Orchestra Structure
Roles of instruments
A mandolin and guitar orchestra is set up in a similar way to a string orchestra: The first and second mandolins (taking the role of the violins, the mandolas (called octave mandolins in Europe, taking the role of the violas), the guitars (for the cellos) and a bass. Initially the instruments in mandolin orchestras had fixed roles: the mandolins played the melody lines, the octave mandolins filled in the harmonies and the guitars supplied the chords or bass lines. Over the years the use of the instruments and the possibilities of musical expression in a mandolin and guitar orchestra have developed greatly.
The mandolin started as an instrument which was only used for its abilities to play the melody line, however, the range of possibilities of the mandolin are now incorporated into music. These include the playing of chords (strumming similar to a guitar) and the great range of sound colours.
The guitar is moving away from its role of providing only the harmonic base for the music, by sometimes taking the lead in playing the melody.
More recent compositions for mandolin orchestra have made much more use of the wide range of sound colours: starting from a very soft sound of sul tasto (or tastiera) to the tinny sounding sul ponitcello (or metalico). The ability to produce percussive sounds is also incorporated into the music.
Seating arrangements
In principle there are two ways to seat a mandolin and guitar orchestra: All the mandolin groups can sit on the left side of the orchestra, with the seconds sitting behind the firsts; or the mandolin sections can sit opposite each other with the first sitting on the left and the second mandolins sitting on the right.
The sketch shows how Da Capo Alba is seated.
Mandolin 1b
With seating all the less experienced players into the 3rd mandolin the
group of 2nd/3rd mandolins has the tendency to get too big. It also
means that the natural progression of all these players would be into
the second mandolin group.
We also feel that, apart from the position playing and some faster
runs, the 1st mandolin is not that much more difficult. Especially
considering that it plays the melody more often and this makes it easier
to learn, particularly for a less experienced player.
The part of the mandolin 1b is a simplified from of the 1st mandolins,
leaving out all fast runs and the position playing. The runs are often
replaced by slower notes, and the bars in which the 1st section use high positions
are harmonized by the 1b section.
Mandolin 3 (3rd Mandolins)
We believe that less experienced players should be integrated into the
orchestra as soon as possible. For this purpose we simplify the second
mandolin part. This gives the 3rd mandolin players the experience of
playing and contributing to the orchestra from the start. As these
players grow in ability and confidence we gradually give them more and
more 2nd mandolin parts to play. This means that in one season they
might play 2nd mandolin in the easier pieces and 3rd mandolin in the
more complex ones.
Mandolas
You will see that there are no Luitos.
(The sketch shows "Octave Mandolins". In the UK, we refer to
these as Mandolas as they are called in Germany. However, in
some countries the instrument in Alto tuning: C,G,D,A is called a "Mandola").