# Music by Genre > Orchestral, Classical, Italian, Medieval, Renaissance >  Some Tunes from Our Mandolin Club

## Hiin

Hello, everyone.

Greetings from Japan.
This is my first time to post here.
I am a college student at Kyushu University, and have been participating on my university Mandolin Club for a year now.
I didn't even know how to read sheets back then, but hearing the superb harmony of a mandolin orchestra really fascinates me, and motivated me to learn playing the instrument.
On our club, I play mandola (octave mandola - the one that have same tuning with mandolin)

Seeing how little people know about mandolin orchestra makes me sad, so now I intend to share some pieces that our mandolin club played, to help spread and make people  appreciate classical mandolin pieces more. Also, I don't really see somebody posting piece played by a Japanese mandolin orchestra, so this let you know that we also played mandolin in the other side of the world  :Smile: 

This first one is Suite Goliardica by Amadeo Amadei, recorded on our club 139th concert (we held concerts twice a year). The quality is quite good, if you can ignore annoying buzzing sounds on the back.
Composed of 4 parts:
1. Ronda
2. Valzer d'amour
3. Mattinata
4. Corteggio Carnevalesco

I think this piece really embraces the strong point from a mandolin orchestra: the combination of plucking sound from different instruments and the sheer beauty of mandolin tremolo.

http://www.mediafire.com/?yj22fzmaymf

The second one is Overture from Norma, transcribed for mandolin orchestra. The part that I think very special is when the mandolins tried to mimic birds singing and other instrument played it like "the morning has come" part (about 4 minutes into the song). I think this part can't be perfectly emulated by violin orchestra and really show the strength of a mandolin orchestra.

http://www.mediafire.com/?l4mxuva1mya

Let me know if you enjoyed this (or if you have comments and advices, it would be greatly appreciated!)

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## JeffD

Very nice, Hiin. The dynamics were stunning, very controlled, very dramatic.



Does the Kyushu University produce a CD of the performances?

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## vkioulaphides

Welcome to the Café, Hiin! 

It's good to have you among us— doubly so because Japan is a VERY important part of the mandolin world! (As to which is the "other" side, oh... that I wouldn't know ;-)

The activities of Japanese mandolin orchestras have been under-reprepresented in our discussions on this forum simply because... we don't know, we are not there, we are not adequately "connected" to all the goings-on in Japan. And that, of course, is where _you_ come into the picture :-)

Enjoy the friendly company, and please feel free to post as many references to mandolin activities in Japan as you have time to. I am sure I speak for all of us when I say that we are eager to know more, and to enjoy vicariously— from the "other" side of the world ;-) 

Cheers,

Victor

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## Nelson Peddycoart

Welcome, Hiin,

I enjoyed your music very much.

Nelson

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## Hiin

Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone!

@jeff
Yes, we do produce a CD for every concert (I think we even have performances from 30 years ago, recorded in cassette tapes, but I have yet to find it in our club library), usually to be stored in our archive or as gift to mandolin clubs in another university.

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## mandoisland

Hello and welcome Hiin!

I do know very well that the mandolin orchestras in Japan have a very high quality. I have posted some information in my blog mandoisland.com about Japanese mandolin orchestras. Some teachers from Japan like Takashi Ochi were very important for the German mandolin players as well during the 60s and 70s.

I have found recordings of some orchestras on their homepages - mostly after I have used google to translate the Japanese to English or German to be able to understand a little bit. I think the Japanese orchestras would get more interest if they would also have homepages in English - and would add some information in English to the youtube videos. This would make it easier to find their recordings and videos - but I know that some videos by Japanese mandolin orchestras have been discussed already here in this forum.

I enjoyed the recording of the two pieces very much - thanks for sharing! 

Michael

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## Hiin

@mandoisland
It brings my heart to great joy seeing people holding so much interest on mandolin orchestra. 
I've seen your great website! I really enjoy videos on it. Particularly the one with barockmandolin. I will continue to visit it in the future, thanks for sharing!

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## Hiin

These are videos from Fukuoka Symphonic Mandolin Ensemble. 

Kyushu University is located in Fukuoka, and a lot of people that graduated from our mandolin club form an ensemble of their own to continue playing instrument together even after they finished their studies.
Our club will celebrate its 90th birthday this year, and we will hold an anniversary concert on 30th May. For this concert, we invited every graduate from Kyushu University Mandolin Club to join us to play together. 

So, recently I known some people from this video from our rehearsals together. It's not really our club's performances, but since these are people from the same town as mine (and some of them are former member of our club) , I might as well share this. There are about 4 ensembles like this in Fukuoka alone (not counting university clubs, we have a few universities around Fukuoka, and some of them have mandolin club also).


A very sweet performance. Recently I take liking in Mandocello's sound. It's so calming.
This is a tune from a movie, "Okuribito", which won Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2009. Recommended for people who want to take a peek about Japanese and their culture to respect the dead (among many other things).


