May 2018

I have made many new videos during the last year.

I have compiled the videos with the most likes in the following playlist:

The best rated mandolin-videos

Please watch my videos, like, share and comment and subscribe to my youtube channel!

I am looking for mor mandolin orchestra sheet music by Giacomo Sartori. Sartoris sheet music is now public domain and it's possible to make it available for free.

You can find some pieces by Giacomo Sartori at musicaneo:

Giacomo Sartori - sheet music for mandolin orchestra

I have got a copy of book 4 of the Odell Method for the Mandolin and made a scan. You can now find books 1 (free) and 4 at musicaneo:

Odell mandolin method at musicaneo

I have updated my blog gezupftes.de and mandoisland.com to a new responsive design which is better readable on PC, tablet and smartphone. I will mainly publish new posts to my blogs and will only make updates to this website occasionally.

December 2016

I have worked on my page about the mandolin players. I will try to add more important mandolin players in 2017.

I have added works by Johann Caspar Mertz from the Boije Collection to the Petrucci Library Petrucci Library - including the guitar method by Mertz. I am working on my timeline of guitar methods. The most important guitar methods can already be found in this timeline, which includes a link to the download site below the image on the right hand side.

I have found out that a great number of composition by Carlo Munier are now available in the Petrucci Library, a user from Japan has uploaded the scans in good quality. Thanks!

I have found more mandolin methods that are available for download. I have found some methods in the Russian State Library and uploaded the scans to the Petrucci Library to make them easily available. I have updated and added the download links on my page about the mandolin methods.

My postcard collection is growing. I am posting new postcards from my collection to instagram and share them also with facebook, tumblr and twitter.

I have made some new videos for my youtube channel - the last video is my arrangement of the great Venezuelan song "Como llora una Estrella"

Plans for 2017: Giacomo Sartori and Alberto Bracony will become "public domain" in 2017. I will make new scans of works by those two composers.

July 2015

I have recently added more mandolin methods to my page Mandolin Methods. This includes methods by Emil Theodor Weimershaus (free download), J. H. Ferrero  (free download), G. Salvini, A. Légeret, Gustav Gerdes, Jul. Huber and Frans de Groodt.

I have started a new project to extract all publishing dates of mandolin music from Hofmeisters Monatsberichte (1901 - 1940s) on page Hofmeisters monthly reports about published music. This should show how the mandolin has developed during the first half of the 20th century. I have also added a page about a publication by Karl Boss who was an influental person for the organisation of mandolin clubs in Germany during the first part of the 20th century (Die Mandolinenmusik vor und nach dem Kriege - only in German)

I have also started to remake the presentation of mandolin players. I will add more players in the future.

I have also added more composers to the page Composers

December 2014

New is my timeline of violin methods that you can find on page Mandolin Methods. It contais among others about 90 violin methods from between 1600 and 1920 that are available as free downloads from the Petrucci Library (IMSLP).

October 2014

I have created a new timeline of mandolin methods Timeline der Mandolinenschulen which contains pictures, information as well as links to sources of those methods.

I have added some links about free violin methods on my page about mandolin methods. In those violin methods you can find many exercises and studies for violin that can also be used for the mandolin.

I have started to convert some of my processing sketches to javascript - you can find the sketches on: Meine Processing Sketches 

On page composers  I have started to present some composers for mandolin.

August 2013

During the last year I have made many new scans of  mandolin_methods. The page about the  mandolin_methods has grown and includes now many very interesting methods. The sheet music that I offer at musicaneo has also increased to 60 titles, including some of my own compositions, historical mandolin and guitar methods and other sheet music.

I have collected insteresting newspaper articles about Dave Apollon and I have started to present interesting topics from the Music Trade Review.

August 2012

I have made many new scans of sheet music and mandolin methods. You can find all free sheet music on my page Free Sheetmusic

I have published some of my music with musicaneo.com where you can buy sheet music as download for a small fee. This includes also some free pieces and some free scans of music for mandolin or guitar.

My profile at musicaneo.com: http://michaelreichenbach.musicaneo.com/

I have made several new videos alone and together with my friend Eric Cousin: http://www.youtube.com/user/MandoIsland/featured

I have made a scan of the guitar method by Heinrich Scherrer (1865 - 1937) and uploaded it to my  Free Sheetmusic  page.

