Which ArtistWorks Mandolin Course?

[MoreThanQuinn]

Hey Cafe-ers,

I'm 8 months into playing mandolin (coming over from violin and guitar) and due to lack of teachers in my area I've decided to try out the 1 month offer at ArtistWorks.

However... I'm having trouble choosing between Mike's and Caterina's courses.
At the moment, I'm playing mostly classical and fiddle tunes and I would say I am entering the intermediate stages of mandolin-playing.

I watched the preview videos for both courses and, frankly, I found them both quite helpful and enjoyable. I could see either being great, I suppose I just want to take the course that will help me develop my mandolin-playing most thoroughly.

Is there anyone on here who has experiences with both courses and can shed some insight on the differences, the pros and cons, etc?

Thanks much!

[bbcee]

Hi MTQ, I'd say it depends on what you like to play.

I did Mike's course for about 18 months, starting with a skill level similar to yours now, and not only did I learn variations on the tunes I already knew, I learned the "whole package" - melody, rhythm, inversions, etc. - on a ton of new ones. For me, classical is something for further down the road, so my choice only had one option.

[dorenac]

+1 what bbcee said, especially if you submit videos.

[Peewee]

I've used both. Mike and Caterina are both great teachers and there's plenty of content in both courses for players of any level. The decision is primarily about the direction you want to go. If you want to play classical mandolin, definitely choose Caterina. If you want to play fiddle tunes, bluegrass, jazz (or most other non-classical genres), play in a band or a jam, or improvise, choose Mike. Caterina's lessons are all about classical repertoire and technique (not all of which is necessary if you want to play other genres). But serious classical mandolin instructors are hard to find. A lot of the technique and information that Caterina shares is difficult to find anywhere else, unless you're fortunate to have a legit classical mandolin player in your area.

[MoreThanQuinn]

Thanks much for the responses, everyone.

@Peewee. If I'm being honest, I am interested in both classical and non-classical styles of music. Having done them both, would you say one would be a better precursor to the other? I mean, is there one that you would pick to start with?

The violinist in me is trying to tell myself that it doesn't hurt to have a classical background and maybe Caterina's course would be good for developing the more technical (and sometimes less "fun") side of playing. Which is important.

However, I have to admit that I generally like the sound of Mike's style of playing better. And fiddle tunes tend to be more accessible and require less perfectionism, so to speak, than classical music.

I don't know. I'm sure I'll end up doing them both at some point, but as for where to start I am a little torn.

[Drew Egerton]

Mike can help with some classical as well (or pretty much any genre), but if that's your main focus I would agree that Caterina is the way to go. There isn't a ton of strictly classical lessons on Mike's site, but he is always willing to work with you on anything that you submit to him.
I'd suggest maybe signing up for 3 months with Mike and if you find you want more classical specific stuff then you can always shift over after that.

[Michael Neverisky]

At the moment, I'm playing mostly classical and fiddle tunes and I would say I am entering the intermediate stages of mandolin-playing.


I've submitted VEs to Mike from Bach to Burns (Jethro) and he always has had a helpful insight. Mike can play anything and, at least in my experience, credits Caterina when he shares an idea learned from her in the classical space. The variety of student VEs in Mike's space is excellent and the opportunity to be exposed to something new is very high as a result.

[B381]

I did artist works and peghead nation, liked both.

https://pegheadnation.com/string-school/mandolin-courses/

[Peewee]

Thanks much for the responses, everyone.

@Peewee. If I'm being honest, I am interested in both classical and non-classical styles of music. Having done them both, would you say one would be a better precursor to the other? I mean, is there one that you would pick to start with?


I would probably choose Mike over Caterina to start. Mike's course will make you a more well-rounded mandolin player, and you shouldn't develop any bad habits. You'll still learn solid technique with Mike and can get into the depths of classical technique later.

[Gary Leonard]

I agree with PeeWee's last comment. Take a year with Mike, then go from there. Then after you get assimilated into the Mike Marshall collective, you can expand with Caterina.

There are a ton of video exchanges, from most any genre you can imagine. Mike has done a lot of classical stuff on the site, even Caterina has made guest appearances before she had a curriculum of her own. Simply watching the video exchanges of classical pieces and listening to Mike's responses can keep you busy for a long while (over two hundred video exchanges on Bach and classical pieces). You can learn a lot from watching other people's video exchanges in my opinion. The ability to get targeted, personalized video exchanges with feedback from Mike is icing on the cake.

[LadysSolo]

Are the courses helpful if you don't submit videos? I honestly have no idea how to submit videos, and I was thinking if my work eases up I might want to try a one-month course and see how it goes time-wise.

[FredK]

Are the courses helpful if you don't submit videos? I honestly have no idea how to submit videos, and I was thinking if my work eases up I might want to try a one-month course and see how it goes time-wise.

Yes, the courses are great even if you don't submit videos. I took Mike's courses for a year. While the submissions were nice, I didn't do well waiting for his review. I prefer quick feedback so I can work on it then and there. That's just me, though. What really helped me is going through the lessons and working on what I was interested in; not necessarily in order. Skipping around to those lessons helped me get comfortable with the mandolin. He is an excellent musician and teacher.

