Niche Instrument(s) #2 - The Italian Mandolin family
It's hard to find an American folk or bluegrass band that doesn't somehow incorporate the humble mandolin into its musical arsenal, but did you know that this delightfully tiny lute can trace its origins back to Italy?
The mandolin is my personal favorite picked string instrument. Originally created as a variation of the italian mandola lute, the name literally translates as "little mandola."
"But, Artemis," I hear you saying. "What the heck is a mandola?"
A mandola is a traditional Italian folk instrument that was created as a picked-string variant of the classic viola.
As you can see from the pictures, both mandolins and mandolas share several characteristics. They both have four courses of double strings tuned in pairs, which help to give them a distinct "ringing" sound when played. Mandolins, like their orchestral cousin the violin, are tuned G-D-A-E, while Mandolas are tuned C-G-D-A. In other words, if you play violin, you already know the fingering for a mandolin, and if you play viola, you already know the fingering for a mandola!
Some other honorable mentions in the mandolin family are the mandocello (the name speaks for itself: it's the mandola equivalent of a cello), and the octave mandolin, which is the same as a standard mandolin but tuned an octave lower, giving it a deep, resonant tone.