The mandola (US and Canada) or tenor mandola (Ireland and UK) is a fretted, stringed

musical instrument A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make Music, musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person ...

. It is to the

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

what the

viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

is to the

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

: the four double courses of strings tuned in fifths to the same pitches as the viola ( C₃-G₃-D₄-A₄), a fifth lower than a mandolin. The mandola, though now rarer, is an ancestor of the mandolin. (The word ''mandolin'' means ''little mandola''.)

Overview

The name ''mandola'' may originate with the ancient

pandura The pandura (, ''pandoura'') or pandore, an ancient Greek string instrument, belonged in the broad class of the lute and guitar instruments. Akkadian Empire, Akkadians played similar instruments from the 3rd millennium BC. Ancient Greece, Ancien ...

, and is also rendered as mandora, the change perhaps having been due to approximation to the Italian word for "almond". The instrument developed from the

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck (music), neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lu ...

at an early date, being more compact and cheaper to build, but the sequence of development and nomenclature in different regions is now hard to discover. Historically related instruments include the

mandore Mandore is a suburb and historical town located 9 km north of Jodhpur city in the Jodhpur district of the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan. History Mandore is an ancient town, and was the seat of the Gurjar Pratiharas of Mandavy ...

, mandole, vandola (Joan Carles Amat, 1596), bandola, bandora, bandurina, pandurina and – in 16th-century

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

– the quinterne or chiterna. Mandola Marino

However, significantly different instruments have at times and places taken on the same or similar names, and the "true" mandola has been strung in several different ways. The mandola has four double courses of metal strings, tuned in

unison Unison (stylised as UNISON) is a Great Britain, British trade union. Along with Unite the Union, Unite, Unison is one of the two largest trade unions in the United Kingdom, with over 1.2 million members who work predominantly in public servic ...

. The scale length is typically around 42 cm (16.5 inches). The mandola is typically played with a plectrum (pick). The double strings accommodate a sustaining technique called tremolando, a rapid alternation of the plectrum on a single course of strings. The mandola is commonly used in

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

—particularly

Italian folk music Italian folk music reflects a long and diverse history. Italian unification, National unification occurred relatively late on the Italian peninsula, allowing its many hundreds of regional cultures to retain distinct musical traditions. Italy’s ...

. It is sometimes played in Irish traditional music, but the instruments octave mandolin, Irish bouzouki and modern cittern are more commonly used. Some Irish traditional musicians, following the example of Andy Irvine, restring the tenor mandola with lighter,

strings and tune it F-C-G-C (two semi-tones lower than G-D-A-D, since the mandola's fretboard is two frets longer than the mandolin's), while others (Brian McDonagh of Dervish being the best known) use alternate tunings such as D-A-E-A. Like the

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

, the mandola can be acoustic or electric. Attila the Stockbroker, punk poet and frontman of Barnstormer, uses an electric mandola as his main instrument, and Lief Sørbye of the band Tempest play an electric, double-neck mandola/mandolin. Alex Lifeson, guitarist of Rush, has also featured the mandola in his work. Mandolas are sometimes played in mandolin orchestras, along with other members of the mandolin family: mandolin, mandocello and mandobass. Sometimes the octave mandolin (also referred to as an octave mandola) is included as well.About Us
The Mandolin Society of Peterborough

Bibliography

* — A comprehensive chord dictionary. * — A comprehensive chord dictionary. * — A chord book featuring 20 pages of popular chords.

References

External links

The Mandolin Page
(Mandolins and Mandolas)
theMandolinTuner
a mandolin site focusing on mandolin tuning, chords and tabs {{Authority control Mandolin family instruments Necked bowl lutes

Overview

See also

Bibliography

References

External links