Viking Magazine - April 2010 - 18

pick up on aspects of the song that are
impossible to learn from looking only
at written music, particularly the asymmetrical
rhythms, scales with " crooked
notes " and pronunciation of lyrics in
regional dialects.
At the end of my first year, I visited
Ellen Marie Tangen, one of my classmates,
on her summer farm in Østerdalen.
She told me to go to the end of
the field, call the goats and lead them
up to the mountain pastures. I had
never seen goat calling done on an actual
farm, but I had learned a cow call
from listening to an Agnes Buen CD. I
thought I'd try it out. I closed my eyes
and sang out loudly and strongly. It
was amazing to hear my voice echoing
so clearly off the valley walls. At that
moment, I understood firsthand how
people in the Norwegian countryside
could communicate over long distances
using only their voices. When I
At that moment, I
understood firsthand
how people in the
Norwegian countryside
could communicate
over long
distances using only
their voices.
opened my eyes, I saw 150 goats running
right at me. It actually worked!
Ellen Marie and I formed a folk
music group, Gjetord, along with
our friend Maghild Berge. We've
given concerts in Norway, Japan and
Morocco. Singing with Gjetord has
helped me understand the power of
folk singing as a tool for international
communication and meeting other
folk singers. No matter where we
went, we could share our music with
others and learn their music in return.
With help from a Sons of Norway
King Olav V Scholarship, I'm
finishing my master's degree and
continuing to learn traditional music
in Bondal, Telemark. I give concerts
and workshops, and I teach private
lessons in singing and fiddling to children
and adults. In recent years, when
I've made trips back to the U.S., Sons
of Norway members have generously
helped me organize concerts and
provided wonderful hospitality. I hope
to meet many of them again when I
return to give concerts and workshops
in the near future. One of the goals
of Sons of Norway is to promote and
preserve Norwegian culture, and I'm
happy to use the skills I've learned
in Norway to continue this mission,
through the medium of folk music.
-S.N. V
7DJ JE B;7HD CEH;
Check out these folk music resources.
Explore and purchase Norwegian vocal music:
Ê NRK Alltid
Folkemusikk
A channel of the Norwegian
Broadcasting Corporation
devoted to folk music.
Click on NRK: Folkemusikk.
www.nrk.no/radio
Ê Ta:lik Records
www.cdroots.com/talik.
shtml
Ê Norwegian
Song Archives
The Norwegian song archives
(Norsk Visesarkivet)
are open to the public and
will answer questions via
phone, e-mail or regular
mail. www.visearkivet.no/
sider/in_english.html
Take a folk singing workshop in the US:
Ê Hardanger Fiddle
Association of America's
(HFAA's) Annual
Workshops,
July 22-25, 2010.
Contacting the HFAA is a
good way to get in touch
with traditional Norwegian
musicians in your area.
For more information, visit
www.hfaa.org
Ê Nordic Fiddles
& Feet Camp
June 27-July 4, 2010,
Camp Ogontz,
near Littleton, N. H.
www.nordicfiddlesandfeet.org
18 V I K I N G A pri l 2010
http://www.nordicfiddlesandfeet.org http://www.nrk.no/radio http://www.visearkivet.no/ http://www.cdroots.com/talik http://www.hfaa.org
Viking Magazine - April 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Viking Magazine - April 2010
