An Maindilin The Music, The Artists
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| An Maindilin contains mp3s
of some of the most proficient and soulful practitioners of the Irish and
Scottish mandolin. To those who are more used to hearing the mandolin
in other contexts, for example, old-time or bluegrass music, the manner in
which the mandolin is used in Irish and Scottish music will come as something
of a revelation.
Whereas mandolinists in many other folk/acoustic settings will alternate between melody and accompaniment, in "Celtic" music, the mandolin is used almost exclusively as a melody instrument. Fiddlers and mandolinists in the Irish and Scottish traditions play almost exclusively in "first position" and few of the tunes in our traditions contain notes higher than "the high B". Therefore we occasionally talk about "the dusty end of the neck" ... i.e. above the 7th fret, a terra incognita for most musicians who play Irish and Scottish tunes. And yet, although the ground rules of Irish and Scottish music would tend to imply that the music is therefore somewhat "simple", the subtleties involved ensure that the listening and playing experience is nevertheless immensely satisfying. There is a great deal of lore associated with our music. The fact that most of the music is passed on aurally - a high proportion of Irish and Scottish traditional musicians have no, or a limited, ability to read music - ensures that much of this lore is passed on along with the tunes |
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