BACKGROUND
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Background to the Mandolin Movement
The classical mandolin has a long history as an instrument that is accessible to the amateur musician but worthy enough to have a core of professional composers and virtuoso performers. This history goes back over some 300 years with composers such as Vivaldi and Beethoven writing for the instrument (ref: Wikipedia: mandolin). Scott Joplin's best known ragtime tune "The Entertainer (1902)" was in fact dedicated to "Doc Brown and his Mandolin Club". For the last 100 years or more community mandolin orchestras have been successful in attracting players and audience, and have been responsible for nuturing and supporting many fine musicians. Countries such as Australia, Germany, England, Holland, USA, and Japan all have strong mandolin orchestra movements and the availability of new music written by composers familiar with plucked stringed instruments is a constant source of renewal for them.
| It is mainly due to immigrants from Europe that the movement began in Australia. For example, the West Australian Mandolin Orchestra traces its beginnings back to Harry Baker who emigrated from Holland to Perth in 1953 and founded the Fremantle Music School in 1957. He started teaching mandolin and this ultimately lead to the formation of the orchestra in 1976. A similar story can be told in other Australian cities, with the result that there are now orchestras in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and most recently, Canberra. The Federation of Australasian Mandolin Ensembles (FAME) was established in 1979 and organizes an annual music camp (and occasional international festival) which is always well attended by players in Australia and New Zealand. Public concerts performed as part of the FAME music camps have frequently premiered new works by Australian composers. |
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The mandolin orchestra comprises mandolins, mandolas, classical guitars and bass guitar/double bass. Some orchestras also include mandocello where players are available. It is important to note that the classical guitar section plays an equally important role in the orchestra as the mandolin, and as such has attracted the interest of guitar groups and ensembles. Many a concert has been performed where a local school or amateur guitar ensemble has joined with the orchestra for a performance. It has also attracted classical guitar composers to write for mandolin orchestra (eg Richard Charlton, "Dances for the Mandolin and the Moon", 2005).
An interesting development occurred in the USA in the 1900's where the mandolin gained wide acceptance in the Bluegrass genre (which benefited greatly by the development of the flat back mandolin by Gibson) and has experienced a huge surge in popularity. However, the classical tradition still thrives there with many mandolin orchestras in existence, and an annual music camp organized by the Classical Mandolin Society of America (CMSA) .
It is the opinion of many people that the classical mandolin is taught and developed to its highest levels in Europe, with a number of positions for mandolin music teachers available at university/conservatorium level. The Bund Deutscher Zupfmusiker (BDZ) Eurofestival 2006 for plucked instruments (mandolin and guitar predominately) in Bamberg, Germany attracted over 70 orchestras and ensembles from around the world with over 1600 players registered for the 4 day festival. An Australasian Mandolin Orchestra (some 40 players) attended and performed at this festival. This world class event is held in Germany every four years and serves as a demonstration of the musical potential and current development of the mandolin movement, as well as showcasing some of the best performers in the world.
If you want to see how extensive the mandolin orchestra movement is worldwide, I suggest you do a Google search on "mandolin orchestra" and check the results. Go to our "Links" page for a list of the Australian and New Zealand orchestras.
