An Extra: Irish Mandolin

The other class I am taking at the Irishfest Summer School is with Martin Howley who also plays with WeBanjo3.  Martin is a great  banjo player and teacher, but he really shines with the mandolin.  I come from a bluegrass mandolin background so I am  familiar with great mandolin players so when I say he is good, I really mean it.

In Ireland the mandolin was a little banjo at best even though the instrument has been in the music as long as the banjo.  Mick Moloney, for example, played mandolin with the Johnsons back in the 60s but you never saw mandolins in sessions.  Now there is a resurgence of interest in the instrument with players like Martin and Marla Fibish (I will take lessons from her in October, so keep tuned) who have made the instrument a force of its own well worth listening to and hearing.

Here is Martin playing a jig called The One That Was Lost showing the possibilities for ornamentation and emphasis:

Here are the ABCs for this tune.  You can plug these into the Concertina.com converter to get sheet music:

X: 1
T: The One That Was Lost
C: Paddy O'Brien
R: jig
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
K: Edor
|: f | edB BAF | E2 D EFA | BAF D2 F |AFA def |
edB BAF | E2 D EFA | dfb afd | efe e2 :|
d | Bee efa | baf edB | ~d3 Bdd |AFA dcd |
Bee efa | baf edB | dfb afd |efe e2 d |
Bee efa | baf edB | ~d3 Bdd |AFA def |
{f}g2 e fed | BeB dBA | dfb afd |efe e2 ||

Mike Keyes