Finally: a signature quote
I have been waiting and waiting for the right quote. While attempting to deal with the zillions of books in my late, beloved aunt’s house, I found the Oxford Companion To Music, by Percy Scholes. This is a reference tome of 1,195 pages. Plenty of pictures but none of mandos.
OK Percy’s not one of us. His entry for ukes is similar “...became very popular in the United States amongst people whose desire to perform was stronger than their willingness to acquire any difficult technique or their desire to make intimate acquaintance with any very elaborate music.”
Fiddles get barely two lines! “A colloquial tune for any kind of bowed string instrument, especially the violin.”
Bagpipes get five pages of text and two of illustrations. Even banjos get more attention than our 8-string friends, several paragraphs, inevitably noting “the dryness of its tone and the small variety of chords available limit its services pretty narrowly to amusement music.” (Please notify Mssrs Trischa, Fleck etc).
This copy is the 8th edition, published in 1955 with a new forward by Mr S. He does go on about Ballads, Folk Song, Community Singing etc but generally cares not for the creations of the 20th century, except for jazz. Wonder what he would make of the 21st.
2009 Eastman 505
2011 Collings MTO GT
2008 Toyota Sienna
2018 Sawchyn mandola
Mandoline or Mandolin: Similar to the lute, but much less artistically valuable....for people who wish to play simple music without much trouble —The Oxford Companion to Music
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