Mandolin Lessons

Mandolin Lessons Just for You

This is what we do for over 35 years.

Music Makers Calgary is the perfect place for young kids, teenagers, adults and seniors to take Mandolin lessons. High qualified teachers ready to give you the best learning experience possible, respecting your own pace and ability.

All individual lessons are prepared to fit your needs, being that for deep theoretical understanding or just to learn how to play a specific music that you love.

Get in touch to learn more and schedule your first Mandolin lesson.

Mandolin’s Variations

Neapolitan or Round-backed

Deep bottom, constructed of strips of wood, glued together into a bowl.

Carved-top

Shallower, arched back, and an arched top

Flat-backed

Uses thin sheets of wood for the body, braced on the inside for strength in a similar manner to a guitar

Double top

A variation of the flatback has a double top which encloses a resonating chamber, sound holes on the side, and a convex back.

Mandolin Family

Soprano

• The piccolo or sopranino mandolin is a rare member of the family, tuned one octave above the tenor mandola and one fourth above the mandolin

Alto or Tenor

• Mandola
• Octave mandolin
• Irish Bouzouki
• Cittern

Baritone or Brass

• Mandolone
• Mandocello
• Greek Laouto
• Mando-bass

Greatest Players

• Bill Monroe
• Chris Thile
• Jethro Burns
• David Grisman
• Dave Apollon
• Yank Rachell
• Jacob do Bandolim
• Mike Marshall
• Caterina Lichtenberg
• Carlo Aonzo

Construction

Mandolins seem to come in a wide range of wood. Various spruces
for the top. Usually maple but also mahogany and sycamore for the backs.

Body Wood

While lots of different woods have been used, mandolin bodies
less the top are usually made of maple. Maple is typically fairly hard wood,
adding brilliance to the sound.

Top Wood

Spruce is strong for its weight and vibrates easily, making it ideal
for the top.

Construction Types and Methods

Construction generally falls into the
traditional versus innovative.

The traditional methods are well known. Hand
carving all parts. Hand fitting the neck into the body via a dovetail joint. Use
of acoustically transparent hide glue. Brushed on finish leveled with
abrasives and compounds. Many mandolins are still made this way, or have
minimal innovations applied.

Innovative methods include computer controlled machining, sprayed on
finishes, and simplified neck joints. For example, a computer controlled
carver can get a mandolin plate very close to finished in short order. Necks
may be bolted on with a simple tenon & mortise.

History

Evolved from the Italian instrument family of the Lute, during the 17th and 18th centuries. The deep bowled mandolin became common in the 19th century.

Musical bows with one strings can be seeing in French cave paintings that goes back to13000BC.

The first Lutes, or lute-like instruments was found in Mesopotamia prior to 3000BC. They developed a long and a short variety.
Beside the introduction of the lute to Spain (Andalusia) by the Moors, another important point of transfer of the lute from Arabian to European culture was Sicily, where it was brought either by Byzantine or later by Muslim musicians.