Who really knows what a mandolin is?

[Mandolin Mick]

I've told this story a couple of times but it bears repeating ... I was in the Milwaukee airport with my Gibson F-9 in case, when the lady at the check-in desk asked me what kind of instrument I had. Pulling it out of the case I said, "It's a mandolin. It's tuned like a violin." She said in a shocked voice, "G, D, A, E???" I said, "Yes."

Turns out that she plays violin in the Milwaukee Symphony and had never seen a mandolin!!!

[John McGann]

Gets even more surreal with an octave mando!

[journeybear]

Really! All the times people ask, "What is that, a mandocello?" Imagine how annoying that can be!

[John Rosett]

Music lover-"What do call that little instrument you're playing?"
Jethro-"I call it Bruce."

[Steve Ostrander]

A mandolin is an instrument with 8 strings, 3 of which are out of tune at any given time.

[Gregory Tidwell]

I was playing on my front porch the other day and my neighbor asked me "is that a banjo?" he proably didn't mean it though. Just that a banjo was all he could think of.

I was on a flight with a young concert violist the other day, and I had to explain what a mandola was. I was shocked. How can a mind be so uninquiring as to play viola for years, but totally miss that a mandola even exists?

In the plus column I was walking from my house to my car with a necked dulcimer in a gig bag when my mail carrier asked me if it was a mandolin. I considered that a win.

[TonyEarth]

All of this, including the chart, is so true. Happens to like 99% of the times someone sees my mandolin.

[Dobe]

What surprises me is so many folks think it's a ukulele. Who plays a ukulele nowadays? I would think mandolins are more common.

Silly rabbit- My daughter & I do, my buddy Keely, Cane, Ron,John, Ned,Eddy,(and these are all Bluegrassers) .......

[Geordie]

Silly rabbit- My daughter & I do, my buddy Keely, Cane, Ron,John, Ned,Eddy,(and these are all Bluegrassers) .......

I do, too. The uke is a fun and low-pressure way to make music.

[BlackChris]

Originally Posted by Pete Summers
'What surprises me is so many folks think it's a ukulele. Who plays a ukulele nowadays? I would think mandolins are more common.'

Here in Cairns we have the Ukulele festival where each year they try to break the world record for the number of people playing ukuleles at the same time (imagine the hellish noise of over 1000 people who can't play any instrument trying to play an instrument designed to sound terrible). The guitar shops here also have, as other people have said, large displays for Ukes - they are huge at the moment.

Where i work people have picked up on my reaction to the 'is that a ukulele?' question and now refer to it constantly as a Uke just to take the mickey. I breathe deeply and reassure myself that some people will never understand what life is for and about (the mandolin of course!)

[Gerard Dick]

A mandolin is an instrument with 8 strings, 3 of which are out of tune at any given time.

Only 3? WOW you're good. I spend 1/3 of my time tuning and 2/3 playing out of tune.

[Matt DeBlass]

To further confuse the issue, at one of the jams I sometimes attend a guy plays an 8-string ukulele. Or maybe it's an out-of-tune, nylon-string mandolin?

[trebleclef528]

Re: Who really knows what a mandolin is?

Really quite Interesting statistics....

Similarly when we "The lanarkshire Guitar and Mandolin Association"(www.mandolinscoland.org)
first advertised kids mandolin classes (eleven years ago)... NO ONE turned up... then someone suggested that perhaps kids and parents did'nt know what a mandolin was.

so we started doing primary school educational visits, taking about 30 mandolins into classes doing workshops and giving a "hands on" opportunity for the kids.

in those early days I guess about 85% of a class didn't know what a mandolin was 95% had never seen one 100% had never played one.

Now in the past 11 years we've visited over 8500 school children to provide mandolin workshops and on our last visit (just last week) 15% didn't know what a mandolin was (obviously 85% did), 20% had never seen one and 80% had never played one.

Quite a turnaround... i guess promotion and education works. Now happy to say we have about 100 kids involved in our classes and orchestas every week.
best wishes
Ian

[hokelore]

About my octave mandolin: "Is that one-a them sitars, or a bellzooka?"
About my octave mandolin, at Renaissance Faire: "I like your lute."
About my mandolin: "That guitar's little enough!"

[journeybear]

Quite a turnaround... i guess promotion and education works. Now happy to say we have about 100 kids involved in our classes and orchestas every week.

Brilliant! Thank you sir, for having that notion and making the effort to see it through. Whatever else I may say and do around here - and sometimes I run far afield - underlying it at all times is my purpose, as stated in my signature, of furthering mandolin consciousness. You and your colleagues took action, which must have been difficult and frustrating at times, and have results to show for it. I applaud your efforts, and thank you on behalf of those kids, and mandolinists everywhere, for doing what you have to increase public awareness and appreciation of our beloved instrument.

[Beanzy]

This is what happens when you get a load of ukuleles together with a tuba. (2mins in)
http://youtu.be/2Jlt033hiJw

[Capt. E]

We all know mandolin players are the most intelligent members of the band. Does that mean it takes superior intelligence to recognize one when you see it?
What would be the answer/IQ quotient for the above pie chart?

[Dobe]

[QUOTE=Pete Summers;969182]What surprises me is so many folks think it's a ukulele. Pete, thought I'd throw a few Uke revivalists your way (same scale lenght as well btw).
I and many others got the bug after hearing
Jake Shimabakuro:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puSkP3uym5k
Bruddah Iz:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1bFr...eature=related
Julia Nunes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeP1K...feature=relmfu

Check out Gin fron NZ:

You'll probably be hearing a lot more about her after a new Lowes commercial starts making the rounds.

Here's the song from the commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpkkb...32ItJg&index=1

[JeffD]

"Adele" type voice, with a ukulele.

[Pete Summers]

Maybe I just spend too much time in Italian restuarants -- I hear a lot more mandolin music than ukulele.

But I now see the error of my ways: those are great little instruments. Now I'm jonesing for a baritone ukelele. I just cured my FAS, still struggling with MAS -- now I've got to deal with UAS. Does it ever end?

Come to think of it, maybe it ends with GAS.

[JeffD]

That pie chart is hilarious. I love it.

[Tim C.]

I get "Banjo?" more often than anything else - never ceases to astound us!

[Andy B]

At shows, Dick Staber used to introduce the mandolin as "the guitar after taxes." Maybe he still does. I use his line myself from time to time.

[Paul Statman]

Mmmm Pie.. I love blueberry pie

Daleks hate mandolin, but Cybermen play it!

[Paul Statman]

Quite a turnaround... i guess promotion and education works. Now happy to say we have about 100 kids involved in our classes and orchestas every week.
best wishes
Ian

Someone get this man a drink! Good work there, sir.