Norwegian polka (trippar) with blue notes - Scandi Folk Tune #25
Вставка
- Опубліковано 14 жов 2024
- Blue notes all the way and as catchy as can be : here comes a Trippar from southern Norway which I learned from Mia Marine. A great exercise for all of you who want to practice their non-tempered scales and double-stops... and a super fun tune in general !
Tune : Trippar etter Lars Mjåland frå Åseral i Vest-Agder, Norway
Difficulty : 3 (some climbing on nyckelharpa)
A tempered version on piano adapted and played by Sverre Eftestøl : / 3-trippar-etter-lars-m...
Malungs Folkhögskola, which I recommend in the video : www.regiondala...
Blue notes or micro-intervalls are all the notes outside of the western tempered chromatic scale (aka : all notes in-between the keys of a piano). Quarter-tones are the blue notes right in the middle of a tempered half-tone, but there are many more blue notes. These notes are common in several Scandinavian folk repertoires, notably mountainous Norway and western Sweden.
I'm Emelie Waldken, I play Swedish nyckelharpa and fiddle, and I teach Scandinavian folk music and dance.
Support me on Patreon : / emeliewaldken
(My Patrons get sheet music and extra content aswell as early access to videos.)
Listen on Spotify : open.spotify.c...
Listen & support on Bandcamp : emeliewaldken....
Follow on Facebook : / emeliewaldken
Homepage : www.emeliewald...
Credits music in the intro : CD 'Norsk folkemusikk på radio - Dei fyrste åra på radio', track 10, tune 'Vill du vara venn min'
Recorded may 2021 in Uppland, Sweden.
Amazing, thank you.😄
I am so glad that there are people like you in the world.
Oh thanks =)
Very interesting!
Jag är lärd efter suzuki metoden, dvs gehör enbart.
Tycker det är imponerande att du lyckas träffa rent varje gång!
Särskilt med tanke på att det är så många blå noter/toner.
Får ett leedne av att lyssna på ditt spel. Önskar bara jag hade samma träffsäkerhet i mina fingrar....🥲
Je joue du piano depuis quelques années maintenant et je n'avais jamais entendu parler des blue notes ! Ça a complètement changé ma vision de cette instrument. J'étais tellement habitué au clavier que je ne m'étais jamais douté qu'il existait d'autres notes. Je dois absolument commencé à m'intéresser à d'autres sortes d'instruments.
Oui c'est une découverte fascinante pour les musicien-nes classiques ! Pour moi aussi ca a été une révélation, j'avais déjà écouté pas mal de musique traditionnelle iranienne notamment, mais ne me doutais pas qu'il existait des notes bleues en Europe également !
I love blue tunes. They sound extra "trollskt" (a term which is hard to translate but which roughly means Magic but literally translates to Trollish). Thanks Emelie for providing us with some extra trollishness! 😊
Btw, I know I keep harping on about säckpipa but the "original" old finds, which were the ones on which the modern swedish säckpipa was modeled, were all blue scaled instruments. It's become quite popular to make copies of the old "Mockfjärdspipa" and play old tunes on that. Anders Norudde does it a lot and also David Åsbrink.
Anyway, great tune and great video!
Jag veeeeet blåtoner har något väldigt trollskt i sig ! De har så mycket "smak" tycker jag, de är lite som en speciel ackord eller en väldigt ovanlig ornament : de når rakt i hjärtat.
Och jaaa gamla säckpipor var, dem flesta iaf, med blå skalor ! Många folk pipor också !
It's amazing how when the whole environment is out of tune it sounds so in tune. Wonderful thanks.
^^' I wonder what you mean (perhaps am just thick)
@@EmelieWaldken I'm sorry my level of English is very low. I wanted to say that when there are a lot of blue notes in a song, our brain ends up accepting them as if they were the correct tuning. It's a very beautiful song.
