How the mandola makes its sound
In the Hornbostel–Sachs system, which classifies instruments by how they produce sound, the mandola belongs to the lutes: strings run parallel to a soundboard and along a neck – the family of the guitar, violin, sitar and oud.
More broadly it is one of the chordophones (string instruments), where sound comes from vibrating strings, amplified by a resonating body.
Players shape its sound through technique and materials; the resonating body filters the raw vibration, boosting some harmonics and damping others.
From Wikipedia
The mandola (US and Canada) or tenor mandola (Ireland and UK) is a fretted, stringed musical instrument. It is to the mandolin what the viola is to the violin: the four double courses of strings tuned in fifths to the same pitches as the viola (C3-G3-D4-A4), a fifth lower than a mandolin. The mandola, though now rarer, is an ancestor of the mandolin. (The word mandolin means little mandola.)
Other lutes
Frequently asked questions
What does a mandola sound like?
As one of the lutes, its sound comes from the way strings run parallel to a soundboard and along a neck.
What type of instrument is the mandola?
It is classified as lutes (Hornbostel–Sachs 321.321-6).
Sources & credits
- Wikidata Q74207 – CC0
- Wikipedia: Mandola – CC BY-SA 4.0
- Image by User:Langec – CC BY 2.0