[kurth83]

I didn't know about these courses, checked them out, the chance to study under Catarina (even if a fairly distant relationship) is out of this world. My mom plays piano (classical) quite well, so we could play together. I could probably work up a sonatina or two by xmas.

I love both classical and contemporary, if I cancel a few other subscriptions, I can sign up for both. Likely won't complete either any time soon, but however far I go will be worth it.

I am actually a classically trained musician (on trumpet, long ago and far away). And my mandolin technique has recently crossed the threshold to where I can begin to express music instead of just picking notes. So I think this is a good time to start exploring the classical literature.

So do I have to buy an oval hole now? (I think we all know this is a rhetorical question...).

[Gina Willis]

Are the courses helpful if you don't submit videos? I honestly have no idea how to submit videos, and I was thinking if my work eases up I might want to try a one-month course and see how it goes time-wise.

I agree that you can still get a lot from the courses even if you don't submit videos (as noted elsewhere here).. but if you don't, then IMHO you're missing a big part of what makes Artistworks distinct from other online learning sites and worth the higher price (detailed personalized feedback).

It's not hard at all to learn to shoot video from a cellphone, and anyone with the smarts to learn the mandolin should be able to handle the small learning curve involved in making and uploading video submissions. Worth the effort! And then you'll have another useful skill of modern life in addition to being able to make lovely music.

[MoreThanQuinn]

Thanks so much for all the advice, everyone. I took the plunge and signed up for Mike's course for a month. I think I'll follow his for as long as I need, and then later give Caterina's a go. Sounds like you all were kind of in agreement, and I think the advice can be summed up with Peewee's last post:

I would probably choose Mike over Caterina to start. Mike's course will make you a more well-rounded mandolin player, and you shouldn't develop any bad habits. You'll still learn solid technique with Mike and can get into the depths of classical technique later.

I've already started the lessons. Starting from the intermediate section, but also going back through all the beginner stuff just to make sure that I am not missing anything in the curriculum/repertoire. I'm really excited and I'm already quite enjoying it.

Thanks again, everyone!

EDIT: I have quickly realized that there is stuff even in the Beginner section that I will greatly benefit from. This is awesome.

[Drew Egerton]

Welcome to the Marshall club! There is definitely benefit in watching all of the levels I believe. I am "advanced' I suppose but I have watched almost all of the beginner and intermediate videos as well. I also enjoy watching other students' exchanges even when it's a beginner topic. Mike will always have something useful to pick up on and if nothing else it has helped me with doing some teaching also.

If you go to the Study materials section there is a huge amount of music and tabs from all kinds of things that have been done over the years. There are also some great backing tracks to most of the tunes in the lessons.
If you consider what an hour lesson with someone like Mike would cost in person, you can really get a lot of bang for your buck if you get in there and use it regularly. Good luck!

p.s. I'm pilotdrew85 on there if you want to look up some of the videos I've done.

[kurth83]

Congrats on starting the course, reviewing the beginner stuff is good, getting the fundamentals of playing the instrument right is key on any instrument. Let us know how things progress after a bit.

[LadysSolo]

I just started the Artistworks course, I tried to sign up for the one month but it wouldn't let me, so I went ahead and signed up for the one-year. Interestingly, with the one-year, apparently you can try lessons with other instructors, so I may do that. I started with Mike Marshall, and started in the "beginning mandolin" just because. Some of his "finger-buster" exercises have already shown me places where I have the need to "up my game" and will likely improve if I do those exercises. Those alone will help me develop more finger independence in my left hand, and the right hand exercises will definitely improve my accuracy. I think the course will be well worth the price!

[kurth83]

I'm chewing through the classical one with Catarina, got through all the beginner ones, and as a result have a stack of etudes and exercises I will be doing for a while. In the meantime checking out some of the intermediate lessons, those will keep me busy for a long time.

As someone who constantly straddles the line between popular and classical music - meaning I'm in a worship band where you often have a bit of both - I am finding the classical literature and techniques to be useful, I can use a lot of those arpeggiation techniques in a worship setting. It doesn't hurt I love classical music and am a good sight reader, I think you need that for the classical course.

Surprisingly, my mandolin sight reading isn't that great, I can read bluegrass tunes pretty well, because they tend to be pretty simple, and use a lot of similar licks, use major scales, and the keys are limited. I tried to sight read through an etude designed to take you through the scales and arpeggios of all 12 keys in both major and minor modes, and while I could read it, I had to take it pretty slow, and my fingers were doing things they hadn't done before. I confess I have never played an ab minor scale or arpeggio before on mandolin. :-)

[FredK]

I just started the Artistworks course, I tried to sign up for the one month but it wouldn't let me, so I went ahead and signed up for the one-year. Interestingly, with the one-year, apparently you can try lessons with other instructors, so I may do that. I started with Mike Marshall, and started in the "beginning mandolin" just because. Some of his "finger-buster" exercises have already shown me places where I have the need to "up my game" and will likely improve if I do those exercises. Those alone will help me develop more finger independence in my left hand, and the right hand exercises will definitely improve my accuracy. I think the course will be well worth the price!

I ended up my 1 year subscription in July. The nice thing about the 1 year program is the music theory course and the guitar course that goes along with it. There's also some special features that you don't get when you go with the lesser subscription. Mike is a great teacher. And, of course, a master on the mandolin.