1916 Gibson F4 with arched and carved top, curled scroll and oval soundhole.
1924 Gibson F-5 mandolin, with f-shaped soundholes designed by Lloyd Loar
1921 Gibson A4 mandolin
The mandolin has had a place in North American culture since the 1880s, when a "mandolin craze" began.[1][2] The continent was a land of immigrants, including Italian immigrants, some of whom brought their mandolins with them. In spite of the mandolin having arrived in America, it was not in the cultural consciousness until after 1880 when the Spanish Students arrived on their international performing tour. Afterwards, a "mandolin craze" swept the United States, with large numbers of young people taking up the instrument and teachers such as Samuel Siegel touring the United States. The fad died out after World War I, but enough had learned the instrument that it remained. The mandolin found a new surge with the music of Bill Monroe; the Gibson F-5 mandolin he played, as well as other archtop instruments, became the American standard for mandolins. Bowlback mandolins were displaced. The instrument has been taken up in blues, bluegrass, jug-band music, country, rock, punk and other genres of music. While not as popular as the guitar, it is widespread across the country.[citation needed]
The music scene in Canada as the United States is similar, with both countries having a common origin and having English-based music in the same genres, such as rock, country, bluegrass. The mandolin has found a home in both countries. Mexico, the other nation in North America has a history with different origins. Its instruments reflect that origin, and it too had a connection to the mandolin's development in North America.[citation needed]
Mandolin orchestras and classical-music virtuosos
Carlo Curti founded one of Mexico's oldest orchestras, the Mexican Typical Orchestra, and helped to popularize mandolin in the United States.
The Spanish Students, who were first brought to the United States by Henry Eugene Abbey's firm, performing with his "Humpty Dumpty Combination." This poster was for a Manhattan performance February 3, 1880, at the Booth's Theatre on the corner of 6th Avenue and 23rd Street.
The mandolin's popularity in the United States was spurred by the success of a group of touring young European musicians known as the Estudiantina Figaro, or in the United States, simply the "Spanish Students."[4] The group landed in the U.S. on January 2, 1880 in New York City, and played in Boston and New York to wildly enthusiastic crowds.[5] Ironically, this ensemble did not play mandolins but rather bandurrias, which are also small, double-strung instruments that resemble the mandolin.[6]
The success of the Figaro Spanish Students spawned other groups who imitated their musical style and costumes.[5] An Italian musician, Carlo Curti, hastily started a musical ensemble after seeing the Figaro Spanish Students perform; his group of Italian born Americans called themselves the "Original Spanish Students," counting on the American public to not know the difference between the Spanish bandurrias and Italian mandolins.[5][7] The imitators' use of mandolins helped to generate enormous public interest in an instrument previously relatively unknown in the United States.[8][5]
Another imitation group was Zerega's Spanish Troubadours, a quintet of three mandolins and two guitars. They weren't Spanish, and Zerega was the stage name of Indiana-born Edgar E. Hill who played with his wife May, both Americans, who had eloped to London, but toured America in 1887.[9][10]
Seth Weeks, 1900. Possibly the first African American to play mandolin during its golden period.[11] First American known to write a mandolin concerto (in 1900); led a mandolin and guitar orchestra in Tacoma, Washington.[12]
Valentine Abt posing with a Gibson mandolin in a 1912 endorsement advertisement for the instrument. Abt called the Gibson Company "the pioneer of plectrum instrument making in America" and mentioned its carrying power.[13]
Mandolin awareness in the United States blossomed in the 1880s, as the instrument became part of a fad that continued into the mid-1920s.[14][15] According to Clarence L. Partee a publisher in the BMG movement (banjo, mandolin and guitar), the first mandolin made in the United States was made in 1883 or 1884 by Joseph Bohmann, who was an established maker of violins in Chicago.[16] Partee characterized the early instrument as being larger than the European instruments he was used to, with a "peculiar shape" and "crude construction," and said that the quality improved, until American instruments were "superior" to imported instruments.[16] At the time, Partee was using an imported French-made mandolin.[16][17] By the year 1900 mandolin sales constituted 10.6 percent of the nation's "small goods" musical instrument sales, less than the 21.3 percent of the market that music boxes held and more than the guitar's 9.6 percent.[18] The mandolin also outsold zithers, "Apollo harps" and autoharps at 8.6 percent and brass instruments for bands at 7.5 percent of total sales.[18]
