Originally Posted by
Jonathan Ward
I thought I knew about this stuff, but evidently not. A fellow in the classifieds is selling a (very nice) Sobell instrument that he describes as an "octave mandola." It looks like a mandola, as far as size, scale length, etc. Where I come from, and octave mandola gets you a mandocello (that being an octave below a mandola). Is this maybe European terminology?
I know nothing except this quote from the Hobgoblin mandola page:
"The Tenor Mandola (or Mandola) is tuned as a Viola, CGDA, one fifth below a mandolin. Octave Mandolas (also known as Octave Mandolins in America)...tuned GDAE, an octave below a Mandolin"
But... you said the instrument is regular mandola scale length, and yet the seller describes it as "octave". So I dunno what to think.
I agree with you that it would be more logical if an "octave mandola" was an octave lower than a regular mandola, i.e. mandocello range.
The Hobgoblin definition seems irrational anyway - why isn't CGDA a "tenor mandolin" instead of a "tenor mandola"? And besides, as Jim and Explorer mentioned above, I thought that was alto range (written in alto clef, right?) and yet it can also be tenor too? And if everything is based on the root word mandola, rather than the word mandolin, then why don't we refer to a mandolin as a soprano mandola? (or whatever human vocal range that would be, dunno, I'm not a singer)
But I guess no one ever said that musical names had to be logical. I'm assuming "traditional" is the culprit in many of these inconsistent naming discrepancies.
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