Video - Oswald and new Embergher-style mandolin

[Rob MacKillop]

As you will see, my mandolin playing has a long way to go. But here's a start. One of the 12 Divertimenti from John Goodin's Mel Bay publication:

[Mandocarver]

Looking and sounding very much like you've been playing the mandolin for many years. Lovely playing and a fine sounding instrument.
Just out of curiousity, where do you find the mandolin particularly challenging in relation to the other instruments you master so well?
Thanks,
Dean

[Margriet]

Lovely!

I hear the kind of sound why i love mandolin so much.
To be honest, it was not so easy to let this mandolin go. It is in good hands, which is now confirmed. :-)
Thanks for sharing this.

Wish you much joy with playing mandolin and i guess that this instrument plays a role in it.

(and... i think the little ornament under the stringholder is not original. It seems to be glued on)

Margriet

[Hany Hayek]

I am very glad that you took on the mandolin and joined the Cafe.
I can understand why if I had this mandolin it would not of been easy to let go, but I agree it is in very good hands.
I enjoyed your playing and will be looking forward to hear you playing some Italian music as well.

[JeffD]

Beautiful playing on a beautiful sounding instrument.

[Rob MacKillop]

Well, I think you are all being very kind to me. I can see many faults with the video performance, but it is work in progress, so I won't be too hard on myself

Dean - what I'm finding difficult is the string tension, which is much higher than I am used to, and the right-hand precise plectrum strokes. The video has shown me how all over the place my plectrum control is. I'm finding the string action a little high, or the strings too high in tension, so I've ordered a lower gauge set of Fisoma consort strings. They are expensive, so I hope I'm happy with them this time.

Margriet - i also thought the ornament was not original. It also looks a little cheap.

Hany - I hope my next video will be of some Ranieri, with tremolo! I hope!

Jeff - Many thanks.

[John Goodin]

Rob, a lovely performance on a beautiful instrument. You may be the only person alive (certainly one of a very few) who knows this music so well. I hope you mostly agree with my choices in leaving out various double-stops. I took the approach that Oswald must have intended these pieces to be fairly simple and I removed most of the double-stops that would have been easier with the cittern/guittar tuning but are more tricky (and sometimes impossible) on the modern mandolin.

I especially love the third to last measure in the first movement where the first note is a g natural followed immediately by an f sharp leading to a g sharp. It's one of my favorite bits in all of Oswald's music.

I played nos. 3 and 9 of these pieces last night during my monthly solo mandolin gig at our local coffee house. I try to play a couple every time. Someone is always interested in who this Oswald guy was and I really enjoy talking about him. I pointed out last night that his music is great and unique but he was alive and working during the age of J.S. Bach, Handel and Scarlatti, so the bar was pretty high for composers in those days.

Thanks very much for sharing this video. I hope our friends here on this forum will seek out your definitive recording of this music on the original guittar.

John G.

[mrmando]

What a lovely tone and a lovely piece of music, and in a pair of hands well equipped to exploit both of them.

[Rob MacKillop]

John - many thanks. I'm glad you simplified the original notation! These pieces are fairly easy on the guittar, and that's how they should be on the mandolin. Yes, I also love that bar! I will play more of these eventually. But now my gaze is fixed on Ranieri, something completely different!

Martin - many thanks for your kind words.

[Martin Jonas]

Dean - what I'm finding difficult is the string tension, which is much higher than I am used to, and the right-hand precise plectrum strokes. The video has shown me how all over the place my plectrum control is. I'm finding the string action a little high, or the strings too high in tension, so I've ordered a lower gauge set of Fisoma consort strings. They are expensive, so I hope I'm happy with them this time.

Sounds good, Rob -- I'm glad you like your new Roman mandolin! Tone production fascinates me, and I'm always intrigued to note that tone quality tends to depend much more on the player than the instrument. To my ears, your tone on the mandolin has a closely related warm timbre to your tone on the guittar, notwithstanding the completely different instrument construction, strings and the use of a plectrum. I love those Oswald pieces, but they sound different (brighter, mainly, and not as smooth) when I play them on mandolin.

Regarding strings, are these still the original strings, or are they the medium gauge Consorts you had received last week? I think it is a general observation for those coming from other stringed instruments that the mandolin has much higher string tension and that it takes some getting used to it. The TI flatwounds on your De Meglio will feel softer to your fingers, and that is one of the reason why some players prefer them. However, the medium Consort strings should not have too high tension for this mandolin if the action is setup optimally at the nut and the bridge.

I know what you mean about the high price of the Fisoma strings. Ordering individual sets from Germany to the UK is expensive because of the postage and there is (as far as I know) no UK seller. It's much more reasonable when you order larger numbers. Unfortunately, Schneider Musik have changed their postage costs: it used to be free shipping to the UK for orders over 80 Euros, but it's now only for orders over 150 Euros. That's fine if you know precisely which strings you like and want to stock up on them, but not so good in your situation where you want to try out different options to see which work best for you.

