New ideas in playing two voices on one mandolin.

[Toomas Rannu]

I started playing two voices on one mandolin in september 2019. Then it was music for two violins. Later I found that this technique suits perfectly for playing choir music for two voices. Here is a little playlist of my latest works in this direction. I found this beautiful songs from an old German school songbook “Komm, sing mit! – Deutsches Schulliederbuch (Edition Sikorski)”, published in mid-sixties. This music is originally written for two voices but also sounds good on solo mandolin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81yW...o&index=2&t=0s


If somebody is interested in the other music played by this kind of technique so here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDrE...&index=30&t=0s

Toomas Rannu
Flat-backed mandolin, crafted by Viljar Kuusk in 2008 (Tallinn, Estonia).

[jelhai]

Thank you for posting. Are you playing without a plectrum, using your fingers only?

[Toomas Rannu]

Thank you! I use “BlueChip TP40 1-R” (https://shop.bluechippick.net/tp40-1r/) between thumb and first finger and next fingers (mostly two of them) with little longer fingernails. This way of picking comes somehow from my background as a guitar player.

[zgraft]

Sounds great! I'm curious as to what specifically makes this two voices versus traditional double stops? Is it because you're plucking the strings with separate fingers simultaneously?

[Toomas Rannu]

Thank you! That’s a good question! Maybe the difference is in that I’m trying to play two different melodies not vertical intervals (2th, 3th, 6th ect). One with the pick and the other with fingers – with one finger or two alternating fingers if need some speed. So I can take control of both strings and make them sound like two individuals. Sound of two strings is somehow dissolving together when played with pick only and is a little different. In search of this kind of sound I started practicing choir music for two voices and try to move from homophony to polyphony. - Toomas