On 20/01/2011 07:44, Jon Murphy wrote:
I converted a Bolivian charango into a Scot's mandora a few years
back, I was working from Ronn's tunings in his Scottish Lute book (and
CD). The mandora itself is a relatively large instrument in the lute
family - the Scot's mandora is an entirely different beastie (the
Scots probably just took the name into the language - as was often
done with early instruments).
I have copied into my computer the full repertoire of the Scot's
mandora - The Skene Mandora Book of 1615. The copy is hard to read as
it was from photo copies of photo copies of the original handwritten
document that I got from the Lute Society of America. (Ronn used the
same source, and extracted from it for his book on the Scottish Lute).
The mandora Ronn plays on his recording is a very small instrument,
and quite difficult to get the fingers into. (I've met Ronn, and we've
compared notes. The instrument he used for the recording was borrowed
from friends.)
My "faux mandora" has a vibrating length (bridge to nut) of about 14
1/4" - and that lets me tune to a max for the top course of e'' or f''
(where middle C is c') before the string breaks. (A note: no matter
the gauge of the string it will break at the same pitch, given the
length and the material). The book tuning is for a top course of g",
so the instrument Ronn is playing is a bit shorter than the 14 1/4"
that mine is.
The Scots mandora has five courses of paired strings, and a unique
tuning. It is tuned in fifths and fourths. I tuned mine to d", g', d',
g, d as that puts me in tune with a lot of Celtic music. Because of
the tuning it is almost impossible to chord the instrument - it is a
throwback to the days of melody enhanced with open two note chords.
The lute and guitar, and the Italian mandoras (and mandolinas, and
etc.,etc.) use fourths with one third as intervals between the open
strings (the lutes and guitars just place the third differently). This
is an advance in the scaling of the instrument that allows for more
harmony within the instrument.
Yet the Scot's mandora is a fun thing to play, it is a quick little
instrument that is mainly melody with "divisions" (the variations on
the melody that are adornment). A simple sequence is played, then the
divisions added, then more divisions. It is similar in that way to
early lute. The step to the next open string alternates between the
fifth and the seventh fret, you will have to learn a new scaling.
As to making one, just make very small lute or guitar with five paired
courses. I made mine from a charango as Bill told me of the Bolivian
enterprises selling charangos - got mine for sixty bucks as the
business was new. The conversion only required filing the nut and
reaming the bridge to accept the wound strings I needed for the bottom
two courses (the charango is re-entrant, the lower two are higher,
sort of a five string ukelele). Then it was just a matter of
calculating the string gauges for the mandora tuning.
I am capable of giving you the dimensions for the vibrating length and
fret divisions, should you decide to make one. I suggest that if you
have normal sized fingers, and play other fretted instruments, that
you avoid trying to make a Scot's mandora that will tune to the g"
that Ronn plays - Ronn has special talent in moving from the one to
the other, but even he will tell you it ain't easy to fit the fingers
in those frets.
In summary, the Scot's mandora is a ten stringed instrument in five
paired courses. It is a short instrument with a top pitch in the
octave above middle C, with the classic being G two above middle C. It
can be made and played in a different range. The key is the tuning in
fourths and fifths. I love it, I can pick it up and entertain myself.
And it is fun to work off the tuning by improvising.
Best, Jon
As I understand it, mandoras (mandoras/gallichons) are large instruments
of the lute family but mandores (mandors, mandours) are tiny. The Skene
MS doesn't mention 'mandora' (with an a on the end).... nor 1615?
Jean-Marie Poirier's website has lots of materials about and pictures of
mandores.
http://le.luth.free.fr/mandore/index.html
As the first image demonstrates, a typical mandore has single strings.
As Jon says, the instrument was tuned in fourths and fifths. But the top
course was sometimes lowered (not in the Skene pieces, but in some of
the suites in Chancy and some of the pieces in the Ulm MS and all of the
(few) pieces in Gallot). There is one whole section of pieces in Skene
that are in the old lute tuning.
There is a good article by the late James Tyler on Jean-Marie's website.
Stuart
On 1/19/2011 9:55 AM, Mark Day wrote:
Hello everyone,
Does anyone know where I could find information on the mandora - as
played by Ronn MacFarlane on "The Scottish Lute"? I would like to
build
one of these instruments.
Thank you,
--
Mark Day
[1]http://neowalla.smugmug.com/
--
References
1. http://neowalla.smugmug.com/
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