Retired engineer Bob Puckette’s journey from calculations to concerts has struck a chord with the Pacific Northwest community.
Since moving from Corvallis, Oregon, eight years ago, Hockinson resident Puckette has joined a local mandolin quartet and is a key member of a traveling mandolin orchestra, Oregon Mandolin Orchestra.
Puckette’s interest in the mandolin started when he watched his father play bluegrass tunes. He kept an interest in music growing up but put it aside to pursue a career in engineering. Late into his career, Puckette picked up the instrument again as a hobby. Now retired, Puckette has dedicated more time to jamming with the community since moving to Hockinson.
“I just put [music] aside for years and years. It was only about 25 years ago when I finally got over my shyness and got out there and started making noises in public,” Puckette said.
The mandolin family of instruments — mandolin, mandola, mandocello and mandobass — are tuned similar to the violin family, but its strings are plucked rather than pulled. Puckette chose the mandolin because of his affinity with guitar-shaped instruments. He noted in a group jam session, a mandolin works better as a background instrument.
“It’s intrinsically melodic, whereas a guitar is much more of a sing-along instrument,” Puckette said. “As a public service to humanity, I don’t sing.”
As a beginner, he took lessons from Youtube and Skype mentors. Puckette recalled how he tore into his mandolin’s strings to relieve the stresses of work.
“The cost of a mistake in engineering is very high, and in music it’s the opposite,” Puckette said. “[Engineers] are told to some degree to question everything and [to be] worried about things, whereas music is completely the opposite in many ways. So it’s really good for a more-balanced person, I believe.”
Puckette joined Oregon Mandolin Orchestra (OMO), a 25-member group, eight years ago after moving to Hockinson. OMO travels around the Pacific Northwest and plays four to five concerts a year using the four mandolin family of instruments. Because a majority of performers were versed in the mandolin, Puckette has recently picked up the mandola and mandocello. The two instruments are composed of four pairs of metal strings, producing a distinctive “twang” compared with the violin family. The pairs of strings allow the player to produce a frequency of plucked notes in quick succession, creating a melodic tune.
“I used to kind of pretend it was a big mandolin to kind of re-transcribe things, and I was kind of treating it the same way, somewhat unsuccessfully,” Puckette said.
He said the experience of playing in a large group is difficult but rewarding. A challenge for Puckette is what he describes as a natural tendency to speed up the tempo.
“Folk musicians typically speed up with the natural flow, and you can’t do that in a big group,” Puckette said. “There’s a real discipline there. You’ve got to follow the leader.”
The orchestra also allows Puckette to show his talent in music theory and arrangement. He recently arranged a mandolin-family version of “Bethena,” a 1905 piano waltz by Scott Joplin, performed in three previous OMO concerts. He translated the four chords played in piano to the four mandolin instruments for the arranged waltz. Puckette said modern software has been a great tool for troubleshooting during the process.
“I’ve read books on music theory and [used] modern computer notation software, where you can hear what you’ve scribbled down,” Puckette said. “Unlike the old [composers] who couldn’t do that, you can spend some serious time [through] trial and error, making it sound right.”
Puckette’s mandolin arrangement of “Bethena” has been played in three OMO concerts so far. He said, while arranging music takes a lot of time and energy, he would like to arrange another song once he finds inspiration. In the meantime, he will continue to perform in OMO and in local jam sessions in his neighborhood.
Puckette recommends aspiring musicians find the instrument they enjoy the most when starting their journey.
“For music, find something that you’re enthusiastic about because it’s gonna take a while to get the job done,” Puckette said. “If your mother told you to practice the violin, and you’re into Led Zeppelin, it wouldn’t work real well.”
The Oregon Mandolin Orchestra will be performing at 3 p.m., Saturday, May 4 at First Presbyterian Church, 4300 Main St., Vancouver. The group will then perform at 3 p.m., Sunday, May 5, at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, 2201 SW Vermont St., in Portland. Find more information about upcoming concerts at ore gonmandolinorchestra.org.
