Isabel's heavy line of bass

This accomplished musician revels in orchestral manoeuvres, notes Hayley Hannan.
Isabel Meekins carefully lays a large brown package on the grass. "I'll just undress it," she quips, cheekily. Zipping back a long brown cover, Isabel reveals a wooden double bass, almost the same size as her body.
The 74-year-old plays the double bass for the Auckland Mandolinata Orchestra, our city's only mandolin group. Over the past 18 years in the group she's plucked the mandolon, the double bass, and taken charge as a composer.
The orchestra plays a mix of classical, folk, easy listening and ethnic music, with a variety of mandolins and plucked instruments. Each member's mandolin varies in shape and style, but in general the instruments look like a cross between a banjo and a guitar.
Isabel's specialty is the double bass, the "granddaddy of violins". The size and the weight don't deter her; she uses a golf trundler to manoeuvre the 13kg beast over all kinds of surfaces and kerbs. "I just love it," she says, looking me squarely in the eyes.
"I just love the bass sound."
The double bass is rarely the star, she says, but the low notes provide tunes with a rich undertone.
The orchestra has been going strong since starting out as the West Auckland Music Group in 1970. Founder Doris Flameling had conducted a mandolin orchestra in Holland. Moving to Auckland, she brought a guitar, sheet music and a mandolin, which became the basis of the orchestra. Now the group has 20 people.
Each winter, the orchestra holds afternoon concerts around Auckland, and it also performs all over the North Island. The group play at the Parnell Festival of Roses this Saturday and Sunday from noon until 6pm, at Parnell Rose Gardens.
In January, the orchestra will host the Federation of Australasian Mandolin Ensembles camp, a network of international mandolin orchestras.
From January 2-9, around 50 mandolin players from Canada, Australia, NZ and America will play at Epsom Girls' Grammar.
For details on the Auckland Mandolinata Orchestra's Parnell performance or the FAME camp, see: www.mandolinata.net
String of achievements
In 711AD, the mandolin was introduced to Europe with the Islamic conquest of Spain and Portugal. It later developed into the European lute. The wooden instrument is named after its curved shape; mandola, a large mandolin, translates to almond. Mandolins pepper the musical past. A host of historic composers have written for the mandolin, from Mozart to Beethoven.