The mandola (US and Canada) or tenor mandola (Ireland, and UK) is a fretted, stringed musical instrument.
It is to the mandolin what the viola is to the violin: the four double courses of strings tuned in fifths to the same pitches as the viola (C-G-D-A low-to-high), a fifth lower than a mandolin. However, the mandola, though now rarer, is the ancestor of the mandolin, the name of which means simply "little mandola".
Octave Mandolas (also known as Octave Mandolins in America) are popular because of their suitability for Irish music, being tuned GDAE an octave below a Mandolin. Because the neck is shorter than a Bouzouki it is easier to finger, but the strings are heavier. The Mandola (or Tenor Mandola) is tuned as a Viola, CGDA