Instruments were marketed by teacher-dealers, much as the title character in the popular musical The Music Man.[19] Often, these teacher-dealers conducted mandolin orchestras: groups of four to fifty musicians who played various mandolin family instruments. However, alongside the teacher-dealers were serious musicians, working to create a spot for the instrument in classical music, ragtime and jazz. Like the teacher-dealers, they traveled the U.S., recording records, giving performances and teaching individuals and mandolin orchestras. Samuel Siegel played mandolin in Vaudeville and became one of America's preeminent mandolinists.[20] Another vaudeville performer, Bob Yosco, from the double act Lyons and Yosco, is considered one of America's first ragtime mandolin players.[21]Seth Weeks was an African American who not only taught and performed in the United States, but also in Europe, where he recorded records.[11][22] Another pioneering African American musician and director who made his start with a mandolin orchestra was composer James Reese Europe. W. Eugene Page toured the country with a group, and was well known for his mandolin and mandola performances.[23][24] Other names include Valentine Abt, Samuel Adelstein, William Place, Jr., Bernardo De Pace, and Aubrey Stauffer.[20]
The instrument was primarily used in an ensemble setting well into the 1930s, and although the fad died out at the beginning of the 1930s, the instruments that were developed for the orchestra found a new home in bluegrass. The famous Lloyd Loar Master Model from Gibson (1923) was designed to boost the flagging interest in mandolin ensembles, with little success. However, the "Loar" became the defining instrument of bluegrass music when Bill Monroe purchased F-5 S/N 73987[25] in a Florida barbershop in 1943 and popularized it as his main instrument.
The mandolin orchestras never completely went away, however. In fact, along with all the other musical forms the mandolin is involved with, the mandolin ensemble (groups usually arranged like the string section of a modern symphony orchestra, with first mandolins, second mandolins, mandolas, mandocellos, mando-basses, and guitars, and sometimes supplemented by other instruments) continues to grow in popularity. Since the mid-nineties, several public-school mandolin-based guitar programs have blossomed around the country, including Fretworks Mandolin and Guitar Orchestra, the first of its kind. The national organization, Classical Mandolin Society of America, founded by Norman Levine, represents these groups. Prominent modern mandolinists and composers for mandolin in the classical music tradition include Samuel Firstman, Howard Fry, Rudy Cipolla, Dave Apollon, Neil Gladd, Evan Marshall, Marilynn Mair and Mark Davis (the Mair-Davis Duo), Brian Israel, David Evans, Emanuil Shynkman, Radim Zenkl, David Del Tredici and Ernst Krenek.[26]
Bill and Charlie Monroe, 1936. Bill is pictured with a Gibson F-7 mandolin, which he replaced with an F-5 in 1945.[27]
Bill Monroe's F-5.
Lloyd Loar, performer and designer of the F-5.
When Cowan Powers and his family recorded their old-time music from 1924 to 1926, his daughter Orpha Powers was one of the earliest known southern-music artists to record with the mandolin.[28] By the 1930s, single mandolins were becoming more commonly used in southern string band music, most notably by brother duets such as the sedate Blue Sky Boys (Bill Bolick and Earl Bolick), the Armstrong Twins (Lloyd and Floyd Armstrong) and the more hard-driving Monroe Brothers (Bill Monroe and Charlie Monroe). However, the mandolin's modern popularity in country music can be directly traced to one man: Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass music. After the Monroe Brothers broke up in 1939, Bill Monroe formed his own group, after a brief time called the Blue Grass Boys, and completed the transition of mandolin styles from a "parlor" sound typical of brother duets to the modern "bluegrass" style. He joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1939 and its powerful clear-channel broadcast signal on WSM-AM spread his style throughout the South, directly inspiring many musicians to take up the mandolin. Monroe famously played Gibson F-5 mandolin, signed and dated July 9, 1923, by Lloyd Loar, chief acoustic engineer at Gibson. The F-5 has since become the most imitated tonally and aesthetically by modern builders.