September 2011

New free sheet music: F. de Cristofaro - Le Favori - on page Free Sheetmusic

Link collections and google maps of mandolin orchestras in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, USA, France and other countries in my blog: Mandolin Orchestras of the World

June 2011

Herbert Forrest Odell - Method for the Mandolin (1906)

This method for the mandolin  is very popular in Japan, it is composed of 4 books.

Free download of Book 1 from the following page:

Odell - Method for the Mandolin

April 2011

Salvator Léonardi - Methode pour Banjoline ou Mandoline-Banjo (1921)

Salvator Léonardi

On page Free Sheetmusic I have added the complete set of parts for mandolin orchestra for the Serenade - Valse Espangole by Olivier Metra.

March 2011

Ernesto Köhler - Mandolinenschule - Self instructor for the mandolin (1887)

Ernesto Köhler - Mandolinenschule

January 2011

I have bought and scanned another Mandolin Method by Janvier Pietrapertosa: Pietrapertosa

Many free downloads can be found on the page: Kostenlose Noten

April 2010

I have prepared a free download version of the complete Methode de Mandoline by Jean Pietrapertosa (copyright 1892, 150 pages, Englisch and French)!

I am currently doing a review of the page with links to free sheetmusic sites, so I have revied many free sheet music links and changed the layout of the page. I hope that it is much more useful now!

I have made a photo album of the Methode de Mandoline by F. de Cristofaro. I have planned to create a version for download within the next months.

November 2009

I have started two new blogs, one in German and one in English. In thise blogs I am writing about plucked instruments including mandolin, guitar, banjo and much more. 

New blog (German): gezupftes.de

New Blog (englisch): mandoisland.com

On page Free Sheet Music  I  have added several pages including some italian folk songs from around 1900 and a piece for mandolin orchestra by Richard Eilenberg.

April 2009

I have a new video at youtube, a melody from Puerto Rico - La Arboleta 

On the page Dies und Das I will write about some of my hobbies not related to mandolin and music.

In my Weblog April 2009 I have collected some information about a nice little tune - La Danse de l'Ours - Bear Dance.

December 2008

Postcards and stamps about mandolin

I have made a new picture album with postcards and stamps with mandolins.

October 2008

Mandolinsymposium 2008 - my summary of the symposium with many usefull links: Meine Zusammenfassung dieser Veranstaltung mit vielen Links

September 2008

I am offering some instruments  for sale: Instruments for sale

Juli 2008

I have started a new Blog (in German): mandoisland.wordpress.com 

In this blog I will collect mainly youtube videos of mandolin, bluegras and mandolin orchestras.

I have made more videos, especially with all the pieces from my book Five Folk Dances and a funky piece by Gregor Hilden Little Funky Thang. I have also made a video of the Variations on a Ukraine folk song Don't Go Gregory by Alison Stephens.

All my videos can be found in my youtube channel: youtube/mandoisland.

NEW: My new book  I love Cappucino has been published by  Astute Music 

April 2008

New: Five Folksongs

This book contains five folk dances from Chile, Russia and Ireland. It has been published at Astute Music.

• High Mountain Blues - a slow blues, played on the electric mandolin (Kentucky KM300e)

• Fliegende Bälle - one of my favorite pieces, published in the book "Fliegende Bälle"

• Benny und Thelma - I found this on the John Hartford homepage. I am looking for more information about this!

February 2008

youtube videos

I have begun to make videos for youtube, the first videos are online: Cachimbo (published in the book Five Folksongs), Spielberg 1986 (from my book Pick it fast!)

All my videos at youtube: http://www.youtube.com/mandoisland

Mai 2007

New free download: The complete mandolin method by William Jones Fletcher (Fletcher's Standard Mandoline Turtor) published in 1896  with 70 pages and many pieces and exercises has been added to page Kostenlose Noten.

April 2007

New free download: The complete mandolin method  Neue Reform Mandolinen-Schule by R. und E. Vorpahl has been added to page Kostenlose Noten.