Interesting take on the social aspects of mandolin clubs in today's Seacoastonline.com article, "Exeter had Mandolin Clubs," where the early 20th century incarnation of the light profile mandolin is compared to the present day software game, "Guitar Hero." Author Barbara Rimkunas who is curator of the Exeter (New Hampshire) Historical Society takes the arguable position that the mandolin was more a catalyst of social interaction than music creation, the "club" element of the Mandolin Club phenomenon was far more about gathering than developing talent.

She further suggests the injection of jazz into the mainstream, with its louder drums and saxophone altered the taste of its participants and in the 20's the quieter instruments were abandoned to collecting dusts in the attic. Of course, we'd advocate that current versions of the mandolin with the benefits of amplification puts it on the same literal sonic playing field today's jazz ensembles, but that's another story.

It is interesting, her take on how easy the mandolin can be learned; we've always maintained that the simple symmetry of the four course 5ths tuning makes it a comfortable instrument to pick up physically and understand intellectually.

Read article Exeter had Mandolin clubs

Posted by Ted at November 27, 2009 7:20 AM