@@MiguelLopezFolk Ah yes, it's the magic of blue scales =)
Awesome ! I'm a folkie that came from blues and jazz music. I am used to these Blue notes ! And I love it ! Thanks Emelie ! Wonderful playing ! Keep up the GOOD work ! martin
I am on stage and my heart is racing as I look out into the audience. Before me are the greatest composers and musicians of classical music that ever lived. The entire New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra is packed and I am the only one on stage, with all eyes on me, waiting for my violin solo. My hands begin to shake as i look down at the Messiah Stradivarius that is in my grasp. "Don't drop it. Don't drop it. don't..." keeps going through my head. I close my eyes and take a deep breath and let go of all fear. I then open my eyes and look again at the violin that I am holding, observing its rich red varnish on the body, and intricate carvings on the tail piece. "It's just a piece of wood." I tell myself while pretending that I am holding my old violin. a hundred year old violin, a poor copy nonetheless. I was never afraid of dropping that one. I smile as I relax and remove the shoulder rest and set it aside. Then I place the fiddle in the chest hold position and play Scandi Folk tune number 25.
In case anyone is wondering what the chest hold position is for the violin see Tim Erickson. It's the best example i can think of. He doesn't have a chin rest on his fiddle. Now that I think about it the Messiah doesn't have a chin rest also.
Cool tune! So what exactly are the characteristics of a Scandi polka? And how do they differ from pols / polska?
In short :
- Polskas are in 3/4 and in-between 90 and 130 BPM.
- Polkas are in 4/4 and go at 120+ BPM. They also have a very "jumpy" feeling that polskas don't have.
Lovely tune. Have a friend that says what he loves about a fiddler is that he as and infinite number of notes. Not restricted by frets.
Very much agreeing with that =) Although guitars, despite their frets, are VERY blue notes-friendly !
Ha ha ha, thank you Emelie.
I was mucking around with my Hardanger and had notice that to have that Norwegian flavour it was slightly out of tune with certain notes. Now I know that I was right, but had not consciously been aware of that, but my nervous system had noticed it, and could replicate it. So interesting. And yeah, it is a bit like famous stinky cheese, if you did not know you would think it was off. Ha ha ha.
If you talk about strong cheese I can only agree, I am Swiss ;) It's interesting how you describe you would naturally imitate the blue notes of Norwegian tunes. For me, trained on classical violin, it was a long and arduous way to stop "flatten" them automatically - I HEARD them, but could not PLAY them, for quite a while ! I had to force my fingers to go "in-between" their usual places. Scary, but great =)
First thing that I noticed before reading the title was the blue things in the background, "blue" blue jeans and makeup. Wonder what this video is going to be about. I love this tune. you play it very well. I noticed that frog on your bow is round like a viola bow but the tip looks different. like a much older style. what kind of bow is that.
My bow is a baroque-typed one, built by The Bow Studio in Gävle, Sweden. I prefer baroque bows to more modern ones because the baroque ones feel lighter and quicker, more responsive somehow.
@@EmelieWaldken Are they the same length? I have been using my viola bow on my violin because it seems easier for me to play and sounds better. It's a little heavier but I am not experienced enough to understand difference between bows.
@@tim5cad203 Baroque bows are a tad shorter than modern ones. I believe it is not really recommended to use a viola bow on violin, as it is heavier and prolly adds extra pressure on an instrument that is already holding against a lot. But am no expert.
@@EmelieWaldken Thanks I am going to have to look into it. The violin bows that I have are cheaply made. Maybe I am not using them right with the pressure.
@@tim5cad203 Well I don't if there is any risk, so to say. But I would always recommend getting a good, adapted bow ! If your finances are low, go for the carbon fiber option ! You can find very decent bows for MUCH cheaper than wooden ones. I have one that I use in conditions where I wouldn't dare take my good bows, as it is very resistant.
