The Mandolin Symposium just completed its twelfth year. It's an amazing experience to attend, with instruction by the top mandolin players in the world, covering almost every genre. I have taped the student concerts, with the exception of 2005 and 2011. They are on the Mandotunes Video channel on YouTube.
About 10 years ago I collaborated with Peter Mix on a project to create a series of videos demonstrating the great instruments being built by modern builders. I have re-published the series on my Mandozine Youtube channel.
The Rigel series of mandolins are in a class by themselves. Pete Langdell first engaged in mandolin building in the 1960s. Taking fundamental but astute acoustical theories, he formulated a totally radical process for mandolin building. He took his machinist skills and invented a process by which a solid block of wood could be crafted and carved into a mandolin's sides, and a bottom and top skillfully attached without the need to bend sides as tradition once dictated. Upon the release of the first models, reputable players simply could not deny the world-class playability and gutsy sound these instruments were capable of. Peter Mix recorded a series of videos demostrating the various models.
Wendy Anthony has been a tremendous help to Mandozine, assisting me in the redesign of Mandozine in 2004, cleaning up and tagging the TablEdit files, and alerting me to changes that need to be made on the site. She taught the "Building a Traditional Tune Repertoire" on Mandolin Sessions. Her site is a treasure trove of mando content.
These are home recordings submitted to Mandozine, hosted on Soundcloud.
With the phenominal success of mobile applications for tablets and smart phones, as well as their desktop counter-parts, there is no place to find a consolidated list to serve the technological enabled musician that has enbraced this new era of technology. This document will attempt to fill that hole.
In 1922 a brilliant acoustic engineer named Lloyd Loar developed the Mastermodel series of acoustic instruments, and invented the first solidbody electirc viola. Loar was the architect of the modern stringed instrument.
A collection of mando visuals.
These photo's were taken at Grass Valley, I believe in the summer of '81. I remember taking photos but I think these were sent to me. I'm embarrassed to admit I don't remember who may have sent them. If you have information on the photos that can be used for a caption, please contact me. Maybe you're in one! If so, let me know so I can give credit. There's some cool photos of a young Ronnie McCoury.
Glenn Bradford had the idea of interviewing world-class mandolin artists by having the CoMando Discussion List members ask questions, and Glenn would coordinate the responses from the artist. He was able to set up interviews with over 50 of the best mando players in the world, as well as Luthiers and vintage dealers.
In 2004 I had the pleasure of moderating an on-line session between the CoMando Discussion List members asking question to five mandolin players. The two youngest were Sierra Hull and Scott Gates, both 11 years old. Sarah Jarosz was 12, Josh Pinkham was 13, and Jacob Henry Jolliff was 15. I was impressed by not only their talent and what they had accomplished by that age, but also their maturity and commitment to their music. I've updated the info to include what they are doing now.
Over the years I have written a few articles, and Joel Glassman submitted a detailed document on the electric mandolin.