Monroe's style involved playing lead melodies in the style of a fiddler, and also a percussive chording sound referred to as "the chop" for the sound made by the quickly struck and muted strings. He also perfected a sparse, percussive blues style, especially up the neck in keys that had not been used much in country music, notably B and E. He emphasized a powerful, syncopated right hand at the expense of left-hand virtuosity. Monroe's most influential follower of the second generation is Frank Wakefield and nowadays Mike Compton of the Nashville Bluegrass Band and David Long, who often tour as a duet. Tiny Moore of the Texas Playboys developed an electric five-string mandolin and helped popularize the instrument in Western Swing music.[29]
Other major bluegrass mandolinists who emerged in the early 1950s and are still active include Jesse McReynolds (of Jim and Jesse) who invented a syncopated banjo-roll-like style called crosspicking—and Bobby Osborne of the Osborne Brothers, who is a master of clarity and sparkling single-note runs. Highly respected and influential modern bluegrass players include Herschel Sizemore, Doyle Lawson, and the multi-genre Sam Bush, who is equally at home with old-time fiddle tunes, rock, reggae, and jazz. Ronnie McCoury of the Del McCoury Band has won numerous awards for his Monroe-influenced playing. John Duffey of the original Country Gentlemen and later the Seldom Scene did much to popularize the bluegrass mandolin among folk and urban audiences, especially on the east coast and in the Washington, D.C. area.
Bobby Osborne (playing mandolin) and Rocky Top, 2007.
Chris Thile, 2012. Thile plays a Gibson F-5 mandolin, made by Lloyd Loar.[30]
Jethro Burns, best known as half of the comedy duo Homer and Jethro, was also the first important jazz mandolinist. Tiny Moore popularized the mandolin in Western swing music. He initially played an 8-string Gibson but switched after 1952 to a 5-string solidbody electric instrument built by Paul Bigsby. Modern players David Grisman, Sam Bush, and Mike Marshall, among others, have worked since the early 1970s to demonstrate the mandolin's versatility for all styles of music. Chris Thile of California is a well-known player, and has accomplished many feats of traditional bluegrass, classical, contemporary pop and rock; the band Nickel Creek featured his playing in its blend of traditional and pop styles, and he now plays in his band Punch Brothers. Most commonly associated with bluegrass, mandolin has been used a lot in country music over the years. Some well-known players include Marty Stuart, Vince Gill, Steve Earle and Ricky Skaggs.
It saw some use in jug band music, since that craze began as the mandolin fad was waning, and there were plenty of instruments available at relatively low cost.
Blues and jazz
Mandolin has also been used in blues music performed by Ry Cooder, Yank Rachell, Johnny "Man" Young, Carl Martin, and Gerry Hundt. Howard Armstrong, known for his blues violin, got his start with his father's mandolin and played in string bands similar to the other Tennessee string bands he came into contact with, with band makeup including "mandolins and fiddles and guitars and banjos".[31] Other blues players from the era's string bands include Willie Black (Whistler And His Jug Band), Joe Evans (The Two Poor Boys), Dink Brister, Jim Hill, Charles Johnson, Coley Jones (Dallas String Band), Bobby Leecan (Need More Band), Alfred Martin, Charlie McCoy (1909–1950), Al Miller, Matthew Prater, and Herb Quinn.[31]
The mandolin has been used occasionally in rock music, first appearing in the psychedelic era of the late 1960s. Levon Helm of the Band occasionally moved from his drum kit to play mandolin, most notably on "Rag Mama Rag", "Rockin' Chair", and "Evangeline". Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull played mandolin on "Fat Man", from their second album, Stand Up, and occasionally on later releases. Rod Stewart's 1971 No.1 hit "Maggie May" features a significant mandolin riff. David Grisman played mandolin on two Grateful Dead songs on the American Beauty album, "Friend of the Devil" and "Ripple", which became instant favorites among amateur pickers at jam sessions and campground gatherings. John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page both played mandolin on Led Zeppelin songs. Dash Crofts of the soft rock duo Seals and Crofts extensively used mandolin in their repertoire during the 1970s. Styx released the song "Boat on the River" in 1980, which featured Tommy Shaw on vocals and mandolin. The song didn't chart in the United States but was popular in much of Europe and the Philippines.
