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About Providence |
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2006 EPpy Winner -- Best multimedia Providence, R.I., Mostly cloudy 30° |
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7.28.2001
Musicians with pluck: Mandolinists tune in to city • The first International Mandolin Festival in the United States is the climax of years of diligent work by local players. BY MICHAEL CORKERY Journal Staff Writer It's tuned like a violin, but plucked like a guitar. Its sound conjures images of medieval minstrels strumming tunes in the ancient piazzas of Rome, or the winding streets of Madrid. Or along the river walks and in the music halls of Rhode Island's renaissance city. Providence has become something of a mecca for mandolin players, and this weekend the city is hosting the Providence International Mandolin Festival, the first of its kind in the United States. For years, a small but steadily growing group of Rhode Island musicians has been working to revive the mandolin. Members of the Providence Mandolin Orchestra have been dusting off the old-world instrument, which could be heard in Federal Hill social clubs or Woonsocket tenements at the turn of the 20th century, but had fallen silent in recent years, except for use in some forms of American folk. This weekend, dozens of mandolin players from Italy, Portugal, Brazil and Germany are gathering in Providence for a series of workshops, seminars, concerts and their very own WaterFire , or "MandoFire," starting tonight at about 8:30. It's a chance to showcase the transformation of the mandolin from a curious relic of a bygone era to a modern instrument and form of music that has attracted a devoted following of professional and amateur musicians. "Providence has been on the forefront of the new wave of the mandolin," said Josh Bell, the concertmaster and one of the founding members of the Providence Mandolin Orchestra. "What's bringing it back is the opportunity it provides to play music, not just listen to it." With its eight strings, arranged in pairs, some say the mandolin is a relatively easy instrument to play, compared with its cousins, the guitar and violin. Its accessibility has turned a collection of doctors, bank vice presidents, Web site designers and school principals into a cutting-edge orchestra. Founded in 1973 by Hibbard A. Perry, one of the last remaining mandolin teachers in Providence, and four local musicians, the Providence Mandolin Orchestra now has about 35 members. Under the direction of Mark Davis, a classical guitarist, the orchestra has recorded its own CDs and toured Europe, and is planning to publish some original music. Some members are former guitar players drawn to the mandolin for its symmetry and warbling sound. Others had never played an instrument before joining the orchestra. Jacque Russom first heard the mandolin on a trip to Italy with her parents when she was a teenager. Her husband, Rick, bought her one before they were married, but it went unused for 30 years until she discovered Providence's orchestra. A technology consultant at Brown University, with little musical experience, Russom was at first intimidated by the idea of playing in an orchestra. But the mandolin quickly become a full-time passion. She practices nearly every day and now wears a brace on her hand, from "too much mandolin," she said. "You could be in some parts of the country where you would be the only mandolin player in town," she said at a party, celebrating the international festival at the Galilee Beach Club on Thursday night. "There is such a community here -- we are very lucky. Without the orchestra, my mandolin would have just sat there." The mandolin orchestra represents what music used to be: something people played together, not just what they heard on a CD or in a sprawling concert hall. It's a tradition with deep roots in Rhode Island, where many European immigrants, especially Italians, played the instrument and formed dozens of mandolin orchestras across the state. Providence alone had three large orchestras in the early 1900s. One mandolinist, Giuseppe Pettine, of Providence, was considered a world-class virtuoso. Working out of a small office on Broadway, Pettine developed a school of technique that helped put Rhode Island on the mandolin map. By the 1930s, the mandolin was being replaced by the sounds of jazz and the big band. But instead of playing this modern music themselves, people listened to it on the radio, said Bell, the concertmaster. "Above all forms of musical expression, the mandolin was an instrument to make music," he said."Its popularity faded when people no longer had to play music to have it in their lives." Yvette Cote, 77, was one of Pettine's students, who learned to play the mandolin as a teenager growing up in Woonsocket. An employee in a garment factory, she would play at weddings and birthday parties and weekend gatherings at a farm in Mendon, Mass. She put down the mandolin to raise her family in 1951. The next time she picked up her instrument was in 1989, when she attended a concert given by the Providence Mandolin Orchestra in Burrillville. She has been playing with the group ever since. "It's just something to pass the time," she said. Her fellow mandolin players say Cote makes melodies that no one else can, mostly from memory. The best part about the orchestra, Cote said, is "being able to play music again." Digital Extra: Get more details on the Providence International Mandolin Festival: http://www.mandolin-orchestra.org 
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