Folklore Village, Dodgeville, WI, July 16
- 18
The HFAA was proud to bring back to its 1999 Stevne the hardingfele
master Vidar Lande, one of the greatest players in Norway, whose
vast knowledge and analytical musical ability also make him one of
the greatest teachers of the hardingfele. Also, teaching dance was
Inge Midtveit from West Telemark in Norway, whose great dancing and
teaching were "discovered" by American enthusiasts
when he partnered Karin Brennesvik at Scandinavian Week, Buffalo
Gap in 1997. Joining Vidar and Inge will be our usual roster of stellar
American hardingfele teachers, plus Ron Poast teaching hardingfele
construction.
Even if you have never played hardingfele or done Norwegian
folk dancing before, you are welcome at the HFAA Annual Meeting!
We returned to our beautiful location at the Folklore
Village Farm in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, about a 35-minute drive
west of Madison. Folklore Village provides us with a very memorable
experience. Located in a peaceful rural setting, we had the
opportunity to learn new tunes, receive individualized instruction,
ask questions, visit, share stories, and dance. All of the activities
took place in the newly air-conditioned and spacious
music and dance facility with a great dance floor and many classrooms
on the lower floor. Three meals per day were provided to all
one- and two-day registrants. The Folklore Village cooks have had
extensive experience preparing sumptuous Scandinavian smorgasbords
and desserts, and we will be treated to a Norwegian feast Saturday
night at our festive banquet.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
The weekend began on Thursday evening with a gala opening
concert with Vidar Lande and other members of the teaching staff
(location to be announced). Friday morning we convened at Folklore
Village for breakfast, followed by hours of varied workshops in all
aspects of Norwegian fiddling and dancing. Friday night included
a dance party at Folklore Village, followed by another solid day
of workshops on Saturday. Our weekend climaxed with the Saturday
night banquet, concert, and dance, also at Folklore Village. Instruction
was available in the following areas:
HARDINGFELE | HARDANGER FIDDLE
All hardingfele classes are small, with lots of opportunity for
individual attention. You need not have played hardingfele or Scandinavian
fiddle before, but you should have some solid fiddling skills.
It helps to have some degree of proficiency in learning by ear,
although this is not a requirement. Some written music will be
available. Fiddlers who would like to try hardingfele but do not
have an instrument are welcome -- please indicate that you would
like to borrow an instrument on the registration form (or indicate
if you have one to lend). Playing for dancing is an integral part
of the fiddle instruction program, and all students will get the
opportunity to play for the dance classes, in groups or individually
if desired.
DANS | DANCE
Dance students had the opportunity to dance to live fiddle
music and learn more about it. Emphasis was on the springar
and gangar tradition of West Telemark, but Inge also taught
a short introduction to the Setesdal gangar, to enable our attendees
to dance to Vidar Lande's fabulous Setesdal tunes. There was
time for individual instruction tailored for both beginning level
and experienced dancers.
HARDANGER FIDDLE CONSTRUCTION![[Ron Poast]](http://www.hfaa.org/graphics/ron_poast.jpg)
This two-day course, the only one in the United States, looked
at some selected aspects of hardingfele construction. There were
opportunities for hands-on practice with carving, inlay,
and ink drawing. There will be no extra fee for supplies. The picture
shows instrument-maker and hardingfele construction teacher Ron
Poast of Black Earth, Wisconsin, playing a Hardanger fiddle he
made. Photo by Richard Strauss, used by permission of the Smithsonian
Institution.
ADDITIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
Our staff presented lectures and demonstrations about hardingfele
music and dance on both days. There were also short intensive
sessions on issues of interest to anyone playing a bowed stringed
instrument at any level of ability. Topics may include relaxation
and injury-avoidance techniques, tone-production techniques and
tips for optimizing your practice time. Private 15-minute coaching
sessions with the teachers will be available to help you solve
your individual fiddling problem. Longer private lessons were also
available with the teachers before or after the official sessions.
Evenings included dance parties with live music, and Saturday
evening there was a banquet and also concert featuring
our staff instructors.
AUDITORS
An option was available to audit the fiddle and dance workshops
(watching only, no participation). No advance registration is required.
NORWEGIAN INSTRUCTORS
MASTER FIDDLER:
VIDAR LANDE from Setesdal, Norway
Vidar Lande is recognized not only as one of the best hardingfele
players in Norway, but as a dedicated researcher and collector
who has accumulated a vast store of tunes and knowledge from his
home area of Bygland in central Setesdal and from Telemark and
other hardingfele areas. He began learning hardingfele from
his uncle Gunnar Lande in Bygland as a 14-year-old, and at the
age of 18 began visiting other Setesdal fiddlers such as Dreng
Ose, Otto Furholt, and Gunnar Liestøl. He lived in Oslo
for a while and collected tunes from Kjetil Løndal and Odd
Bakkerud, then began traveling to Telemark to learn from Eivind
Mo, among others. His goal was to learn as many tunes as possible,
and he recorded everything on his tape recorder and transcribed
probably over a thousand tunes. From this work he gained an encyclopedic
knowledge of the hardingfele tradition, which he combined with
an exceptional ability to analyze differences in playing styles
and traditions.
