Mandocello
Encyclopedia
The mandocello is a plucked string instrument
of the mandolin
family. It has eight strings in four paired courses, tuned in 5ths
like a mandolin, but is larger, and tuned CC-GG-dd-aa (low to high in pitch). It is to the mandolin what the cello is to the violin.
. As with the mandolin
, the mandocello body may be constructed with a bowl-shaped back according to designs of the 18th-century Vinaccia school, or with a flat (arched) back according to the designs of Gibson Guitar Corporation
popularized in the United States in the early 20th Century. The scale of the mandocello is longer than that of the mandolin. Gibson examples have a scale length of 24.75" (62.87 cm) but flat-back designs have appeared with both significantly shorter and longer scale lengths (27"/68.58 cm on some Vega mandocellos). These instruments may have approximately 23 fret
s, giving the 4-course mandocello a range from two octaves below middle C
to the F an octave above middle C. Bowl-back instruments may have a shorter scale length, on the order of 22.5 inches, and concert bowl-back instruments may have more frets permitting virtuoso passage work in the upper register.
As is typical of the mandolin family, mandocellos can be found with either a single oval soundhole or a pair of "F" soundholes.
The internal bracing also bears some similarity to the mandolin. Gibson's mandocellos were typically constructed with a single transverse brace on the top just below the oval soundhole. Modern builders also use X-bracing.
family the mandocello originated in Europe. Later, around the turn of the 20th century, Gibson began building mandocellos in the style of their mandolins with arched tops and backs. Gibson is know to have produced at least four models of mandocello between 1905 and the 1920's: the K-1, K-2, K-4, and K-5. Other American instrument companies also produced mandocellos.
, who championed the instrument in the early 20th Century.
The mandocello also has a role in modern folk music
, such as bluegrass
or Celtic music. In this setting the flat-back mandocello is typically used. The mandocello's lower range does not produce the bright, projecting sound of the mandolin
or mandola
, and its use in this setting has been generally eclipsed by mandolin artists since Bill Monroe
. The amplified instrument has infrequently been used in modern rock music
groups. The bowl-back mandocello (mandoloncello) is traditionally used for Italian folk music
.
The most historically significant mandocellist was Raffaele Calace
, who wrote the first method book specifically for liuto cantabile, and is thought to have perfected the design of the instrument following its putative introduction by the Vinaccia family. Luigi Embergher also contributed significantly to advancements in the design of the instrument during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
has featured Zenkl's mandocello on the album of Italian folk music "Traversata" published by Acoustic Disc. Steve Knightley
of the English folk-rock band Show of Hands
plays the "cello-mandolin", however his instrument is tuned GDAD, similar to an octave mandolin
.
of the band Cheap Trick
has a guitar collection that includes electric mandocellos custom made by Hamer Guitars
. Such an instrument was used for the title track from their LP
Heaven Tonight
, while their song "Mandocello," released on the band's debut album
, used a standard acoustic mandocello. This song was later covered by Concrete Blonde
and released on their album Still in Hollywood
.
Bon Jovi
guitarist Richie Sambora
used a mandocello on the song "Lay Your Hands on Me
" from their acoustic album This Left Feels Right
.
Joni Mitchell
has been known to play mandocello and referenced buying the instrument in "Song For Sharon"
Drive-By Truckers
frontman, Patterson Hood, has been known to play a mandocello during solo performances.
— A chord book featuring 20 pages of popular chords.
Plucked string instrument
Plucked string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by plucking the strings. Plucking is a way of pulling and releasing the string in such as way as to give it an impulse that causes the string to vibrate...
of the mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
family. It has eight strings in four paired courses, tuned in 5ths
Perfect fifth
In classical music from Western culture, a fifth is a musical interval encompassing five staff positions , and the perfect fifth is a fifth spanning seven semitones, or in meantone, four diatonic semitones and three chromatic semitones...
like a mandolin, but is larger, and tuned CC-GG-dd-aa (low to high in pitch). It is to the mandolin what the cello is to the violin.