Some rock musicians today use mandolins, often single-stringed electric models rather than double-stringed acoustic mandolins. One example is Tim Brennan of the Irish-American punk rock band Dropkick Murphys. In addition to electric guitar, bass, and drums, the band uses several instruments associated with traditional Celtic music, including mandolin, tin whistle, and Great Highland bagpipes. The band explains that these instruments accentuate the growling sound they favor. The 1991 R.E.M. hit "Losing My Religion" was driven by a few simple mandolin licks played by guitarist Peter Buck, who also played the mandolin in nearly a dozen other songs. The single peaked at No.4 on the Billboard Hot 100. The track "I Will Dare", by alternative rock band The Replacements, which features a Peter Buck guitar solo, also features songwriter Paul Westerberg on mandolin. Luther Dickinson of North Mississippi Allstars and the Black Crowes has made frequent use of the mandolin, most notably on the Black Crowes song "Locust Street". Armenian American rock group System of A Down makes extensive use of the mandolin on their 2005 double album Mezmerize/Hypnotize. Pop punk band Green Day has used a mandolin in several occasions, especially on their 2000 album, Warning. Boyd Tinsley, violin player of the Dave Matthews Band has been using an electric mandolin since 2005. Frontman Colin Meloy and guitarist Chris Funk of the Decemberists regularly employ the mandolin in the band's music. Nancy Wilson, rhythm guitarist of Heart, uses a mandolin in Heart's song "Dream of the Archer" from the album Little Queen, as well as in Heart's cover of Led Zeppelin's song "The Battle of Evermore". "Show Me Heaven" by Maria McKee, the theme song to the film Days of Thunder, prominently features a mandolin. The popular alt rock group Imagine Dragons feature the mandolin on a few of their songs, most prominently being "It's Time". Folk rock band the Lumineers use a mandolin in the background of their 2012 hit "Ho Hey".
Many folk punk bands also feature the mandolin. One such band is Days N' Daze, who make use of the mandolin, banjo, ukulele, as well as several other acoustic plucked string instruments. Other mandolin inclusive folk punk acts include Blackbird Raum, and Johnny Hobo and the Freight Trains.
In Mexico
Colonized by Spain, Mexico had both Spanish instruments as well as instruments created locally. These include the bandurria and the bandolón.
When Carlo Curti finished with playing mandolin with his "Spanish Students" in the United States, he organized a new act in Mexico in 1883-1884, the Mexican Typical Orchestra, which performed at the World's Industrial and Cotton Exposition (1885) in New Orleans and then toured the United States.[32] The band included as many as seven bandolóns. Bandolóns were developed in Mexico, guitar sized instruments with 18 strings (in 6 courses of 3) related to the bandurria.[33][34] When described in U.S. newspapers, it was noted that they looked like large mandolins.[35] It was also noted that Carlo Curti was a well-known mandolin player, and some newspapers never found out what the bandolóns were, calling them mandolins.[36][37]
The confusion may have added further to the impression in the United States that the mandolin and bandurria families were related. Musician Robert Braine wrote in the Etude in August 1918 that "the craze for the mandolin in the United States was a direct result of the concert tours, covering several years, of two of such orchestras, the "Spanish Students" and the "Mexican Typical Orchestra" from Mexico City.[38] Braine was aware of the nature of the Neapolitan mandolin, but lumped mandolins and bandurrias together in his article, saying that the mandolin was "played, studied and taught" in Spain, Mexico and the South American countries.[38]
Related Research Articles
The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, in modern forms usually made of plastic, originally of animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashioned by African Americans and had African antecedents. In the 19th century, interest in the instrument was spread across the United States and United Kingdom by traveling shows of the 19th century minstrel show fad, followed by mass-production and mail-order sales, including instruction method books. The inexpensive or home-made banjo remained part of rural folk culture, but 5-string and 4-string banjos also became popular for home parlor music entertainment, college music clubs, and early 20th century jazz bands. By the early 21st century, the banjo was most frequently associated with folk, bluegrass and country music, but was also used in some rock, pop and even hip-hop music. Among rock bands, The Eagles, Led Zeppelin, and The Grateful Dead have used the five-string banjo in some of their songs.
