The one I play around with most is a FM-52E acoustic-electric mandolin
made by Fender, which I got from The Musicians
Friend, an online music gear store mostly catering to rock
musicians. I like this instrument a lot. It has a good
sound, was less than $200, and the frets are spaced very comfortably
for my hands, which are accustomed to the fiddle. I have tuned it
to the usual tuning for Mandolin, which is also the standard
fiddle tuning. I got basic proficiency with this instrument quickly; since all I really
have to learn is the
picking style, any tune I can play on fiddle immediately transfers over
to
mandolin. The only thing that's new is that I'm picking rather
than
bowing. In the Celtic
idiom,
the mandolin is a melodic instrument, playing either melody, harmony,
or
counter-melody. So I don't need to worry about chords much
(though I
know a few basic ones). It's also a newer instrument, probably being introduced
from its prominence in America. I began lessons in Irish mandolin with
Philippe Varlet in August 2003, and concluded them some months later. Now
it's just a matter of finding time to practice to develop my picking hand.
I also play a tenor banjo I purchased from Lark in the Morning. The Irish tenor banjo was
developed from the banjos that came to Ireland in the 19th century with
American minstrel shows. The Irish adopted the instrument, but retuned it
to the same tuning as the mandolin, just an octave lower. Despite the "bargain"
price of $350, this is a beautiful instrument, with a wonderful finish and a completely
true neck. The sound is very rich and powerful, and it's fairly easy to play, though
the stretch on the neck takes some getting used to. The only issue I had with it is the
action on the lowest string was too high, forcing me to put a lot of tension on it to
meet the fret - this led to the string going very sharp on the first few frets. I've
lowered the action on the G-string (and may lower it some more) by filing notch in the
nut, and use a light touch on the string, and that has largely fixed the problem. Playing
it is much the same as playing the mandolin, with a greater stretch between frets. I'll
probably begin playing this instrument at sessions in spring '05.
Tuned to the same octave as my tenor banjo, but similar to the mandolin is the
cittern; but this instrument has a larger body and five courses instead
of four. I purchased one from Lark in the Morning for $350, and it has a very
nice sound to it. It's made of mahogany, with a cedar face, with
an inlaid soundhole. I've tuned it CGDAD. The cittern
is more of a chordal or rhythm instrument than mandolin, but so far, I
haven't got past picking out tunes. It's easier to pick than the
mandolin, but the frets are further apart, and I can't reach the 5th
(7th fret) without moving my hand, which makes some tunes hard to play.
I have learned a few first-position chords for this instrument,
but since it's a non-standard tuning, I have to find the good
chords by trial-and-error, rather than in a book. Eventually, I'm
going to take Irish Bouzouki lessons from Philippe Varlet, and
will apply those lessons here. To be able to amplify this instrument, I installed a Martin Thinline pick-up mic under the bridge; and
did it only using hand tools, proving that I am either very skilled,
very lucky, or very stupid. I also noticed that this instrument doesn't
tolerate sudden changes of climate well - I took it from DC in March '04 to
Houston, where the temperature was 40 degrees warmer, and the humidity went up
from 10% to 80% - and the instrument wouldn't stay in tune. I've been trying
very hard since to keep all my instruments better humidified in the dry east
coast winters.Finally, I own a Yamaha solid spruce top Dreadnought acoustic guitar, which I've tuned to the Irish DADGAD tuning. I haven't really begun to study guitar, since that's a whole new area of study. For now, I'm using it only as a loaner instrument; for example, when my guitarist Anders flies in town to rehearse, he uses this instrument, rather than having to bring his own.
Along with the Highland Bagpipes, I have experimented with a number of other wind instruments.
The first wind instruments I bought were some whistles, my current crop
which are shown to the left. I started out with
a Shaw D whistle in fall 2001, but eventually became unhappy with the
upper octave, which took a lot of work to produce; so I gave it to a
friend. I then upgraded to a Clarke Sweetone (the black whistle
in the picture), which I eventually gave to a friend. I also purchased a
Shaw low D whistle (the long whistle in the picture) around Christmas
2001, and though I have since stopped playing it much, found it a good
play. To play in a compatible pitch with my B-flat pipe chanter,
I picked up a conical bore Generation E-flat whistle in fall 2002 (the
silver-colored whistle with the blue mouthpiece). In September
2004, I picked up some more Generation whistles, in G, F, and C, at
a vendor tent at the Capital District Highland Games in Altamont, NY. I was
never happy with the C tinwhistle (the low C was nearly impossible to produce),
so I kept an eye out for possible replacements. The G and F whistles have limited
utility - they are pitched so high that only the 1st octave is playable before
dogs start howling!
In late 2005, after hearing one at a session, I purchased some wooden
whistles from Ralph
Sweet: a lovely D-whistle in blackwood with a G# key, and a C-whistle in a
laminated northern Birchwood. These whistles are the best I've encountered,
and have a wonderful warm tone, and work quite well in the 3rd "fife" octave.
I attended the Potomac Celtic Festival in June 2002 with a friend,
who bought a wooden keyless flute at the House of Musical Traditions'
booth, and I played around on her new flute and attended an Irish flute
workshop with her later at the festival. I was frustrated that,
try as I might, I couldn't get a sound out of the flute! Emboldened
by the challenge, I purchased an ebony 5-key Irish Pratten-style flute in D from Lark in the Morning
for $375. I really like this flute, and I'm just getting the hang
of the embouchure. And there a few tunes I can really go to town
on with it; the first I got to tempo with the accenting and phrasing
was Flowers of Edinburgh, and played the lovely lullaby Castle of Dromore on
this flute at a friend's wedding as the processional. I expect I'll be playing this
one a lot. My only complaint is that the plating has begun to
come off the keys, but that's a minor quibble. The real catch came for me that I discovered
that when I don't regularly play it, the cork in the head joint dries out and shrinks and
the instrument becomes very hard to play! Hopefully I'll soon get the chance to spend
a little more time on this instrument to prevent this from happening again.
In 2004, I picked up a Bb fife as well for reenacting purposes from Jas Townsend &
Son, and late in 2005 I picked up a much better C fife from Ralph Sweet, though
I need to finish learning the fingering and embouchure to send the fife
into the 3rd octave still. The signature tune I plan to learn on this instrument is
The Scots March, a 17th century melody strongly associated with Scottish
armies. Hey Tuti Tatey would be another good choice, though I can already
play that on my Highland Pipes.
