Variability and improvisation by Gro Marie Svidal
In this exposition I present my solo contribution to the artistic research project Craftmanship, led by Kjell Tore Innervik and Håkon Høgemo. I have explored some of the project's musical material in the light of improvisation practices and the variability that lies within the Hardanger fiddle tradition.
Førespel (prelude).
One improvisation practice in the Norwegian Hardanger fiddle tradition is the practice of improvising preludes. The prelude was considered the fiddler's musical signature. It was personal and unique to each player. When you listen to old preludes you can hear the musical-linguistic connection to the tunes, but they are shorter and different in structure and form from the tunes. The preludes are usually not "slåtte"-rhythmic. Ornaments, harmonic intervals and kviletonar (a kind of fermata) are widely used.
Interplay with dancers.
The interplay between fiddler and dancers opens up many possibilities for improvisation and variation. On the following three recordings you can hear me playing with traditional dancers Ami Petersson Dregelid and Håkon Dregelid. They dance their local springardance from Voss and a Rull. I improvise and vary mainly by changing rhythmic figures, repeating motifs and alternating the use of bourdons as an improvised response to the dancers and to inspire them. If you listen carefully, you can hear the steps of the dancers.
Changing the order of melody motifs.
Another improvisation practice is to change the order of melodic motifs in a tune. I started by breaking up the tune "Ganger after Sjur Eldegard" into small motifs of one or two bars. After memorising the different motifs as independent parts, I could improvise the order of the motifs in many different ways.