Assuming vs. Seeing
I find it amazing how so many people refuse to look at certain things without first filtering out what they see with their own preconceptions; assumptions. A case in point is the instrument I currently focus on – the mandolin. I play the mandolin with various groups of people in various settings - Old Time Music aficionados, Bluegrassers, Country Music enthusiasts, Americana fans, Pop lovers, Rhythm & Blues players and Rock and Roller’s to name just a few. Many of the participants in those specific genres seem to exclude genres outside of their specific areas of interest. And some of the non-musician music fans that hang around those groups have firmly entrenched points of view about what instruments do and do not belong within those groups. Old Time Music, Bluegrass, Country and sometimes Americana readily accept the presence of a mandolin within the group but I see resistance to the presence of the mandolin within the other groups including Blues, Pop, and Rock. Many of my friends that see themselves within the latter groups automatically view the mandolin as a Bluegrass Only instrument and automatically assume the instrument has no place in other forms of music. Little do the know they’ve been hearing the mandolin in recordings of all types of music throughout their lives.
A Little History
The mandolin is a member of the lute family. The most modern form of the instrument is said to have originated in Naples, Italy near the end of the 18th Century – quite a number of years before Bill Monroe and The Bluegrass Boys set the precedent of mandolin as an integral part of the music named after Monroe’s band. Prior to the Naples incarnation of the instrument the mandolin consisted of six courses (pairs) of gut strings tuned in the same manner as the lute. The Naples reinvention of the mandolin created an instrument with four courses of metal strings that is most commonly (but not always) tuned the same as a violin; G-D-A-E. The mandolin was very popular for Classical and Baroque music styles up till the 20th Century when it became popular for Celtic, Bluegrass, Folk and Jazz as well as it’s continuing popularity for Classical music. Mandolin Orchestras were popular in the United States up until the mid-1920′s. As the popularity of the instrument was fading Gibson Manufacturing had Lloyd Loar redesign the Gibson F-Style mandolin which resulted in the now famous 1923 Lloyd Loar Master Model. But the instrument was not defined as the defining instrument of Bluegrass music until Bill Monroe purchased the Loar signed Gibson model number F-5 S/N 73987 in a Florida barbershop in 1943.
Mandolin in Modern Music
Many fans and musicians are not aware of the mandolin’s inclusion in forms of music outside of Bluegrass and can be quite adamant about not accepting the instrument in styles of music outside of Bluegrass. Narrow points of view abound among many musicians as well as many layman music fans. The mandolin appears in Rock music of the late psychedelic era of the 1960′s. Levon Helm of The Band would sometimes move from his drum kit to the mandolin for tunes such as “Rag Mama Rag,” “Rockin’ Chair,” and “Evangeline.” Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull played mandolin on “Fat Man” from their second album Stand Up and a few times on later releases. Rod Stewart’s ageless hit “Maggie May” features a mandolin riff at it’s very core. David Grisman played mandolin on two Grateful Dead songs – “Friends Of The Devil” and “Ripple.” Both John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page played mandolin on multiple Led Zeppelin songs. Seals and Crofts used tons of mandolin on their Soft Rock tunes of the 1970′s. Jim Messina of Loggins and Messina often used the mandolin within their music. R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck used a few simple mandolin licks to drive their 1991 hit song “Losing My Religion” as well as on at least another dozen R.E.M. tunes. Jack White (White Stripes) played mandolin on the Cold Mountain film soundtrack and on “Little Ghost” from the White Stripes album, Get Behind Me Satan. Rock superstar Tommy Shaw of Styx used the mandolin in their hit “Boat on the River” and on the Shaw/Blades tune “Dance With Me.” Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars and The Black Crowes) frequently used the mandolin on tunes such as Black Crowes’ “Locust Street.” Pop Punk band Green Day used a mandolin on multiple occasions. Boyd Tinsley of the Dave Matthews Band has used the mandolin on albums since 2005. Nancy Wilson (Heart) uses a mandolin on “Dream of the Archer.” Ry Cooder has used mandolin in his Blues music. And this is just a small sampling of music outside Bluegrass from mostly just within the United States.
Broadening the View
Mandolin can be found globally in many styles of music found in The United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Continental Europe, Portugal, Greece, Brazil, India, Japan, Venezuela and beyond. To define the mandolin as strictly a Bluegrass instrument is to foster a very narrow point of view. I use the mandolin as just one example of narrow points of view but many others exist. Everyone certainly has a right to their point of view, but I don’t see any harm in looking at anything with a broader acceptance – especially when it results in more open-minded thinking and a wider point of view.