Construction
Mandocello construction is similar to the mandolinMandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
. As with the mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
, the mandocello body may be constructed with a bowl-shaped back according to designs of the 18th-century Vinaccia school, or with a flat (arched) back according to the designs of Gibson Guitar Corporation
Gibson Guitar Corporation
The Gibson Guitar Corporation, formerly of Kalamazoo, Michigan and currently of Nashville, Tennessee, manufactures guitars and other instruments which sell under a variety of brand names...
popularized in the United States in the early 20th Century. The scale of the mandocello is longer than that of the mandolin. Gibson examples have a scale length of 24.75" (62.87 cm) but flat-back designs have appeared with both significantly shorter and longer scale lengths (27"/68.58 cm on some Vega mandocellos). These instruments may have approximately 23 fret
Fret
A fret is a raised portion on the neck of a stringed instrument, that extends generally across the full width of the neck. On most modern western instruments, frets are metal strips inserted into the fingerboard...
s, giving the 4-course mandocello a range from two octaves below middle C
Middle C
C or Do is the first note of the fixed-Do solfège scale. Its enharmonic is B.-Middle C:Middle C is designated C4 in scientific pitch notation because of the note's position as the fourth C key on a standard 88-key piano keyboard...
to the F an octave above middle C. Bowl-back instruments may have a shorter scale length, on the order of 22.5 inches, and concert bowl-back instruments may have more frets permitting virtuoso passage work in the upper register.
As is typical of the mandolin family, mandocellos can be found with either a single oval soundhole or a pair of "F" soundholes.
The internal bracing also bears some similarity to the mandolin. Gibson's mandocellos were typically constructed with a single transverse brace on the top just below the oval soundhole. Modern builders also use X-bracing.
Layout of strings
The mandocello generally has four courses of strings, tuned CC-GG-dd-aa. Because of the heavy gauge of the lowest course, some folk mandocello players remove one of the C strings to prevent rattling while playing fortissimo. The 10-string mandocello, containing an additional course of E strings (CC-GG-dd-aa-e'e'), may be termed a liuto cantabile or liuto moderno, although these instruments remain technically mandocellos.History
Like most other instruments in the mandolinMandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
family the mandocello originated in Europe. Later, around the turn of the 20th century, Gibson began building mandocellos in the style of their mandolins with arched tops and backs. Gibson is know to have produced at least four models of mandocello between 1905 and the 1920's: the K-1, K-2, K-4, and K-5. Other American instrument companies also produced mandocellos.
Usage
The bowl-back mandocello is chiefly used in mandolin orchestras and mandolin quartets, where it provides a melodic and bass role similar to the cello in a bowed string quartet. It is occasionally used as a solo instrument for the performance of classical music, such as concertos and unaccompanied repertoire originally composed for solo cello. However, some pieces specifically for liuto cantabile were composed by Raffaele CalaceRaffaele Calace
Raffaele Calace was an Italian mandolin player and composer.He was born in Naples, Italy as the son of Antonio Calace, a successful instrument maker. Raffaele was initially trained to become a musician. At the same time, he discovered the possibilities of the mandolin and soon he became an...
, who championed the instrument in the early 20th Century.
The mandocello also has a role in modern folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
, such as bluegrass
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
or Celtic music. In this setting the flat-back mandocello is typically used. The mandocello's lower range does not produce the bright, projecting sound of the mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
or mandola
Mandola
The mandola or tenor mandola is a fretted, stringed musical instrument. It is to the mandolin what the viola is to the violin: the four double courses of strings tuned in fifths to the same pitches as the viola , a fifth lower than a mandolin...
, and its use in this setting has been generally eclipsed by mandolin artists since Bill Monroe
Bill Monroe
William Smith Monroe was an American musician who created the style of music known as bluegrass, which takes its name from his band, the "Blue Grass Boys," named for Monroe's home state of Kentucky. Monroe's performing career spanned 60 years as a singer, instrumentalist, composer and bandleader...
. The amplified instrument has infrequently been used in modern rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
groups. The bowl-back mandocello (mandoloncello) is traditionally used for Italian folk music
Italian folk music
Italian folk music has a deep and complex history. National unification came quite late to the Italian peninsula, so its many hundreds of separate cultures remained un-homogenized until quite recently compared to many other European countries...
.
The most historically significant mandocellist was Raffaele Calace
Raffaele Calace
Raffaele Calace was an Italian mandolin player and composer.He was born in Naples, Italy as the son of Antonio Calace, a successful instrument maker. Raffaele was initially trained to become a musician. At the same time, he discovered the possibilities of the mandolin and soon he became an...
, who wrote the first method book specifically for liuto cantabile, and is thought to have perfected the design of the instrument following its putative introduction by the Vinaccia family. Luigi Embergher also contributed significantly to advancements in the design of the instrument during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Image in contemporary music
Accomplished artists specializing in mandocello performance in 21st century America are relatively few in number, and only a modest number of contemporary recordings prominently feature the instrument. One American mandocello artist, Stanley Greenthal, is a specialist in the music of Brittany and an instructor at Zouk Fest. The mandolinist Radim Zenkl is also well-known for performances of American, Italian, and other European folk music on the mandocello. One recent recording with mandolin virtuosos Carlo Aonzo and David GrismanDavid Grisman
David Grisman is an American bluegrass/newgrass mandolinist and composer of acoustic music. In the early 1990s, he started the Acoustic Disc record label in an effort to preserve and spread acoustic or instrumental music.-Biography:Grisman grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey...
