More Nordic?

[Jim Garber]

I have been reading through this book and ran into a dirge or funeral piece called "Soorgelat fran Indal" written by a fiddler who had lost three of his children in infancy, two in a fire. I wondered what would be the tempo on a piece like this?

Dirge-like, I would imagine. [shd really be ] Very slow.

[Jesse Harmon]

Thanks, that would have been my instinct, however it is written in 2/4 time with 16th and 8th not groupings, no different than any other fiddle piece except it is described as a dirge. So it leaves me wondering if they actually played it like --slower, --really slower-- or up to speed. Don't really expect to be called upon to do this one---it was more of a curious question.

[Jim Garber]

Does it sound appropriately sad when played slowly? Notation is notation and someone else could notate it differently. This is primarily aural music and the notation is much more recently and not by the players necessarily.

I have seen musical pieces written in 8th and 16th notes but marked adagio or lento. The subdivisions don't necessarily indicate the tempo of the piece.

[Jesse Harmon]

That these were written from an aural tradition and the notation being more recent is a real consideration. Sometimes in reading through a whole tune book of these when they are written out in such excellent transcription you can forget where they originated. Thanks for the feedback.

[Roland Sturm]

A number of tunes are posted on www.pelimanni.fi, some very good and detailed transcriptions as well. You may need Google translator, which most of the time will get you a somewhat understandable idea of what it means. Here is a tune that should be suitable for beginners:
http://www.pelimanni.fi/festivaalija...nessaSpoof.pdf
My 11-year old daughter is not a mandolin player, but a fiddler, and we do twin mandolins on this tune. The tune is in 3/4, not a Polska, but slower, maybe more like a Polonaise?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYc0pvXVNKI

It is one of a number of tunes our family has learned from Antti Järvelä. We learned it by ear, so by now there may be deviations compared to the transcription, the kids are more likely to make up parts as they go along, while old people like me are more literal-minded.

[Jim Garber]

Thanks Roland for that Finnish site. It took me a little while but I figured out that Nuotit is Sheet Music. Lots of it there. I esp love Finnish waltzes so I am looking fwd to checking this site out.

[Roland Sturm]

Oh no, I violated Scott's rules about embedding videos and posted a link instead, so I better fix that. Our family twin mando version:

It is a rainy night in Southern California and we had some jamming on Nordic tunes with out-of-town visitors at our house. This tune works great (Himlens Polska and another Dm one were other favorites), but just this whole genre is great for gloomy winter days.

At our jam, it was surprising that people have subtle differences in the feel, so a morphing of styles as maybe our deeper influences come through (none of us would be native Nordic style musicians). But it sounded great anyway. A few fiddles, one or two guitars, 1-2 mandolins, upright bass.

I have sheet music for one of the Dm Polskas posted at in a column in Folkworks
http://www.folkworks.org/all-columns...finnish-polska

Here is an authentic performance from a Kaustinen fiddler of that Polska

[mandopat]

Heres a dutch site with nordic tunes scattered about..it translates fine!!

http://gonnagles.nl/nl/node/70

[Charlieshafer]

Very slightly off-topic, and seeing as we have a few Nordic contributors here, are there any books over there for two fiddles, as sort of an attempt to emulate Hardanger fiddling? Maybe 3-4 part books? Thanks to anyone who can help!

[Pasha Alden]

An interesting consideration - especially when one has associations of what one would then ainticipate when interpreting the music.

[Jean Andreasen]

I realize I’m late to this party, but is it still possible to get a copy of this book? I can’t seem to find it for sale anywhere online. This is directed to Seppo re: mandoliiniopas

[Eric Platt]

I realize I’m late to this party, but is it still possible to get a copy of this book? I can’t seem to find it for sale anywhere online. This is directed to Seppo re: mandoliiniopas

Don't think it is in print. Although I could also use a copy. Noticed even the Finnish Folk society doesn't have it stock.

And finding the earlier Heikki Lahti recordings would be nice, too. Or even the most recent one. That seems to have disappeared quickly. Ah well, it's what happens when I get interested in something too late.

[Mandobart]

Thanks for reviving this old thread jenebene! I've been looking for Nordic material for my Hardanger fiddle. I may have scored a copy of Fiddle Music from Northern Lands by Charles Saksena from Amazon UK. I ordered all the other books mentioned on this thread as well. Skål!

[Trubadur]

I play Swedish fiddle and am just starting out with the mandolin. If I wanted to learn Nordic tunes on mandolin I would turn to Magnus Zetterlund. He teaches a group of Nordic tunes on his YouTube channel, and he has an ebook if you need dots and TAB.

YouTube instruction: http://www.magnuszetterlund.com/nordic-folk-mandolin

Tune book: http://www.magnuszetterlund.com/prod...ditional-tunes

[Trubadur]

ETA Oops, just saw the other thread on Hardanger and see that you have already joined HFAA. Anyway I really recommend them.

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Have you checked out the Hardanger Fiddle Association of America? They are great people and they have a Facebook page. I would bet you might find local hardanger players and resources through HFAA if you are anywhere near Seattle.

[Jean Andreasen]

Thanks to everyone who responded.

These are some really nice leads.

j

[Seppo]

Hi there,
I still have a small amount of Mandoliiniopas books in stock.
I can send them via Paypal for $ 30 including postage. That means economy postage which is approximately $ 15.
Let me know if you need them. sillanp@gmail.com
Seppo