Mandola

Mandola is an Italian stringed musical instrument. Mentions of the mandala are already found in the XII-XIII centuries. The name "mandola" comes from the ancient pandura (Greek - a small lute ). The tool, according to researchers, was developed in the process of manufacturing a lute, as more compact and economical to create. The complete development sequence and nomenclature of the instrument is currently difficult to trace.

Mandola
Classification	String instrument , Chordophone
Related tools	Guitar , Mandolin , Domra

Mandola is also known by such names as “mandora” and “mandola”, “pandurin” and “bandurin” and is the “ancestor” of the mandolin , whose name simply means “little mandola”.

Despite the differences in names, place of origin and form - there are basic characteristics that distinguish the "true" mandala:

• The mandola has an expanded neck with a smoothly curved head and four double wire strings tuned in unison rather than an octave.

• Choirs (double strings) are tuned in the upward movement (from top to bottom) of the CGDA.

• The length of the mandola is usually about 42 cm (16.5 inches).

• On a mandole, as a rule, they play a plectrum .

Most often, the mandola was used in folk music, as an accompanying instrument (in particular in Italian folk music). Recently, it has been used in traditional Irish, French and Swedish music. However, the tool was not widely used. And despite the contribution to the development of the mandala game of some modern composers ( Franco Donatoni , Yasuo Kuwahara ), it is not often used in modern musical practice. Currently, the following modern performers of mandala music are known: Brian MacDonagh, Alex Lifeson , Vladisvar Nadishana, Vadim Bakhramov, Alexan Ponomarchuk . Ritchie Blackmore plays mandolin at Blackmore's Night .