Mandola vs. Octave Mandolin

[David L]

I'm glad that the alto clef/tenor clef was explained. Alto clef is the traditional clef for viola and mandola.

When I played in a mandolin orchestra, the mandola section read three different clefs. One person used alto clef, one used transposed music and pretended like it was a mandolin, and I used octave treble clef (like tenor banjo and tenor singers). Middle C was on either the middle line, second line, or third space. Everyone read the best part for them, but you didn't dare look at your neighbor's music.

[Tobin]

Meh. The alto-vs.-tenor clef thing is moot unless you're going to play older mandolin orchestra arrangements written specifically for mandola. In this modern age, it's simple enough to convert anything to tablature, or to any clef you desire. It certainly shouldn't be any factor in whether one wants to play that instrument or not.

[Kevin Stueve]

Okay Kevin, you caused me to do some research, and that has reminded me of the good ol' Peter Principle, the one about, you know, rising to the level of one's own incompetence? Being fairly new to the orchestral world, I doubt that I ever knew that the tenor and alto clefs were the same symbol but showing on different lines of the staff.

Bottom line: Not too sure which I meant, but I do thank August for bailing my boat a bit! I'll be quiet for a while.

No offense intended, I think like August said the C clefs (alto, and tenor and ...???) are not really used in modern arrangements (and all trombonist rejoice :D )

[ukrobbiej]

I recently made the jump from playing octave mandolin to Mandola, mainly because my mandolin orchestra was already well catered for for octaves, but didn't have a Mandola. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. You would think that an OM would have been more flexible- encompasses the same range as Mandola and all, but I find the Mandola has a sound all of its own which just works in the context of a large plucked instrument ensemble. It's also easier to play than octave.

Disadvantages? Not really a disadvantage, but I am having to learn the trick of playing in closed position higher up the fingerboard a lot more. I'm getting there, and it is certainly doing my playing plenty of good. There is the trick of capoing at fretbtwo and playing down the octave, which works very well for a lot of Irish tunes, so long as you don't need a note lower than a D. This also has the great advantage that you then have an open B as the top string which is great.

All in all I wish I owned both, but am very very happy with my Weber Mandola.

Robbie

[Bill Cameron]

I have both, like them both. Which one I would choose depends on a couple of things.
One is, are you playing with a fulltime guitarist or are you the guitarist? I stopped playing the OM in the band, where someone else is the fulltime guitarist, because I found the timbres were too similar and I thought the band should have more range of frequencies. I didnt switch to mandola in the band though, went back to fulltime Mando. To give the sound a bit more range I developed mando style that uses the lower strings a lot, including playing tune parts in the lower register when they fit.
I have just started playing the OM in performance again, partly because in a duo with a fiddler it gives that mid and bottom range fullness--and I can play it instead of guitar for song acccompaniment, especially in an arrangement that breaks into a tune at the end or middle of a song.
-and guess what, playing tunes with normal GDAE tuning on that big 21" scale is FANTASTIC conditioning for playing them on a 14" scale! I found yesterday that after an hour of woodshedding with the OM I had much greater reach and speed on the mando.

If I was playing opposite a fulltime guitarist, and not playing lead on lot of traditional tunes (you cant transpose everything, and My 'dola doesnt like capos), thats when the mandola might creep back in. Mostly though I just play it for fun, by myself, when I want to experience that mellow sound.
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[red7flag]

Were I to have to choose one over the other, I would pick the mandola and for many of the reasons given above. The OM is much in the same timber as a guitar. The mandola gives a different feel and approach music than the mandolin. Just for fun, I like to move tune I play on the mandolin to the mandola and keeping the same key and find a new approach to the lead. While you can often just move a lead up one string, the basic playing and feel is the same. So, I prefer to make a lead on the mandola different. I am currently ordering a second mandola from Lawrence Nyberg. I wanted to experience that "Sobell" sound in the mandola framework. I see it as a nice contrast to the Girouard mandola that I have. Both are substantially different from the mandolins I have. To me the mandola is fun.

[Shelagh Moore]

To me the mandola is fun.

Fully agreed!