CBOM= Cittern/Bouzouki/Octave Mandolin

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I've gotten some feedback from folks who think the book isn't basic enough; I have tried to cover the basics of fingering and right hand issues in the text, and again through the actual transcriptions. I would suggest that you get a digital slow-down software to use with your computer- they are around $40 and are a GREAT bargain, as they allow you to slow the music down but retain the original pitch; slow down the music beyond half speed and retain audibility; loop passages (of any length) to repeat; tune the recording to your instrument if desired; play back at alternate pitch levels to change keys, etc. The one I use is The Amazing Slow Downer from Roni Music (www.ronimusic.com). You can download it for a free tryout. I have no stake in this company, and there are others. we live in interesting times!

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I have been playing my Sobell Octave Mandolin as my primary instrument in The Wayfaring Strangers. I am trying to play the instrument in a non-standard way, as some of the below sound clips will reveal.

Wayfaring Strangers This Train- Octave Mandolin solo transcription (pdf file)

Wayfaring Strangers This Train- Octave Mandolin solo .mp3

("This Train" from Rounder CD also titled "This Train".)

Wayfaring Strangers Live 12/03- No Mother nor Dad (6 minutes, large file)

We play the verses of this Bill Monroe classic in 7/4 for your dancing pleasure.

I have a regular column in Mandolin Magazine addressing the octave mandolin.

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What's all this about whatd'ya call that thing?

Great debate continues to rage over what to call each instrument. Perhaps "the fighting is so fierce because the stakes are so small" :) In the UK and Europe, the octave mandolin is often called an octave mandola, which I find quite confusing and musically incorrect, although "historically accurate". I look at it like this:

Mandolin- GDAE is standard, it can be tuned a number of other ways including GDAD, GDGD, AEAE etc. Corresponds to the violin.

Mandola- CGDA Corresponds to the viola.

Octave Mandolin- same as mandolin GDAE an octave lower. Again, many variants on the tuning. No modern bowed counterpart.

Mandocello- same as Mandola an octave lower, long scale. Corresponds to the cello.Bouzouki- longer scaled version of octave mandolin, but less frequently tuned like one- usually a "modal tuning" like ADAD. Not be be confused with Greek Bouzouki, which is DAD (older tuning) or CFAD, whole step below the top 4 strings of the guitar (contemporary tuning).

Cittern- as above (though may be short scaled) with 5 courses (sets) of strings. I recently played one tuned GDAEB with the extra high string, but most seem to be tuned with an extra low string pitched at D or C. Again, the tuning can vary wildly depending on the player's preference. Stefan Sobell appropriated this name from an olde English stringed instrument also called the cittern.

To me, "Octave Mandola" defies logic, because it is not a mandola (viola) tuning, it is not an octave below the mandola tuning (which would be mandocello), and has nothing to do with a "modern mandola". The instrument tuned an octave below the mandolin is, to me, most logically an octave mandolin. 

A viola isn't an octave below a violin. In the USA, mandolas are tuned like violas- CGDA.
I believe the naming conventions could be simplified, but the horse is out of the barn.

More at the Ceolas page.

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I got a thoughtful email from Olli Salmi:


On Mar 2, 2008, at 1:04 PM, Olli Salmi wrote:

Dear John McGann,

I'm sending you an e-mail I sent to the British BMG Federation a couple of years ago. It should explain why the instrument tuned GG - dd - aa - e'e' is called a mandola in Europe. It doesn't explain why Gibson called the alto mandola a tenor mandola.

The BGM wanted me to write it into an article without the links but since the links were the evidence I couldn't see how I could do it. I now have one printed source, "Breve Metodo facile per Mando˜la napoletana o Romana" by Pirani [Giuseppe Bellenghi (1847-1902)], who only says that the common mandola in use is the mandola in SOL because it's tuned precisely an octave below the mandolin.

I've removed dead links. The message is a bit dated in that I now have a very nice mandola made in Portugal (bandola), tuning GG - dd - aa - e'e', vibrating length of string 44 cm. I have also read Paul Sparks (Classical Mandolin), who uses the American terminology. He describes the Romantic Quartet "– two mandolins, octave mandola, and guitar" (p. 195-6) as a more sophisticated form of the mandolin and guitar duos. He explains the rise of the Classical Quartet as a solution for opening the entire string quartet repertoire for fretted instruments (p. 197). This would need the alto instrument, Gibson's mandola.

