Quest for the Harpa

 January 2020 I had the wonderful privilege to present on the nyckelharpa at the Classical Guitar Society of Rochester in January 2020. Pictured above is the Magnusson harpa I was borrowing at the time, and my tiny old Lenovo (RIP) with a fresco of an angel playing a nyckelharpa. The nyckelharpa is an ancient medieval instrument dating back to the Middle Ages, but it has gone through many evolutions since then to arrive at the modern chromatic nyckelharpa. The harpa playing angel is very likely playing a variant of the Moraharpa, the oldest known ancestor of the nyckelharpa found in Mora, Sweden, dating from 1526, with an inscription on the back stating so: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moraharpa

                                                                            Esbjörn Hogmark's workshop          I had the good fortune to visit renowned nyckelharpa builder Esbjörn Hogmark at his home near Tobo, Sweden and see how nyckelharpas are built. There are man y rooms with wood in various stages of aging and pieces. Pictured above is the workbench area where the final pieces are put together. Esbjörn knew Eric Sahlström himself, and learned nyckelharpa building alongside him, and Esbjörn is considered by many to be the best nyckelharpa builder in Sweden. He was incredible generous in showing me his work and we played some Eric Sahlström tunes together, that Esbjörn learned from Sahlström himself. 

The first nyckelharpa I ever played at NEFFA in 2019 We always remember our first love, right? This is the first nyckelharpa I ever set my hands on, made by Devon MacRae for his wife Sophie, who loves to play nyckelharpa, but didn't own one. He had a booth at NEFFA, New England Folk Festival, in April 2019 when I went, and offered to let me try the nyckelharpa he made. I fell in love with the tone and immediately felt inspired to learn how to play one. My own green fiddle case is in the background. So there's where the story begins!  To check out more of Devon MacRae's instruments, go here: https://www.macraestrings.com/gallery  

 Nyckelharpa built by Sören Åhker and tuning cable     I had the pleasure of playing some tunes with my friend Saana today, and I noticed how careful she was with tuning her nyckelharpa, using a clip and Korg tuner. I use my phone to tune, and any background noise often interferes with tuning. I asked her about the tuning clip and Korg tuner and she said the Korg tuner she has is no longer made and she was using Baroque tuning. She has studied at ESI (Eric Sahlström Institute) and she mentioned they would spend a long time tuning.       Yet here at SibA (Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland), we use equal tempered tuning because oftentimes we play with instruments with fixed tuning (i.e. accordion or harmonium). While the baroque tuning may make the instrument sound better, I wonder, is it sacrificing the ability to play with other  musicians and an ensemble? What are your thoughts on tuning systems?

Nyckelharpa built by Eric Sahlström, 1981     I had the good fortune of visiting Stockholm, Sweden this past Sunday, February 20th, and visited the nordic instruments collection at the Performing Arts Museum. I happened across this nyckelharpa made by Eric Sahlström himself in 1981, and owned by  Åsa Jinder, the youngest person ever to be awarded the title of 'Rikspelman' or national folk musician in 1979 (16 years of age). Take at look at the beautiful woodwork engraving below. 

Kontrabasharpa, left; Finnish Esseharpa, right.  4 makes of nyckelharpas, and 2 older variants  (far left) Today I had the joy of attending one of the first nyckelharpa informational gatherings in Finland, with a lecture by my nyckelharpa colleague and friend Saana. She mentioned to me beforehand that many nyckelharpa players in Finland are spread out, and interest is growing but many people do not know where or how to get a nyckelharpa (not so different from the USA!) It was very cool to see so many makes of nyckelharpas in one room, including a kontrabasharpa and esseharpa (Finnish), and hear the differences in sound and handling. It was fun playing a harpa by Hasse Gille, a rare find! He also built the kontrabasharpa shown above.   

          Nyckelharpa played the traditional Swedish way, with the strap over the neck                                                                                      Photo: Aaron Winton NB!   Huom!  The title of this post is a playful reference to the famous Milton Babbit essay "Who Cares if you Listen?" It is not meant in any way to be disrespectful of Sweden's national instrument the nyckelharpa, but to explore the versatility of this beautiful instrument and deconstruct social bias.  Recently, I have been thinking about what it means to be a non-Swedish heritage nyckelharpa player and the history of the nyckelharpa and what the nyckelharpa has come to represent. I get the question a lot: ...