Martin

[Rob MacKillop]

Cheers, Martin.

I guess I have "my sound" in my head, or somewhere else, and always seek it out, no matter the instrument. I'm pleased you noticed that.

I took the Thomastik strings off, the day after receiving the instrument, as I wanted to hear the contrast between the new strings and the Thomastiks on the de Meglio mandolin I had been loaned. The contrast is very marked! After playing the Barslev instrument for an hour with the Fisoma strings, I tried the Meglio with the TI flats - it sounded like someone had stuffed the body with cotton wool. Now, I like a mellow sound, but this Barslev mandolin, despite being the opposite of mellow, has a quality of sound I really am drawn to. At first I wasn't sure, but once I had played it for a while, maybe finding my sound in it, I started to really like it. It's also much louder than the Meglio.

I played for over two hours in a mandolin orchestra rehearsal with the Barslev this evening, and my left hand is not tired, so maybe I am getting used to the tension and action of the strings. But I still feel the lower-tension set might be better suited to me and it. We shall see.

Thanks for your comments.

[John Uhrig]

Very nicely played ! I have John's self-published book of these pieces. Number VI in my book is in Bb. A little more difficult for me to play than the version you did. Might just have to order myself the Mel-Bay version.

[Bill Clements]

Most enjoyable, Rob.
You stop notes very cleanly, and do justice to John's arrangement musically as well. I recently acquired the 2011 edition that is spiral bound and omits tablature, unlike the Mel Bay publication. Your performance will be a fine companion to those learning this particular Divertimento.
Nice of you to give us a better view of your lovely mandolin, too!

[Rob MacKillop]

Thanks, John and Bill. It's a good edition. You can download it from the Mel Bay website, or order a hard copy.

[haggis]

I can vouch for the lovely sound - Rob was playing very near to me at EMGO last night; a great mandolin. I can see why you found it difficult to let it go!

[derbex]

It's also much louder than the Meglio.

I wonder if that is the strings, my De Meglio is the loudest mandolin I own, but it doesn't have flat wound strings on it.

[Rob MacKillop]

Yes, the de Meglio should have different strings on it. It wasn't so much a comment on the mandolin, as the strings.

haggis - you must have heard all my mistakes more clearly than before

[derbex]

Yes, the de Meglio should have different strings on it. It wasn't so much a comment on the mandolin, as the strings.

I have just put Daddario flat wound strings on my Flatiron A style, it's not a night and day difference, I'd say it has taken away a bit of character, made it a bit quieter, but also more balanced, I think I prefer it. Maybe I'll try Thomastik next time. I don't feel the need to put them on my bowl back though, I'll stick with Calace.

[John Goodin]

Thanks to John and Bill for mentioning my earlier, pre-Mel Bay, printed version of Oswalds's 12 Divertimenti. I had two main reasons for pitching this book idea to the MB folks. First, their international distribution and second, to see if an edition including tablature would appeal to a wider range of mandolin players.

Once I committed to a new edition I decided it would be fun to "improve" my self-published one by editing out even more of the double-stops that Oswald included in his original compositions. I also changed the keys of four of the pieces (nos. 1,2,6,9) to, I hope, make them even more accessible to a broader audience.

The original pieces by Oswald are all in the key of C, I presume because the most common tuning of the 18th century wire-strung guittar was C-E-G-c-e-g. I believe that Oswald meant for these pieces to be playable in the first position on the guittar. So I enjoyed trying different keys to make the pieces a little easier for our mandolins and, also, just to provide some variety.

I no longer sell my earlier non-tab version of the book in deference to my friends at Mel Bay. I believe, though, that Elderly might still have a couple of those non-tab versions left, if that's what you really want.

Hoping to avoid sounding too much like a commercial here on the forum I should point out that my original transcriptions of these 12 pieces, in their original key of C, are all still freely available (that is, for no charge) at my Mandotopia site at this link:
http://www.mandotopia.com/oswald/oswald12.htm

By studying the original versions in C you can see where I edited out many of the double-stops. You can also have fun, if you want to take the time, changing the pieces into other keys.

Thanks again to Rob for his fine recording. It's always fun to see Oswald being discussed here in the same thread with an Embergher mandolin.

John G.

[Classicalcomp]

John, you're very kind to keep those transcriptions free. Rob, the mandolin sounds great. I wouldn't be rough on your technique. It's a work in progress, but you're really getting great tone from that Embergher.

[Rob MacKillop]

Thanks, CC. Appreciated.

[haggis]

haggis - you must have heard all my mistakes more clearly than before

What mistakes?!