Scandinavian Fiddling Resources by Carl Rahkonen I collected the following resources for a Scandinavian Fiddling Workshop at the American String Teachers' Association National Conference in Columbus, Ohio, March 29, 2003.  For my "Overview of Scandinavian Fiddling" click here.   Also see my article on How to Begin Fiddling Scandinavian Style.

Scandinavian Music and Dance Camps:

Folklore Village Swedish Dance and Music Weekend (Dodgeville, WI, last week in October)
Nordic Fiddles and Feet (Buffalo Gap, WV, first week in July)
Northern Week at Ashokan (Ashokan, NY, fourth week in July)
Scandia Camp Mendocino (Mendocino, CA, second week in June)

Spelmanslags in the United States:

American Swedish Institute Spelmanslag (Minneapolis)
Northern California Spelmanslag
Scandia DC Spelmanslag  (Washington, DC)
Seattle Skandia Spelmanslag
Skandia Folkdance Society (Seattle)
Scandia Gammeldans Band (Southern California)
Scandia New York
Speledans (Boston)

Societies:

--The American Nyckelhapa Association (ANA). Excellent tunes, also playable on regular fiddle, and lots of good information.
--The Hardanger Fiddle Association of America (HFAA)

Scandinavian Tune Transcriptions:

--Karen Myers's "Blue Rose" Scandinavian Folk Music.  Outstanding site with hundreds of tunes and excellent tune analysis.
--Henrik Norbeck’s site. Lots of tunes, good information.
--Falu Spelmanslag:   A few excellent tunes on PDF and MP3s.
--Danish "Folketshus" site.
--Institutt for musikkvitenskap  (excellent Norwegian site, compliments of Karen Solgard)

Festivals and Gatherings:

Nisswa-Stämman  great fiddler's gathering in the upper Midwest.
Jamestown (NY) Scandinavian Folk Festival
Scandinavian Fest  Edison, NJ
FinnFest various places around the US, late summer.

Library Collections:

The Gordon Ekvall Tracie Music Library.
The Robert Andresen Collection at the Mills Music Library, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Published sources:

--Fichtenbaum, Matt. “Scandinavian Fiddling.” In Mel Bay’s Old Time Fiddling Across America.  Pacific,   MO: Mel Bay, 1989, pp. 162-68 + CD. Three great tunes in contrasting styles.
--Gilland, Tom. Mel Bay Presents Favorite Swedish Fiddle Tunes. Pacific, MO: Mel Bay, 2002. 39 pp. 26 tunes. Excellent tune book, currently available for $8.95.
--Paley, Ben. Swedish Fiddle Music: An Anthology. 64 pp. + cassette tape. 53 transcribed tunes, most with harmony parts, 33 tunes played on the tape. The best tune book and recording of Scandinavian fiddling, unfortunately currently out of print.

Recordings:

Björn Ståbi and Ole Hjorth. Folk Fiddling from Sweden. (1970) LP: Nonesuch H72033
Hardanger fiddler Karen Solgård
Andrea Hoag and Loretta Kelley. Hambo in the Barn Azalea City ACCD-9601
Loretta Kelley. AmerikaSpel Azalea City ACCD-9603
Bruce Sagan and Andrea Hoag. Spelstundarna (1993); With Friends (2002) available from Bruce Sagan.
Laurie Hart and Sarah Cummings. Fiddlespel. available from Ted Crane (2000)
American Swedish Institute Spelmanslag. (2000) available from Music Outfitters.
Äkta Spelmän: Swedish Fiddle Music. (2002) available from Music Outfitters.
Skandia: A Definitive Collection of Traditional Nordic Rhythms. contact folkdancing.com
or Trella Hastings at the Skandia Music Foundation
Finn Hall (w/ Cheryl Paschke) (2002) contact: info@finnhall.com
Nordika (Niles and Debbie Hokkanen, Lee Simonson) (1993)

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Web-site created and maintained by Carl Rahkonen.  © 2003-  Last modified 5/25/15
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