A mandolin is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of eight strings. A variety of string types are used, with steel strings being the most common and usually the least expensive. The courses are typically tuned in an interval of perfect fifths, with the same tuning as a violin. Also, like the violin, it is the soprano member of a family that includes the mandola, octave mandolin, mandocello and mandobass.
William Smith Monroe was an American mandolinist, singer, and songwriter, who created the bluegrass music genre. Because of this, he is often called the "Father of Bluegrass".
Bluegrass music is a genre of American roots music that developed in the 1940s in the Appalachian region of the United States. The genre derives its name from the band Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys. Like mainstream country music, it largely developed out of old-time string music, though in contrast, bluegrass is traditionally played exclusively on acoustic instruments and also has roots in traditional English, Scottish, and Irish ballads and dance tunes as well as in blues and jazz. Bluegrass was further developed by musicians who played with Monroe, including 5-string banjo player Earl Scruggs and guitarist Lester Flatt. Monroe characterized the genre as, "Scottish bagpipes and ole-time fiddlin'. It's a part of Methodist, Holiness and Baptist traditions. It's blues and jazz, and it has a high lonesome sound."
An archtop guitar is a hollow acoustic or semi-acoustic guitar with a full body and a distinctive arched top, whose sound is particularly popular with jazz, blues, and rockabilly players.
Lloyd Allayre Loar (1886–1943) was an American musician, instrument designer and sound engineer. He is best known for his design work with the Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Mfg. Co. Ltd. in the early 20th century, including the F-5 model mandolin and L-5 guitar. In his later years he worked on electric amplification of stringed instruments, and demonstrated them around the country. One example, played in public in 1938 was an electric viola that used electric coils beneath the bridge, with no back, able to "drown out the loudest trumpet."
Orville H. Gibson was an American luthier who founded the Gibson Guitar Company in Kalamazoo, Michigan in 1902, makers of guitars, mandolins and other instruments.
The mandocello is a plucked string instrument of the mandolin family. It is larger than the mandolin, and is the baritone instrument of the mandolin family. Its eight strings are in four paired courses, with the strings in each course tuned in unison. Overall tuning of the courses is in fifths like a mandolin, but beginning on bass C (C2). It can be described as being to the mandolin what the cello is to the violin.
The bandurria is a plucked chordophone from Spain, similar to the mandolin and bandola, primarily used in Spanish folk music, but also found in former Spanish colonies.
Traditional bluegrass, as the name implies, emphasizes the traditional elements of bluegrass music, and stands in contrast to progressive bluegrass. Traditional bluegrass musicians play folk songs, tunes with simple traditional chord progressions, and on acoustic instruments of a type that were played by bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys band in the late 1940s. Traditional bands may use their instruments in slightly different ways, for example by using multiple guitars or fiddles in a band.
The Mandobass is the largest member of the mandolin family, sometimes used as the bass instrument in mandolin orchestras. It's essentially an Enormous Acoustic Bass shaped like an A Style Mandolin. This Bass is so large that players usually hold it like a double bass—upright and supported on an endpin that rests on the floor. The neck-scale length on a full-size mando-bass is similar to that of a standard orchestral double bass viol: about 43 inches (110 cm). The instrument is otherwise similar to the smaller, higher-pitched members of the mandolin family, having a fretted neck, a headstock with geared tuning machines, and a large resonating body often—but not always—shaped like other mandolins.
