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This week on Mandolin Mondays, mando master Mike Marshall brings us a very special virtual orchestra experience with the help of 32 of his Artistworks online students. Thanks to all the participants in this video for showing us the amazing possibilities for musical progress and collaboration even in these challenging times. Video editing by Martin Hietkamp.



Mike Marshall might just be the cornerstone of modern mandolin playing as we know it. From his time playing in the legendary David Grisman Quintet, to playing in progressive bluegrass with Darol Anger, Chris Thile, Edgar Meyer and Bela Fleck, to playing classical music with Caterina Lichtenberg and the Turtle Island String Quintet, and to bringing the beautiful Brazilian Choro tradition to the States through projects with Choro Famoso and Hamilton de Holanda, Mike has pushed the envelope in nearly every genre possible on this instrument.

But not only is Mike an incredible performer, he is also the face of mandolin education through his teaching at many workshops across the world such as, The Marshall Mandolin Summit, The Acoustic Music Seminar, Mandolin World Retreats, and many others. Perhaps even more so, Mike has shared his mandolin knowledge the worldwide through one of the premier teaching websites, Artistworks Academy. You can really hear the fruit of his efforts through the amazing playing of his online students in this video.

Here's a word from Mike about this video, "I had this idea to give my Artistworks online students something cool to do while they are all home at this crazy time. 32 of them jumped at the chance! I created an arrangement and played all the parts myself first. Then I asked who would like to play octave mandolin or mandocello and who would like to take a solo. I then divided up the others players between 1st, 2nd and 3rd mandolin parts while I took care of the bass part.

Martin Heitkamp (Netherlands) is also one of my students and he has sent me a few video exchanges where he is playing two parts split screen, so I asked him to help me organize this crazy thing. Everyone filmed themselves playing their parts and sent them to Martin and he did the hard work of organizing it all."

If you're interested in learning more about Artistworks, you can check out the link below for more info. In his lessons, Mike covers everything from the basics like mandolin tuning and mandolin scales to masterful soloing, at your own pace. You can even sign up for free mandolin lessons--check it out: https://artistworks.com/mandolin-lessons-mike-marshall

Be sure to connect with Mike at the following links below for more information about his music:

https://artistworks.com/mandolin-lessons-mike-marshall
https://mikemarshall.net/
https://www.facebook.com/Mike-Marshall-333957389947/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/2WJmZq6fEmecdQVd3s38jE

And as always, tune in next week for more Mandolin Mondays! Until then...

Happy Picking!
David