of the other traditional instruments, allowing it to be heard while playing in unison with other lead instruments.

Learning Resources

In traditional circles music is mostly passed from generation to generation orally. As a result the conventions of finger labelling such as have existed for decades in guitar music tend to not be used, but can be applied in a more structured learning environment.

Formal music grade examination systems for mandolin are few and far between given it’s oral tradition and lack of popularity compared to the guitar. However, there are numerous printed resources available for those wishing to teach themselves, and the internet has many websites dedicated to the instrument and it’s music.

Rather than seeking out mandolin-specific music it can be beneficial to obtain traditional music compendiums. The great Irish harpist Turlough O’Carolan composed many traditional Irish airs and dances which are readily available in printed form, and ‘O’Neill’s 1001’ books are encyclopaedias or traditional music. Unless mandolin-specific, these music books will doubtlessly use staff notation only, making reading music a must.

In bluegrass circles many tutorials are available in printed form and will tend to use tablature in conjunction with staff notation. While this makes initial learning easier, it is beneficial to have an understanding of staff notation to make other music more accessible.

Are you interested in learning mandolin?