Best regards,
Olli Salmi

I'd like to comment on the page "A Systematic Approach to Names for the Instruments of the Mandolin Family".
http://www.banjomandolinguitar.co.uk/mandolin2.htm
The page unfortunately describes only the American terminology, perhaps because there's very little information in English about the classical tradition, at least online. Perhaps there's something in Sparks's books, which I haven't read.

In Italy, Germany and France, where mandolin orchestras are common and where they follow the classical tradition, the terms are different. The main difference is the mandola, which in these countries is tuned an octave lower (not a fifth) than the mandolin, as you can see from the following links (unfortunately not in English):
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandola
http://www.mandoline.de/familie/mandola.htm
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandola
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandola
http://www.duozigiottimerlante.it/orch_eng.htm (their Italian is better; note the .gif image about notation)
http://www.orchestracaputgauri.it/tessitura.htm (tuning and an image of the instruments of a classical quartet)
http://www.federmandolino.it/liuto-mandola.htm
A sound sample:
http://mandoline54.free.fr/mandolin.htm

http://www.musicaviva.com/encyclopedia/display.html?phrase=tenor-mandola
There was also an alto mandola, tuned like the viola -- which is the alto member of the violin family -- but it didn't really catch on. The music for the mandola is written an octave above the tuning so any amateur mandolinist can play it. Sometimes the more common (default) mandola is called a tenor mandola to keep it apart from the alto mandola.

This is not fully similar to the violin, viola, violoncello nomenclature:
violin -- mandolin
viola -- alto mandola
nothing -- (tenor) mandola
violoncello -- mandoloncello (NOT mandocello)

Here's an attempt to make a logical violin family.
http://www.newviolinfamily.org/8tet.html
You can see that the alto member is a fifth below and the tenor member an octave below the standard violin.
In Finland we call the viola alto violin, which is possible in Swedish (altfiol) and German (alt-Geige=Bratsche) as well. What I mean to say is that the term "tenor mandola" is not really suitable for the instrument that is tuned a fifth below the mandolin.

Mandolas seem to have a scale length around 42-46 cm (mandoloncello and liuto cantabile 63-68 cm).
http://www.mandolinen.at/mandoline.php
That's the scale for which strings are sold:
http://www.thomastik-infeld.com/guitars/levels/products/stringfamilies/out/mandola_start.htm
http://www.livesound.ru/mi/acsessories/thomastik/page05.htm

My friend in Sydney asked what the Sydney Mandolins use. Adrian Hooper replied:
"The mandola we use is 17.5" string length tuned an octave below a violin (or
mandolin). Double strings. Each the same pitch.
Sometimes this instrument is tuned like a viola, just depends on what
strings are used. We use Thomastic-Infield strings..."

I asked Carlo Mazzaccara, an Italian luthier, what scale length his mandolas have. He said the scale was 43,7 cm, unless otherwise requested.
http://www.oldmandolin.com/

Mandolas by German luthiers:
http://www.knorr-mandolinen.de/html/mandolen.html (scale 45-46 cm)
http://www.knorr-mandolinen.de/html/mandolen_e.html
He calls them Mandolas in German and octave mandolas in English. I wish there was a cheap Korean or Romanian copy of the bottom one. To my knowledge there are no classical mandolas within an amateur's price range.
Another luthier:
http://www.guriema.de/mandola80%20en.htm (scale 46 cm)
http://www.guriema.de/mandola%20en.htm

In addition to the above MusicaViva site above the only thing that I have found about European mandolas online is one sentence in the article by Robin Bullock SO JUST WHAT EXACTLY IS A CITTERN, ANYWAY?
"Gibson's terminology was only slightly confusing at the time, owing to the fact that there already was an instrument called a mandola, used in 19th-century classical mandolin ensemble music, and it was tuned GDAE, a full octave below the mandolin."
http://johndrurymusic.com/index.cfm

Perhaps Gibson wasn't acquainted with the traditional European terminology and made up his own.

It's a pity that repetitions of phrases like "usually tuned a fifth below the mandolin" will soon be the only truth when people trust what they can find on the Web in English. I just today saw the term octave mandolin in Finnish. I don't think there are any common -- or even uncommon -- sources in Finnish that describe the tuning of the classical Neapolitan mandola, so you have to trust the sources in languages you know best, and that's English these days.


