Mandola in Sol

[Bill Stokes]

I'm just getting into mandola, and loving it. I was brought up on violin, then spent the past several years struggling with jazz guitar. Mandola appeals so strongly because its range pleases my ear (not too high, not too low,) it's tuned in fifths as any civilized instrument should be, and it has frets for help with intonation.

For my own notation purposes, I'm using treble clef with an octave transposition; just like guitar does. (Never got along very well with alto clef.) So that's an easy choice. Still getting used to it. The written middle C is my lowest printed note, and higher stuff on the A string goes way up into the ledger lines, but I'm used to that from violin. Practicing scales and arpeggios and it's coming along pretty fast. But...

How is this instrument usually notated? I've looked around, but not found a lot of examples. Browsing through links from this thread, I've seen "Mandola in Sol." Is that just written as though for a G-D-A-E tuning? Must be, I think: same key signature and written range. That seems like a logical alternative.

How should I notate for writing arrangements? Sibelius can put it anywhere, including the wretched alto clef if necessary.

[Jim Garber]

Others more knowledgeable will chime in here. In the meantime, my experience playing in the New York Mandolin Orchestra was that mandola parts were notated in alto clef and in fact were often the viola parts from the classical string arrangements. I believe that in some orchestras they notate in what is termed universal clef which (I think) means that a mandolin player would play what notes would be if they were playing their instrument but it would sound a fifth lower on the mandola,

In the Carlo Aonzo workshop a few years back I played a mandola part in on of the Brandenburg Concertos and I read it transposed as above since it has been years since I played and read alto clef.

BTW in Europe mandola refers to the longer scaled octave-tuned instrument and mandoliola is what is called the one tuned like a viola. Those are rarely used.

[margora]

Some comments elaborating on Jim

--"mandola in sol" as Jim notes refers to the octave mandolin (in the US) and just the "mandola" in the rest of the world. Parts for the mandola in sol have always been in 8va treble.

--a "classical (mandolin) quartet" is patterned after a string quartet, and uses the alto mandola (or mandoliola, the European term). A "romantic quartet" uses two mandolins, octave mandolin, and classical guitar. If you add a bass to the classical mandolin quartet you get the plucked equivalent of a string orchestra (no guitars). The NYMO is patterned after this concept and its parts for the alto mandola are in alto clef, as Jim notes. The Providence Mandolin Orchestra, in which I play mandola (octave), is patterned after the Romantic Quartet, and all but one of the mandola section uses the octave instrument. Our parts are in 8va treble.

--universal notation refers to the practice of writing all parts in treble clef with the appropriate number of octave transpositions. In the case of the alto mandola this would be 8va treble. Prior to the introduction of universal notation ca. WWI, parts for the alto instrument were frequently key-transposed, meaning written in 8va treble but with the key changed so that the part could be read as if the instrument were a mandolin. As Jim notes, it is convenient to do this with the Brandenburg because the piece is originally for viola (#1, #2, and #3); it is playable on the octave instrument, but the part lies very far up the neck. When the PMO did Brandenburg #3 recently, I used a key-transposed part to play viola #1 on the alto instrument. I read alto clef perfectly well, but I prefer in a performance setting to read 8va treble.

--I have a brief article about the above in a recent newsletter of the Classical Mandolin Society of America.

[Bill Stokes]

Holy cow, what a WORLD I've stumbled into here. Thanks very much to both of you guys for the info. So I've been using "mandola" incorrectly! From the European standpoint. Mandoliola oh la la... man. Do I need to run out and latch onto an octave mandolin, now? This could get expensive...

[Jim Garber]

Bob: I am glad you added your piece -- I was hoping you would do so.

[margora]

I wouldn't say you have been using the word "mandola" incorrectly -- in the US certainly "mandola" refers to the alto instrument. It simply has a different meaning in the classical portion of most of the rest of the mandolin world. You can certainly play most any mandola part on the alto instrument, except when the notes extend below C (the open 4th course), in which case you would either transpose or leave them out. If you are playing with other people or having other people play your arrangements, you should use whatever notation system is prevalent. If the notation is from Sibelius, it doesn't matter, as you point out.

An excellent source for the names of all of the various mandolin family instruments is the appendix to Paul Sparks' book, THE CLASSICAL MANDOLIN (Oxford University Press).

[pickngrin]

Alto clef isn't so bad with a little practice. I kind of dig that middle C is smack in the middle of the staff. I just don't see why it exists when you can write a viola part in 8va treble and get the same result - that is, shift C3 so that it sits just below the staff where C4 does in treble.

[germano]

I am learning viola, in the alto clef of course, and when I got my tenor guitar, tenor banjo and mandola, I just reused my beginner/intermediate lesson books for viola to learn those instruments. Since I only play by and for my own enjoyment at home it makes no difference to me that I won't fit in with a group. Also the fingering is the same for all the above mentioned instruments; that is a real saving of effort.

It is very interesting to try all four instruments on one piece. Usually one instruments wins out. I actually enjoy tenor banjo for much of the Baroque/Classical viola sonatas. Yet too, since the cello is another CGDA instrument, many cello pieces sound great, allowing for the octave difference, on tenor guitar and mandola.

Variety is the spice of life, for sure.

nero
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