Michael Compton is an American bluegrass mandolin player and former protégé of the Father of Bluegrass, Bill Monroe. He is considered a modern master of bluegrass mandolin.
The rondalla is an ensemble of stringed instruments played with the plectrum or pick and generally known as plectrum instruments. It originated in Medieval Spain, especially in the ancient Crown of Aragon: Catalonia, Aragon, Murcia, and Valencia. The tradition was later taken to Spanish America and the Philippines. The word rondalla is from the Spanish ronda, meaning "serenade."
The F-5 is a mandolin made by Gibson beginning in 1922. Some of them are referred to as Fern because the headstock is inlaid with a fern pattern. The F-5 became the most popular and most imitated American mandolin, and the best-known F-5 was owned by Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass music, who in turn helped identify the F-5 as the ultimate bluegrass mandolin.
The Spanish Students was a musical group from Madrid which popularized the tuna form of traditional student bands. It gained international recognition after performing at the Carnival of Paris and the Paris Exposition of 1878. Under the name Estudiantina Española Fígaro, members of the original group toured France, Germany, Russia, Italy, Holland and England. After two years touring Europe, some members also toured North and South America in 1880.
Bluegrass mandolin is a style of mandolin playing most commonly heard in bluegrass bands.
Carlo Curti, also known as Carlos Curti, was an Italian musician, composer and bandleader. He moved to the United States whose most lasting contribution to American society was popularizing the mandolin in American music by starting a national "grass-roots mandolin orchestra craze".
The mandolin is a modern member of the lute family, dating back to Italy in the 18th century. The instrument was played across Europe but then disappeared after the Napoleonic Wars. Credit for creating the modern bowlback version of the instrument goes to the Vinaccia family of Naples. The deep bowled mandolin, especially the Neapolitan form, became common in the 19th century, following the appearance of an international hit, the Spanish Students. They toured Europe and America, and their performances created a stir that helped the mandolin to become widely popular.
Following its invention and development in Italy the mandolin spread throughout the European continent. The instrument was primarily used in a classical tradition with mandolin orchestras, so called Estudiantinas or in Germany Zupforchestern, appearing in many cities. Following this continental popularity of the mandolin family, local traditions appeared outside Europe in the Americas and in Japan. Travelling mandolin virtuosi like Carlo Curti, Giuseppe Pettine, Raffaele Calace and Silvio Ranieri contributed to the mandolin becoming a "fad" instrument in the early 20th century. This "mandolin craze" was fading by the 1930s, but just as this practice was falling into disuse, the mandolin found a new niche in American country, old-time music, bluegrass and folk music. More recently, the Baroque and Classical mandolin repertory and styles have benefited from the raised awareness of and interest in Early music.
↑ Gregg Miner. "Gibson Mandolin Orchestra". minermusic.com. Retrieved 21 December 2014. systematic nation-wide marketing scheme wherein a network of music teacher-dealers was cajoled into organizing local mandolin "clubs" whose eager participants would just happen to require (A) lessons and (B) instruments -- both happily provided by the teacher.
↑ "Gibson F-7 Mandolin (1936)". mandozine.com. Retrieved 21 June 2017. It was this model that Bill Monroe (pictured) used on his first recordings with his brother Charlie as the Monroe Brothers...
↑ Byworth, Tony, ed. (2006). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music. London: Flame Tree Publishing. p.22. ISBN978-1-84451-406-9.
↑ "Tiny Moore". Texasplayboys.net. 1987-12-15. Archived from the original on 2012-08-05. Retrieved 2012-10-12.
↑ "Mexican Typical Orchestra". New York Times. New York City. 20 June 1885. p.4. Retrieved 14 May 2019– via Newspaper.com. … seven bandolons, the later being neither more nor less than magnified mandolins.
↑ "Curti a well-known mandolin player". The Courier-Journal. Louisville, Kentucky. 5 April 1885. p.11. Retrieved 14 May 2019– via Newspaper.com. The Mexican Typical Orchestra will perform...under the leadership of Sig. Curti, the well-known Spanish mandolin player.
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