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1. History: Mandolin，the original name is "mandolino" in Italian, which means "almond" and is named after its shape. . It evolved from the European Pipa family of instruments. The mandolin originated in southern Italy in the eighteenth century, including the gittern and mandore or mandola in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Italy. Initially there was no uniform standard for mandolin making, there were various regional variations, with each Italian city producing its own mandolin, but the two most common were the Neapolitan mandolin and the Lombard mandolin Lin, especially the Neapolitan style has spread around the world. In the early 20th century, Orville Gibson improved the mandolin body design from an arched back to a flat back, and this type was more popular in the Americas.（ 01， 02）
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2. Structure: The mandolin has a body that acts as a resonator and is attached to the neck. The shape of the resonant body can be a bowl (bowl lute with a neck) or a box (lute with a neck). Traditional Italian mandolins, such as the Neapolitan mandolin, fit the description of a necked bowl. Neck box instruments include vaulted mandolins and flat-backed mandolins. The strings run between the mechanical tuners at the top of the neck to the tailpiece that anchors the other end of the string. The strings hang from the neck and soundboard and pass through the pontoon. The bridge remains in contact with the soundboard through the downward pressure of the strings. Necks are either flat or have a very small radius. It's covered with a fretboard fretboard. The action of the strings on the bridge causes the soundboard to vibrate, producing sound. Like any plucked instrument, mandolin notes decay into silence rather than making a continuous sound like bow notes on a violin. Mandolin notes decay faster than larger chords such as guitars. This encourages the use of vibrato (rapidly plucking one or more pairs of strings) to create sustained notes or chords. The mandolin's paired strings facilitate this technique: the pick strikes each string in the pair alternately, providing a fuller and more continuous sound than a single string. The various forms of the mandolin family vary greatly, such as treble mandolin, piccolo mandolin, alto mandolin, bass mandolin, mandobas mandolin, harp mandolin, genoa mandolin Lin, bowling mandolin and more. Various design changes and amplification techniques were used to make the mandolin rival in volume with louder instruments and orchestras, including creating mandolin-banjo hybrids with the drum-like body of a louder banjo, Adding metal resonators (most notably Dobro and National String Instruments) to create resonator mandolins, as well as electric mandolins via amplifiers （ 01， 02， 03） |
3. Features: The mandolin is a very cute plucked string instrument. The sound is like a rolling silver bell, very crisp and beautiful. It is played with fingernails or shrapnel and is a melodic instrument. The fingerboard of the mandolin is embedded with thin metal strips that are not found on the violin, so that you can identify the scales without having to practice hard to learn the correct scales. It is a family instrument and a teaching instrument. Because it is easy to play, it takes much less time to learn the same piece of music than the violin. You can enjoy the fun of simple learning and rapid progress. The sound of a mandolin is close to that of a guitar, but with a significantly higher pitch and a shinier sound. If the mandolin is in the band, it's on top of everything else. You'll hear it immediately as it not only adds a unique color but broadens the band's overall sound. The sound of a mandolin is a little more tasteful than a guitar, and once you get the hang of it, the mandolin has a very light and fast playing feel. The vibrating playing method of mandolin is particularly impressive to the audience. It is often played in ensemble with guitar and other bass instruments, and is very popular with the public. It can also be used as a solo. Composers such as Beethoven, Schubert, and Mozart compiled many classical pieces for mandolin playing.
Sound example  （See here）
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4. Example of Morricone's music
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