has featured Zenkl's mandocello on the album of Italian folk music "Traversata" published by Acoustic Disc. Steve Knightley
Steve Knightley
Steve Knightley is a singer-songwriter, musician and one half of British acoustic roots duo Show of Hands.-Career:...
of the English folk-rock band Show of Hands
Show of Hands
Show of Hands is an English acoustic roots and folk duo comprising singer-songwriter Steve Knightley and multi-instrumentalist Phil Beer. In recent years they have been accompanied on tour and in the studio by jazz double-bassist Miranda Sykes.-Origins:...
plays the "cello-mandolin", however his instrument is tuned GDAD, similar to an octave mandolin
Octave mandolin
The octave mandolin is a fretted string instrument with four pairs of strings tuned in 5ths, G, D, A, E , an octave below a mandolin. It has a 20 to 23 inch scale length and its construction is similar to other instruments in the mandolin family...
.
Famous uses
Rick NielsenRick Nielsen
-External links:* * *...
of the band Cheap Trick
Cheap Trick
Cheap Trick is an American rock band from Rockford, Illinois, formed in 1973. The band consists of members Robin Zander , Rick Nielsen , Tom Petersson , and Bun E...
has a guitar collection that includes electric mandocellos custom made by Hamer Guitars
Hamer Guitars
Hamer Guitars is an American manufacturer of electric guitars. Founded in 1973 by vintage guitar shop owners, Jol Dantzig and his business partner Paul Hamer. Early instruments featured guitar designs based on the Gibson Explorer and Flying V...
. Such an instrument was used for the title track from their LP
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
Heaven Tonight
Heaven Tonight
Heaven Tonight is Cheap Trick's third album, released in 1978. The album was remastered and released with bonus tracks on Sony's Epic/Legacy imprint in 1998. The album cover features lead singer Robin Zander and bassist Tom Petersson....
, while their song "Mandocello," released on the band's debut album
Cheap Trick (1977 album)
Cheap Trick is the first studio album released in 1977 by the American rock band Cheap Trick. It was their debut album for Epic Records, produced by Jack Douglas.- Overview :...
, used a standard acoustic mandocello. This song was later covered by Concrete Blonde
Concrete Blonde
Concrete Blonde is an alternative rock band based in the United States. They were initially active from 1982 to 1995, and again from 2001 to 2004, and once again in 2010.-Biography:...
and released on their album Still in Hollywood
Still in Hollywood
Still in Hollywood is a collection of unreleased material, live tracks and cover songs from alternative rock band Concrete Blonde.-Track listing:# It'll Chew You Up and Spit You Out...
.
Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi is an American rock band from Sayreville, New Jersey. Formed in 1983, Bon Jovi consists of lead singer and namesake Jon Bon Jovi , guitarist Richie Sambora, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, as well as current bassist Hugh McDonald...
guitarist Richie Sambora
Richie Sambora
Richard Stephen "Richie" Sambora is an American rock guitarist, producer, musician, singer, and songwriter who is the longtime lead guitarist of the rock band, Bon Jovi. He and frontman Jon Bon Jovi form the primary songwriting unit of the band...
used a mandocello on the song "Lay Your Hands on Me
Lay Your Hands on Me
"Lay Your Hands on Me" is a song written by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora and recorded by the American rock band Bon Jovi. It was released in 1989 as the fourth single from the band's 1988 album New Jersey...
" from their acoustic album This Left Feels Right
This Left Feels Right
UK Bonus TracksJapan Bonus TracksBrazil Bonus Tracks-New songs:Two new songs, "Last Man Standing" and "Thief of Hearts", were written and recorded for inclusion of the album. "Last Man Standing" was a song revealing lead singer Jon Bon Jovi's anger toward the state of the music industry...
.
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
has been known to play mandocello and referenced buying the instrument in "Song For Sharon"
Drive-By Truckers
Drive-By Truckers
Drive-By Truckers are an alternative country/Southern rock band based in Athens, Georgia, though three out of six members are originally from The Shoals region of Northern Alabama, and the band strongly identifies with Alabama. Their music uses three guitars as well as bass, drums, and now...
frontman, Patterson Hood, has been known to play a mandocello during solo performances.
Chord dictionaries and instructional guides
— A comprehensive instructional guide.— A chord book featuring 20 pages of popular chords.
External photo links
- Gabriele Pandini Workshop, Ferrara, Italy
- Carlo Mazzaccara Workshop, Naples, Italy
- Pictures of a mandocello