Many will remember Vidar from his appearances in the 1970s on
the Prairie Home Companion, and he was the teacher at the very
first HFAA Stevne in 1984. He has also taught at workshops in Minneapolis
and San Francisco. where his students have awarded him the highest
praise. Vidar is in high demand in Norway both as a concert performer
and as a judge in fiddling competitions. His CD, "Norway:
Fiddle Music from Agder", part of the UNESCO Collection of
Musics and Musicians of the World, is available from the HFAA.
He is also the author of two landmark collections of hardingfele
transcriptions, Slåttar og Spelemenn i Bygland,
and Otto Furholt: Slåttar.
MASTER DANCER:
INGE MIDTVEIT from West Telemark, Norway
Inge Midtveit has danced telespringar for more than twelve years.
He was born in the rural area of Vinje in West Telemark, where
he learned dancing naturally as a part of festival and party life.
While attending the College of Veterinary Medicine in Oslo, he
became active in the folkdance world in the city, and occasionally
taught workshops in telespringar. He has an excellent command of
English, and in 1997 he was invited to assist Karin Brennesvik
in teaching telespringar at Scandinavian Week at Buffalo Gap, where
his elegant dancing was greatly admired.
AMERICAN INSTRUCTORS
The HFAA was also proud to be able to include on our staff many
of the very best American hardingfele teachers and players.
HARDINGFELE INSTRUCTOR:
KARIN LØBERG CODE
Karin Løberg Code of Kalamazoo, MI, is the current editor
of the HFAA's Sound Post. She has studied with many Norwegian
master fiddlers both in the USA and in Norway, and has taught at
numerous workshops around the country. She has recently returned
from a sabbatical in Norway where she was immersed in folk music
and dance. While living in Oslo, Karin played weekly for dancing,
joined a local fiddlers' group, and performed at various venues.
Karin is a violin and viola teacher in Michigan and performs with
the local symphony. She is a frequent fiddle recitalist and has
a dance fiddle CD out called "Norsk Spring Dance".
HARDINGFELE INSTRUCTOR:
INGER DAHLIN
HARDINGFELE INSTRUCTOR:
LORETTA KELLEY
Loretta Kelley, from Washington, D.C., has studied hardingfele
in Norway from many of Norway's most respected players. She specializes
in Telemark-style fiddling but also plays many styles from other
regions. Besides having taught at the HFAA Stevne for ten years,
she is a staff teacher at Buffalo Gap Scandinavian Week in West
Virginia, and has taught at many other workshops throughout the
country. Her writings have appeared in books and magazines in Norway,
England, and the U.S. She has won respectable rankings in competitions
in Norway, and her playing has been featured in a one-hour program
on Norwegian radio. She has made two recordings of springar playing
for dancing, Dansekveld, and most recently Amerikaspel.
HARDINGFELE INSTRUCTOR:
KAREN TORKELSON SOLGÅRD
Karen Torkelson Solgård, one-time HFAA scholarship winner,
has taught beginning-level hardingfele at past HFAA annual meetings.
She has been involved in the HFAA since 1986, serving as editor
of Sound Post for three years, and is now on the board
as Vice President. Last summer she studied hardingfele in the home
of her ancestors, Vinje, Telemark, Norway. Karen is chairperson
of the Twin Cities Hardingfelelag and a musician with Det Norske
Folkedanslaget in Minneapolis.
HARDINGFELE INSTRUCTOR:
ELIZABETH "BECKY" WEIS
Elizabeth Weis is not only an accomplished Hardanger fiddle performer,
but also a scholar in the Swedish nyckelharpa tradition, which
is the subject of her doctoral dissertation in ethnomusicology.
She is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
and holds a masters degree from the University of Minnesota School
of Music with a thesis called "Contests and Conflicts: The
Hardanger Fiddle in Modern Norway." She has conducted lecture-demonstrations
around the United States on Scandinavian fiddle traditions. She
was among the presenters at the 1990 National Hardanger Fiddle
Conference held at the University of Minnesota School of Music.
She has been a frequent teacher and performer at the HFAA's Stevne.
She serves on the Boards of Directors of the HFAA and the American
Nyckelharpa Association. Ms. Weis is sought after as a fiddler
by dance teachers at Scandinavian dance workshops. Her performing
experience extends beyond Hardanger fiddle and nyckelharpa, also
including the Swedish violin tradition. She performs as a member
of the American Swedish Institute Spelmanslag in Minneapolis and
the Chicago Spelmanslag.
HARDINGFELE CONSTRUCTION INSTRUCTOR:
RON POAST
The featured instructor in hardingfele construction will be Ron
Poast, from Black Earth, Wisconsin. He has been making instruments
for 26 years and Hardanger fiddles for 14 years. Recently Ron was
nominated for a National Living Treasure Award by the governor
of Wisconsin. His instruments have been featured in several important
exhibitions, most notably in the summer of 1998 where he appeared
in the Wisconsin exhibit at the American Folklife Festival on the
mall in Washington D.C., demonstrating his art to tens of thousands
of spectators. He has also exhibited at the Vesterheim Museum in
Decorah, Iowa, at the Wisconsin Folklife Festival in Madison, and
with a touring exhibition of Wisconsin folk art organized by Wisconsin's
John M. Kohler Arts Center. Last year Ron received a grant from
the North Dakota Arts Board to give private instruction in hardingfele
making. He has been a regular staff teacher at the HFAA Stevne,
and his instruments are in high demand, especially among HFAA members--he
now has a waiting list several years long.