A theme song from popular TV drama in Japan.


Popular opera song, Nessun Dorma


Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana

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JEStanek

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## vkioulaphides

Lovely! I was touched and delighted by Departures— some of the sweetest and most mellifluous mandoloncello playing I have ever heard! The blend with the piano was also very warm and well balanced. Bravo!

Cheers,

Victor

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## JeffD

Beautiful stuff.

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## Alex Timmerman

Wonderful! Nice to hear that you like to play the Mandoloncello! I agree, Pietro Mascagni's 'Intermezzo' is such a beautiful work! Bravo to the *Fukuoka Symphonic Mandolin Ensemble* and their perfomances. I hope you will have a great anniversary concert on May 30th!

Thanks for sharing. 

Best regards, Alex

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## Hiin

Some members of our club rehearsing Suite Algeria No.4 Marche Miritarie Francaise

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## John Goodin

Thanks very much for sharing these wonderful performances!

John G.

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## Acquavella

I love Japan! This is exactly why....some wonderfully vibrant performances. I hope to get to perform there one day. Thanks for sharing these videos. It looks like you have a great mandolin club.

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## Hiin

Thanks for the kind comments, everyone!

Today I got some free time, so I decided to upload the rest of our 139th concert (the one that I uploaded on the beginning of this thread)
I tried my best to find translation for each title, but I just can't find it for some pieces. So, you may encounter some titles still on Japanese (which may not be read on your computer, resulting in strange rows of boxes).

It can be viewed here:
http://www.box.net/shared/12vu576t9i

But I thought you need to register first before viewing? 
I am unsure though..
Mediafire tends to delete file periodically, so I think uploading to Box.net may be a safe option in a long run.

I hope you'll enjoy our performances.

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## Margriet

thanks for sharing, Hiin,

I could download easily, without registering.

Wonderful concert, performed by people who love (mandolin) music!

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## Hiin

Just got the DVD from our anniversary concert. 
I'll try to upload them all, but it may take some time, so maybe a video per week? 
The concert is about 2 hours, you may get bored if I upload them all at once anyway.

So, here it is, 1st video:
Overture Myrthalia from Mario Maciocchi

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## Hiin

Uploaded another video:

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## Hiin

Finally got the CD from our last concert.
We participated in Fukuoka Mandolin Festival this year, where 8 groups from various university and amateur mandolin club in the city gathered together.

We played 2 pieces:
町の祭典 (The City Festival) 



> http://www.box.net/shared/bez7fg309z


kind of upbeat pieces, simple and quite short

and an adaptation of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue 



> http://www.box.net/shared/ryebtfvy2a


it was devilishly hard...it's my first time to play a piece that's so "jazzy" (supposed to be, but we failed to get the jazzy feeling out of that piece). a fun experience nevertheless.

There are also some performances from other groups, which I did not upload.

For the main event, all 8 groups (totaling about 150-200 people) perform a mandolin original piece from Suzuki Seiichi (considered a maestro here, but I think he's not that well known outside Japan) titled 比羅夫のユーカラー. Didn't really know how to translate that, but it's a symphonic poem, telling a story about about someone called Abe no Hirafu, who fought against aboriginal inhabitants of Japan.



> http://www.box.net/shared/kmt8khj18h


Well, after hearing the recording, it's kind of disappointing. I feel the piece supposed to be more "grandeur", but we didn't get that out. Should've practiced more.

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## Hiin

It's been a long time since I last post here!

I've just got the recording of my last concert.
It was from Kyushu University Mandolin Club 145th Concert.
Almost all were classical piece arranged for mandolin orchestra. (La Forza del Destino from Verdi, Ruy Blas Overture from Mendelssohn, and others)
I hope you'll enjoy it!

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Beanzy, 

Bob Clark

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## JEStanek

Thanks for sharing and welcome to the Mandolin Cafe!

Jamie

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## Beanzy

Thank you Hiin,

Personally I find it a really important motivator to see what is happening around the world.
Otherwise it all seems like we're in our own little box away from each other.
I love when people show there performances.... so thanks to all who do post too.

Glad to see you haven't disappeared from here.  :Smile:

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## Bob Clark

Hello Hiin,

Wonderful performance, thanks for posting it!

How many students are enrolled at Kyushu University and how many are music majors?  I am curious due to the large size of your mandolin orchestra.  Either you are at an extremely large institution, or the mandolin is much more popular with young people in Japan than I ever could have imagined.  Whichever is the case, congratulations on your large and successful group!

Best wishes,   Bob

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## Hiin

Hello Bob,

Thank you for your comment!

Currently there are about 12000 undergraduates in Kyushu University, and unfortunately we don't have a music program here. We do have 2 of our members (one of them is the conductor!) who currently pursuing a degree to be a sound engineer/acoustic experts. 

