Jim Garber, I would love to make it to a mandolin orchestra, that is on my "bucket list," when I retire. The closest one to me is in Pittsburgh, a 2 1/2 to 3 hour drive. But I will get there some day!
Jim Garber, I would love to make it to a mandolin orchestra, that is on my "bucket list," when I retire. The closest one to me is in Pittsburgh, a 2 1/2 to 3 hour drive. But I will get there some day!
As a relative beginner, some pieces I'd like to add are:
J.S. Bach - Minuet in G, Bourree in E Minor, and March in D Major
Handel - Bourree and Hornpipe from the Water Music Suite
All of these should be within the abilities of most mandolinists.
Flatiron 2MW
Eastman 615
In 2011 I was recruited to play the mandolin accompaniment to the well-known aria in Mozart's opera Don Giovanni. We did two performances at a local university. It was quite a challenge, especially as I had to memorize the part and play it on stage (as a street musician whom Don Giovanni hires to help him woo the woman he's singing to). The mandolin part is meant to be heard with the vocal, but it sounds very nice on its own. There is a very creative climb up the circle of fifths, which just goes to show that Mozart and dixieland aren't as far apart as one might think. The music is available in several classical mandolin anthologies. It helped me to hear it played well--there are several versions on line.
The horizontal lines represent the strings the bottom line being your G string (mandolin) and top line being your E (again mandolin) the numbers represent the fret. If you have 4 string lines and there is a number 5 on the bottom line you fret your G string at the 3rd fret. The timing is the same as in regular music notation. Hope this helps. BanjoBen's lessons are a good place to start.
Lisa
There are no classical pieces I should learn. I enjoy listening to classical, and had plenty of classical playing time (trombone) in bands, brass choirs, vocal choirs, and orchestras. I took a classical class with Caterina at a camp. To do it properly requires a very specialized technique. Having picked up mandolin later in life, I choose to invest no time in the pursuit of classical. Maybe if there was a local Mando orchestra I’d change my mind. The folks with whom I jam are not in it for classical.
Girouard A
Silverangel A
Eastman 615
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
I live three hours from the home of the Munier Mandolin Orchestra in Philadelphia. I made an arrangement with them that I would learn and practice the music on my own, make it to a few rehearsals when I could, and then be able to play play final rehearsal and concert. I find this works pretty well. I have a mandolin coach I work with on Skype to help me the the technicalities of playing classical music, and all I need the rehearsals for is to get the ensemble playing practice and the particulars the conductor wants.
The whole thing works. I get to be part of Munier, work out the music and perform in the orchestra, without having to drive the three hours down and three hours back more than two or three times a year. For me it would not be possible without the coach.
Just a thought.
Coming to this thread rather late in the day - very interesting reading!
I spent 40+ years as a professional cellist and only read standard notation. I also played guitar - both accoustic and classical, again from standard notation.
In the last 25 years I have developed a violin workshop which has morphed in the last 7 years into a mandolin workshop thanks to a Canadian lutherie friend who intruduced me to Celtic music and the Mandolin.
I have therefore developed a broad musical taste over the years. I now find that I am going back to my classical roots with so much wonderful music that can easily(?) be transcribed for the mandolin. Being trained in standard notation I can easily sight-read normal manuscript and my fingers will automatically go to the right notes.
Tablature, on the other hand, I find extremely difficult to read and therefore cannot sight-read from it. It takes me so long to translate into notes on the fretboard that I end up writing it out in normal notation. By the time I've done all that I have learned what the music should sound like and have memorised the piece - and then I don't need the manuscript anyway! Such is life.......
Anything by R.Calace...
Although there are some classical pieces I enjoy listening to, I was not brought up or trained in it. It never appealed to me while playing keyboard or guitar. Even when this thread first came out, I was interested in reading everyone's comments but not in playing. Now that I'm almost 4 years in to mandolin - exploring more and more - and riding through my 6th decade, I find it alluring. My attempts at playing the pieces I know by ear fall short of what they should sound like in my mind. Finding scores in standard notation is the next step. We'll see where this path leads.
"If your memories exceed your dreams, you have begun to die." - Anonymous
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