Hi Emelie! Thanks so much for your great videos. Do you know of resources I could read or listen to to learn more about blue notes in Scandinavian fiddling? Are there certain blue intervals that are common? Are they mostly quartertonal, or are they based on just intonation? Do different regions prefer different blue notes? I am so interested in Scandinavian tuning systems. I would love if you could do a video just on that someday. But even if not, I would be still be very grateful if you know of some papers I could read!
I am precisely working on gathering knowledge about that ! For now I don't feel qualified enough on the topic to be able to talk about it in video, but it is planned for the future. I learned most I know from Mia Marine, so I would recommend asking her for resources, for now sadly I am quite short.
I can just answer partially to some of your questions : Yes, some regions have some preferred blue notes and this often has to do with which keys were the most common in the area, and that in turn ties to some degree to which instruments were played there ; for example, an area with folk flutes or säckpipas would have the specific scales of these instruments. In Sweden in the west there's a prominence of tunes in D and A. The most common blue note, from my experience, is F (between F and F#). In Norway it depends completely on which tuning was the most common (in the hardingfele districts the tunings were many and very distinct).
@@EmelieWaldken Thank you! I look forward to seeing what you find!
It is interesting that in a lot of traditions, blue notes seem to exist as specific notes, not as intervals. For example, in Irish fiddling, it’s not uncommon to hear C half-sharp as a 4th in G tunes and as a 7th in D tunes, but you do not hear blue 4ths in D or A tunes. The note of C half-sharp is more fundamental than the interval of the half-sharp 4th.
@@eosborne6495 That's really interesting ! I feel I do think a bit like that about the F in general, I love it blue so much that I rarely play it tempered ^^ But I think that for other notes / other instruments / other musicians, it can actually be the interval that matters. For example, in Swedish music we'll often have a blue 3rd, and possibly 7th.
Les blue notes, c'est des demi-tons ? (désolé, je suis une brelle en musique :-) )
Non, ce sont toutes les notes comprises ENTRE les demi-tons ! Quarts-de-tons est un terme utilisé mais incorrect, car ces notes bleues ne sont pas forcément pile au milieu entre deux demi-tons.
Pour faire simple : la gamme "occidentale" compte 12 notes espacées uniformément d'un demi-ton : Do - Do# - Ré - Mib - Mi - Fa - Fa# - Sol - Sol# -La - Sib - Si, qui correspondent aux "touches du piano" comme le dit Emelie. Ces "blue notes" se situent "entre" ces 12 notes. Emelie pourra confirmer, mais il me semble donc que ce sont des... quarts de ton... ??? Le "F blue, between F and F sharp" est "entre le Fa et le Fa#", et pour une oreille habituée à notre "gamme occidentale" limitée aux demi-tons c'est donc une note qui sonne "faux".
@@EmelieWaldken Ok, oui j'ai entendu parler de "quarts de ton" (c'est le terme qu'ils utilisaient, pê que là c'était vraiment des quarts de tons) en musique bretonne. Merci :-)
@@YouPeasant888 En fait "quart-de-ton" est très réducteur, puisque (comme dit dans mon précédent commentaire) on imagine alors seulement la note pile au milieu entre deux demi-tons. Alors qu'en fait il y en a PLEIN. Certains répertoires (moyen-orientaux majoritairement, mais pas uniquement) en distinguent jusqu'à 8 dans un seul demi-ton si je me souviens bien (qu'on ne me cite pas sur ce chiffre-là).
En musique scandinave généralement on en distingue trois, donc le quart-de-ton plus les deux huitièmes de chaque côté... quand on n'est pas dans des gammes complètements bleues (flûte sälgflöjt, guimbarde et compagnie). Et puis aussi on est souvent en gammes non tempérées de toute facon...
L'article de Wikipedia en anglais est très bien (celui en francais n'est pas aussi précis) : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microtonal_music
@@gerald4013 C'est possible, mais très souvent le terme est utilisé sans conscience de son aspect réducteur. "Micro-intervalle" est plus correct, personnellement j'ai choisi d'utiliser "notes bleues" parce que c'est un terme très englobant et aussi poétique !