5 years ago there are about 40 people in our orchestra, but we are enjoying quite a little boom for mandolin here, and currently we have about 80 members. The market for mandolin orchestra (and classical music in general) is quite small though, and it's not very popular with young people. We do some "aggresive" recruiting for new members though, and many people actually want to be able to play some instruments. They like classical, want to play music, but don't know where to start. We provide some platform where they could get started to learn. Compared to violins, mandolins offer a degree of simplicity because they have frets. Tremolo is quite hard for starters, though, and because we play a lot of classical pieces, tremolo is one of the basic techniques that we have to master. 

Anyway, thanks for the warm reception! 

Hiin

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Bob Clark

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## August Watters

Well done, thanks for sharing! I agree with Victor's comment #3 above - in the English-speaking world we have too few opportunities to learn about this wonderful music, perhaps because of the language barrier - but it deserves to be much wider known.

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## Hiin

Just uploaded a new video.



I don't know if the community of mandolin lovers outside Japan familiar with it, but the "Forest's Beat" Suite is one of the most popular modern mandolin orchestra piece in Japan. The composer, Mr.Daigo Marumoto, personally write Suite No.2 to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Kyushu University. It was a lovely piece, with complex rhythm and beautiful melody, which is prominent in Mr.Marumoto's works. This is the premiere of the piece, taken in the anniversary's memorial concert last year

The concert hall, ACROS Fukuoka Symphony Hall, is one of the better halls around here, which we rarely use because it's expensive and it's quite difficult to get a reservation there. I really hope mandolin orchestra got more mainstream publication so we can attract a lot of people in our concerts - and allow us to afford better hall. It was a great experience, to be able to have a playing there.

BTW, you can find me in around the middle playing mandola, right in front the conductor  :Smile: 

I hope you enjoy it!

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Beanzy, 

haggis, 

Margriet

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## JeffD

Great music. Lovely. Heartbreaking in some places, probably because its new to me. I loved it.

I have to say I would not have expected to like mandolins playing against bowed basses. But I really like how it sounds here. In a way it enhances the mandolins because it provides a sub-basement foundation that contrasts with the shimmering mandolin tremolo. Sort of like how bright colors can look even brighter against a dark background. Or the sweet flavor of chocolate can be enhanced by adding a little salt.

In addition to the music though, I would love more information about the mandolins you all are playing. What kinds, who makes them, etc. Maybe some close up pictures. Are they supplied by the university or personally owned?

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## Hiin

Thanks, JeffD!

I like your description for the bowed basses  :Smile:  
Our bassist would surely be happy to hear that.

Our instructor always said that Mandolin tremolo is noncontinuous, unlike bowed strings, 
so it need to be supported to give the impression of fully continuous sound. 
Mandola tremolo supports mandolin tremolo, mandocello supports mandola, 
and on the bottom of that we need double bass to fill up the gap, 
so that the whole orchestra would give an impression of fully continuous sound. 

Recently we are experimenting to add another class of instrument in our orchestra, the mandolone.
You can see it here, the biggest instrument. 
It adds another layer to the tremolo, supporting mandocello with double bass.



About the mandolin, one of the most popular is the Calace's.
Embergher and Vinaccia mandolins are also highly valued, although it's hard to get them, and unlike Calace, 
doesn't actively produced anymore.

For the Japanese luthiers, the Noguchi/Ohno mandolins are the most popular.
http://iguchi.main.jp/noguchi-eng.html
At first Mr. Ohno created the mandolins, 
but his disciple Mr. Noguchi now inherited all the series and produce them by himself.

Personally, I use Kawada's mandola.
http://www.musik-solisten.com/hp-pag...#Anchor1216537
The page is in Japanese, but you can see the photos by clicking on the series number 
For example, this is the series of my mandola.
http://www.musik-solisten.com/hp-page/kawada_d30.html

Mr.Kawada is one of the most adventurous mandolin luthiers around here.
He changed the proportions to see how they would sound and come up with fat mandola like in here:
http://www.musik-solisten.com/hp-pag..._domura35.html

And this is one of his most beautiful series
http://www.j-guitar.com/product_id13630.html (you can click on the picture to see closed-up one)

And there are others like Suzuki, Ochiai, Ichikawa...all with their own unique sound and timbre. 

There are some instruments which can be used by all the members, usually by the first year who just got in, and the bassist and mandocellist usually use this, because their instruments are expensive. Some of the instruments are really old though, and doesn't sound really good. They are not supplied by the university, but donated by alumnis of our club.
Almost all the mandolin and mandola players play their own instruments though.
We have here a shop who let us pay in installment for 3 years.
Usually we do part time jobs too, to pay for the loan.
Some people use their first salary (after they graduated and got full time job) to finish their loan.

I hope this answer your curiousity!

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## Rodney Riley

Wow... Just... Wow!!! That would be one of lifetimes great experiences to be sitting at one of your performances. Thank you...

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Hiin

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