Mandolin Face

[Timbofood]

I. With the fiddler! I’m not a circus clown, if it’s not something funny or pleasant I will not just put on the “face” because someone says that it’s “important”.

[Michael Eck]

I 'forgive' the greats, all kinds of odd grimaces, grunts, and groans.

As for myself, if I can achieve mouth-closed, tongue-inside, I'm doing pretty well.

I've been caught grunting on tape, and kind of moaning melodies that having nothing to do with what I'm playing. And my feet do weird things, too. What up with that!?

[Paul Busman]

My wife tells me when I play mandolin or tenor banjo my mouth "does that old man thing", jaw falling open slack and looking like I'm about to drool.Videos prove her right.

[BradKlein]

I've been caught grunting on tape, and kind of moaning melodies that having nothing to do with what I'm playing. And my feet do weird things, too. What up with that!?

At least you're in good company. Ask Andy Statman, Keith Jarrett, Glenn Gould...

[Drew Egerton]

Don Stiernberg recommends using a 'jazz face' when hitting a chord like Gm7b5#9 (or some such )

I was going to mention Don's Jazz face too! He usually mentions that while teaching those alteration chords.

I usually have an involuntary movement of my mouth to some degree which takes some focus to not do. The more I'm 'in the groove' the more I probably do it. Not a fan of the Statman groaning thing as mentioned before....really distracting to me as the listener, though I have not expanded my horizons quite to the level of most of his playing anyway.

[Jeff Mando]

How about Robbie Robertson in The Last Waltz with Eric Clapton doing Further On Up The Road -- Robbie looks like he is eating an invisible bucket of oats, chomp, chomp, chomp -- poor fella, can't feel too sorry for him overall, though!

[Don Grieser]

Maybe someone needs to do these videos on mandolin. It's worth the wait to get to "smell the skunk" on part 2.

[roberto]

This is the mandolin face I practice every day:

[rockies]

I think most players are into the music and unaware of these things. John Reischman (the most calm and seemingly stoic of musicians) once when we were chatting told me he goes completely into the music and sometimes comes out of the tune and doesn't know where he is. So I think most good players are in the zone most of the time. Myself it happens once in a while where I play outside of myself, a magic rare moment. However I don't know what my face looks like !!
Dave

[Bruce Clausen]

It isn't just the players, but the fans too. A scene from 1925 London:

... I went into a little pub by the docks and a fellow was standing in the doorway, playing a mandolin and singing with his mouth all crooked,— you know the way they do,— and inside the bar there was a workman sitting over a glass of beer and looking up at the other man with a funny sort of adoring expression, same as you see people looking up at the Madonna in Catholic pictures, and presently he said to me, as if he'd known me for years— 'Gawd, I wish I could do that'...

(From James Hilton's Random Harvest.)