Classical/Medieval/Renaissance for Beginners?

[Kevin Turinsky]

Howdy,

I'm fairly new to mandolin, and playing music in general. I've been taking lessons for a handful of months. My love is Bluegrass, fiddle tunes, Old Time, etc., but I'm also really drawn to classical, as I get to hear a lot of piano and cello around the house.

If any of you have suggestions for some solid beginner/intro classical pieces and/or books to start with I'd greatly appreciate hearing about them. Thanks!

[Bob Clark]

For Medieval and Renaissance, check out the books by Allan Alexander. They have notation and tab, a CD comes with each book, and the music is really nice. NFI, just a happy user of his music.

Best wishes,

Bob

[Nick Royal]

I agree with Bob; Allan Alexander's many book have great tunes in them. I have been doing mandolin duets. One
book we worked from was music of South America. Now the guitarist and I am working on some tunes for Christmas from "Christmas Music for Mandolin & Guitar."

Nick

[Dan Krhla]

I can only echo what Bob and Nick have said. Over the past few years I have accumulated :

Balkan Music for Mandolin
Mandolin Music for Renaissance Faires
Mandolin Music for Medieval Faires
Medieval Music for Mandolin
Medieval Music for Mandolin Vol II
Renaissance Music for Mandolin
Early Dance Music for Mandolin Book/CD
Celtic Music for Mandolin Book
Christmas Music for Mandolin

They are all very enjoyable. NFI, just a happy customer. Actually I have owned 3 Renaissance Music for Mandolin - My kid got carsick on one, the airline lost a bag containing the second, and now I have the 3rd which I've scanned to a PDF should my luck continue...

[Eugene]

Just posted elsewhere, but here's an excerpt from a little handout I compiled this summer that might be of some use:

Bickford, Zarh Myron. 1920. The Bickford Mandolin Method, vols. 1–4. Carl Fischer, Inc., New York.

Branzoli, Giuseppe. 1875. Metodo Teorico-Pratico per Mandolino Napolitano o Romano. Franchi/Venturini, Rome. (This has stayed in print via many publishers and was the standard in Italy for a vast long time.)

Calace, Raffaele. 1902–1910. Metodo per Mandolino, opp.37–42. Calace e Figlio, Naples. (Also, note this very recent English-language edition: Burcham, Amy, trans. 2010–2011. Caterina Lichtenberg and Mike Marshall Present the Raffaele Calace Method for Mandolin, vols. 1 [opp.37–39] & 2 [opp.40–42]. Adventure Music Publishing LLC, New York.)

Cristofaro, Ferdinando de. 1884. Metodo per Mandolino. Lemoine, Paris. (This was very popular and stayed in print via many publishers for a great long time, often misattributed to “Christofaro” in older US editions.)

Dalton, Jim. 2006. Etudes Book 1 for Mandolin. Singing String Music Publications, Salem, MA.

Gladd, Neil, ed. 1983. Sol Goichberg (1937) Thirty-five Progressive Mandolin Etudes, op. 6. Plucked String, Inc. Arlington, VA.

Lichtenberg, Caterina. 2012. Basic Techniques of Classical Mandolin. DVD. Homespun Music Instruction, Woodstock, NY.

Mair, Marilynn. 2007. The Complete Mandolinist. Mel Bay Publications, Inc., Pacific, MO.

Marshall, Evan J. 2004. Duo-Style A to Z: A Comprehensive Method for Solo Mandolin in Duo-Style, from Entry Level to Artist Level. Mandolin Conservatory, San Gabriel, CA.

Minkoff Reprint. 1983. Methodes de Mandoline including Pietro [sic] Leoné (1768) Méthode Raisonnée pour Passer du Violon à la Mandoline et de l’Archet à la Plume, Giovanni Fouchetti (1771) Méthode pour Apprendre Facilement à Jouer de la Mandoline à Quatre et à Six Cordes, & Pietro Denis (1768, 1769, 1773) Méthode pour Apprendre à Jouer de la Mandoline sans Maitre, vols. 1–3. Minkoff Reprint, Geneva.

Minkoff Reprint. 1983. Corette, Michel (1772) Nouvelle Méthode pour Apprendre à Jouer en très Peu de Temps de la Mandoline. Minkoff Reprint, Geneva.

Munier, Carlo. 1895, 1909. Scuola del Mandolino: Metodo Completo per Mandolino. Adolfo Lapini, Florence.

Pettine, Giuseppe. 1901–1936. Pettine’s Modern Mandolin School, vols. 1–7. Rhode Island Music Co., Providence.

Ranieri, Silvio. 1910. L’Art de la Mandoline, vols. 1–4. Edition A. Cranz, Brussels.

Tröster, Gertrud. 1995–1996. Technique on Eight Strings: Etüden für Mandoline, vols. 1–2. Vogt & Fritz Musikverlag, Schweinfurt.

Tröster, Gertrud. 1995. The Classical Mandolin, vol. I: Basic Techniques. VHS Cassette. Plucked String, Inc. Kensington, MD.

Tröster, Gertrud. 1996. The Classical Mandolin, vol. II: Advancing to Higher Techniques. VHS Cassette. Plucked String, Inc. Kensington, MD.

Wilden-Hüsgen, Marga. 1985. Technische Studien für Mandoline. Vogt & Fritz Musikverlag, Schweinfurt.

Wilden-Hüsgen, Marga. 1986. Mandolinen-Schule. Schott, Mainz.

[Kevin Turinsky]

Thanks for the suggestions! I hit Allan Alexander's website and loaded up. I even picked up the Christmas songbook, too. They've got a wonderful website, w/ loads of great links. All the books showed up in a snap. What a fantastic surprise. Thanks so much!

[Pasha Alden]

Many thanks to Bob. Also my problem where to start with classical. The other problem for me is getting mandolin music into braille. In SA we have only two braille music transcribers.

With thanks again.

Vanillamandolin (Pasha Alden)

[Jim Garber]

Pasha:
No doubt you pron know a lo more than I do (or Google for that matter). You have seen these sites?

Braille Music Resources?
Dancing Dots

This one looks like a large archive of music in Braille: Braille Music Archive

Let me know if there is anything of value on those sites.