My Newest Love

I decided, the other day, that I would someday like to own every instrument available to man. Preferably string instruments, as I have a greater affinity for playing them, but a clarinet or giant harmonica wouldn't be bad either. My grandma gave me my grandpa's old trumpet a couple years ago, but the only sound I've ever been able to achieve on it is a flatulence-type sound. Perhaps I'll break it out again one of these days. But I think it would be really cool to find instruments that are rare, unheard of, or maybe often mistaken for other instruments, and to become really good at playing them, so when people asked me, "Oh, what instruments do you play?" I could say stuff like the sitar, or the Chapman stick, or harpsichord. But I'm getting there. Today, if people ask me, "Oh what instruments do you play?" I answer, "Piano" (eh... lotsa people play that) "Viola" (okay that's a little more strange sounding...) "Mandolin" (ummm... what?). Yep, mandolin is my newest love, and I plan to study it even as my instrumental library keeps growing. As of right now, I own two mandolins. One is a normal modern one, has a pretty good sound. If you were at the holiday concert at my school, you saw me playing it during one of Cecilian choir's songs, Sail Away. My other one is a gem. It is a bowlback Washburn mandolin, around 100 years old. It had been my... hold on, let me think about this... my great-grandma's next door neighbor's mandolin in the early 1900s, and he used to serenade his wife with it. It was then passed to my family (not sure why, i guess we're just awesome) and passed down to my mom. It was on display in our living room for pretty much ever. One day last year, after the school guitar teacher had done a little presentation for my choir on the mandolin, I asked to take it down, and after playing a couple melodies on it, one of the E-strings broke. It had to be superly fixed up by our good friends at the Music Center of Deerfield, but now it plays amazingly. My teacher is astounded by how nice the sound is, as if it's been broken in all these years, and is finally in its prime. It's beautiful.
Just a little technical background information on the mandolin, um first, it's not a ukulele, thank you very much. Second, it's tuned exactly like a violin, which is why, with my viola experience, and my ear for pitches and melodies, I was able to pick it up pretty quickly. The difference is in the number of the strings however. While both the violin and mandolin have strings, the mandolin has TWO of each. That's right people, eight strings altogether. And it's plucked or strummed with a rounded pick. It's pretty much awesome. And I was amazed when I first started, the list of artists who play. Check out this link, chances are, at least one person from one of your favorite bands is on the list.
Mandolin has opened up a whole new world for me. I used to hate bluegrass, for instance. But it's the number one music genre played on mandolin. And now I kinda love it. And it's used in tons of my favorite songs, like Unsaid by The Fray, Going to California by Led Zeppelin, or anything by Nickel Creek. To me it's awesome to have discovered this new exciting way to express myself through music, which is my favorite thing to do. And as my list of instruments grows (banjo... I REALLY want a banjo....) I am 100% certain that mandolin will stay close to my heart as long as music is there AKA for the rest of my life.