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Montana Mandolin Society, Live in Studio 4A
'Taking Listeners Back to a More Graceful Age'
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Listen to the story from All Things Considered
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Aug. 17, 2001 -- Imagine playing a round of Pictionary with some friends. Your turn arrives and it's up to you to describe Montana to your teammates. What do you draw?
In all likelihood, you'd pick the things that are usually associated with Montana: mountains, wilderness and snow skis. Maybe if you were feeling really ambitious, you'd attempt to sketch a shaggy-looking log cabin dweller with a typewriter, hammering out his anti-technology manifesto.
But you probably wouldn't think to draw a mandolin.
While Montana is indeed rustic and rugged, it is also cultured. The college town of Bozeman, for example, has its own symphony and cultural arts center. It also boasts a rich musical legacy revolving around the mandolin.
Bozeman's relationship with the stringed instrument stretches back to the early 1900s, when the town benefited from its prime location on a railroad line connecting Seattle and Chicago.
Famous musicians and entertainers took advantage of the opportunity to perform in the then-new frontier towns. John Phillip Sousa, Maud Powell and Mark Twain all passed through Bozeman at one point or another.
Around the turn of the century, local musicians formed the Bozeman Mandolin and Guitar Club. A picture of the club resurfaced nearly 100 years later, inspiring a new generation of local musicians to form the Montana Mandolin Society. Their goal is to preserve and promote America's mandolin orchestra heritage.
The Bozeman Mandolin and Guitar Club (shown here in a 1902 photo) was the inspiration for the modern Montana Mandolin Society.
Photo courtesy Montana Mandolin Society
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The band believes the music of the mandolin orchestra hearkens back to a quieter, more relaxed period of U.S. history and conjures up images of "horse-drawn carriages, lamplit parlors and Sunday picnics."
The concept of keeping the mandolin era alive is the primary reason that band director Dennis White came to Montana. White told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle: "We've created what a lot of people are starting to call the 'Montana sound.' And to me, that's exciting because we're not doing it exactly the way other orchestras have done it, but our own way, using not only the old tunes, but original tunes."
Despite holding down day jobs, the band members (who range in age from 16 to their late 50s) routinely travel an average of 200 miles for each performance.
The Montana Mandolin Society performs in NPR's Studio 4A
Photo: NPR Online
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They recently had a chance to bring the 'Montana Sound' east to Washington, D.C. when Montana's U.S. senators -- Democrat Max Baucus and Republican Conrad Burns -- nominated the group to play at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
The members of the Montana Mandolin Society stopped by NPR's headquarters during their August visit to Washington, and spent time with All Things Considered host Linda Wertheimer.
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Web Resources
Montana Mandolin Society Web site:
http://www.montanamando.com/
Kennedy Center performance:
http://kennedy-center.org/
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