Best regards,
Olli Salmi

My reply:

Thanks Olli. I've made some realizations:

1) I am not going to change by the world by insisting that anything be called anything.
2) I am not going to be another loud mouthed American telling everyone else how to think. I don't want to lose friends before I've made them! I understand that in Europe people have various ideas about what a "mandola" is.
3) I am going to live with the confusion. I can order things in my mind, and that works fine for me. In my mind, it is far more logical to call plectrum instruments by their bowed counterparts name, with "octave mandolin" being the most logical name for a mandolin tuned an octave below the mandolin, and the mandola corresponding to the viola.
4) I am a player and teacher, not a historical academic. It's been enlightening to learn that there is a history behind the names, but I still believe that a more simple and clear system would benefit all. After all, throughout history we continue to revise and refine everything from anaesthesia to electronics...

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Things to look for in selecting an instrument:

Octave mandolins come in a variety of scale length choices, usually from 20" to about 23". The Sobell is 23". The longer the scale length, the more resonant and rich the tone, all else being equal. The short scaled instruments tend to be the least expensive as well. The tradeoff is that the short scale instruments are easier on your left hand, since you don't need to stretch as far. They are probably fine to learn on, but you'll likely want to upgrade before too long. I use a combination of guitar and mandolin type fingerings and so far have felt no limitations based on scale length in GDAE tuning. I regularly play 6 fret stretches; then again, I have a pretty good wingspan...

All the usual elements of tone woods apply, I've seen tops of spruce and cedar, rosewood or maple back and sides, etc. There are many excellent instruments; some of the ones I've played and enjoyed include the Sobell (UK), Trillium (New Hampshire, USA), and Joe Foley (Dublin, Ireland). Steven Owsley Smith in New Mexico makes some very interesting looking instruments, but I've never played one (yet)...Will Kimble in Cincinnatti OH is making some great instruments, I recently played a mandocello of his, strung as an OM, and it sounded incredible...

My advice is to get as good an instrument as you can afford- they will have relatively higher resale value if you upgrade. There are at least a dozen builders in the USA and abroad who are making fine instruments. Relative to the price of a fine violin or cello, these handmade instruments are an incredible value for the money. A fine sounding/feeling/looking instrument will make you want to pick it up and play it!

Feeling augmented w/ Sobell OM, Somerville Theater 2003

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For internet Octave Mando and Bouzouki info, try:

cittern@yahoogroups.com (signup at www.groups.yahoo.com)

Mandolincafé has a CBOM forum "Message Board"

Hans Speek's Bouzouki and Irish Music site

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What I Love About the Octave Mandolin:

1. I can "think like a mandolin player" but play in the range of the guitar.

2. Works well with others- the instrument is capable of playing just about any style of music, from Celtic styles to bluegrass, jazz, rock and roll, classical, folk...what else is there, in Western music?

3. Great conversation starter, as people always ask "what is that thing?"

4. Johnny Cunningham once called it "A Mandolin Before Taxes".

5. The slighty nasal, honking quality makes it a natural instrument for Gypsy Jazz as played by Django Reinhardt and his disciples. Great for rhythm and soloing. The tone allows it to find it's own place in the mix and stands out from the guitar or piano.

6. On recordings, you can double a mandolin part for a fat sound without too much alteration of your mando part.

7. If someone says "I know that- it's a bouzouki/cittern/cistern/ukelele/mandocello/bazooka/sitar" you can nod and smile condescendingly. I have heard all those, by the way.

8. It is the world's coolest instrument.

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My pal Lauck Benson (of Beacon Hillbillies and Boston City Limits fame) writes:

I have been learning some cittern pieces of Anthony Holborne on the banjo.

Holborne (1550-1603) was one of Queen Elizabeth's lutenists, and quite a
fine polyphonic composer.

I found this description of the cittern:

"The English Cittern, having four courses, a bizarre but useful tuning, and
often a built-in hook for wall hanging, had a low reputation, due to its
popularity in taverns, barber shops and houses of ill repute. It is normally
strummed with a crow quill, and it produces a rich, banjo-like sound which
is ideal for accompanying vulgar ballads."

But Holborne took it far beyond that, and I really like the music.

Shabby Genteel is my Ideal, so this is perfect :-)

-Lauck

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With Aoife O'Donovan and Ruth Unger

Matt Glaser laughs as my hands stick to the fingerboard