The Scottish Mandolin Tutor, Dagger Gordon, 2010

[nigelgatherer]

The Scottish Mandolin Tutor, Dagger Gordon, 2010

I welcome the publication of this book. The mandolin had never been prominent in the traditional music of Scotland, but it has certainly played a part. It is apt that Dagger’s name is on it, as he was the first person to release a dedicated Scots mandolin recording (Highland Mandolin in 1988), and he’s been part of the resurgence of the mandolin in Scotland over the past twenty years.

The book admits that it’s a tunebook with tips; in other words it uses the music itself to inform about style and technique. I might have preferred that the author had assumed that the reader had a little knowledge of the mandolin before starting, but Dagger has chosen to give a lightning tour of the basics: holding the pick, fingering, tremolo, and so on.

There are two pages of chord symbols, which is useful to a point, but the mistake is made of offering too many chords. In such a compact journey through Scottish music, less would have been more, in my view. Also, after stating that it is “helpful to have some knowledge of basic...chords”, we are given so-called “power chords” (or “fifth” chords) as if they were full chords; I would have liked to see an explanation of such chords, or even missing them out altogether. This is nitpicking, however, and does not really detract from the book.

The music choice is excellent with some old tunes, some modern ones, some faster tunes, some slower; a good cross-section of music played in Scotland. Roderick Campbell’s tune “Mrs Campbell of Shinness” is there, but given the common misnomer “Miss Campbell of Sheerness” - a fine tune in any case. I was very happy to see Dagger’s own melody “The Lambing Storm” here taking its worthy place alongside all the other great tunes.

I’d have no problem recommending this book. As an introduction to Scottish music played on the mandolin it strikes just the right balance between technique and tunes. The addition of the CD of musical examples is not just a bonus, but a valuable companion to the book. In my opinion Dagger has done a great job with this book, and I’m pleased to own it.

To buy: Taigh na Teud.