The purpose of this article is to challenge habitually used concepts in regard to tonality and timbre in unaccompanied traditional solo singing. The article explores ways of interpreting tonal and timbral structures in Aslak Brekke’s recording of Mælefjøllvisa, recorded in 1937, without presupposing any stipulated intonation pattern. The recording is analysed in the descriptive Multi-modal Model for intonation analysis (Jonzon, 2023), according to which the experienced tone place is completely disentangled from measured pitch. With an analytical focus on the phrase instead of the notes, the results suggest that Brekke’s production of tonal patterns is tightly connected to his breathing and muscle work, and to the pronunciation of the very words that form the song he is singing. The descriptive approach allowed for mapping how Brekke’s production of tonality seemingly emerged during his performance, in tonal structures which are not arbitrary, but best described as dynamic and tightly related to timbre. This present contribution does thereby, on a fundamental level, differ from the majority of earlier research into traditional singing, far beyond Scandinavia. The quote in the title can be translated into “where there once were green hills on which grass and flowers grew.” It illustrates what the present article argues, namely that there is a rich source of aesthetic inspiration in other approaches to vocal tonality than those which are common in today’s canonised understandings.

Årets nummer har to vitenskapelige artikler. I Kristin Jonzons artikkel “Klang och tonalitet i Aslak Brekkes insjungning av Mælefjøllvisa – ‘der som før va grøne vòllar som sto gras og blomar på’” har hun tatt for seg Aslak Brekkes innspilling av Mælefjøllvisa. Hun presenterer sin analyse av den gjennom den deskriptive multimodale modellen. Artikkelen bygger på Jonzons tidligere utvikling av og arbeid med modellen, som ivaretar faktorer som musikalsk sammenheng, et introspektivt forskerperspektiv og data­styrte målinger. Hennes ambisjon er å vise betydningen av å sammenkoble analyseverktøy og metoder og styrken i at forskeren selv har erfaring med folkelig sang. Jonzon peker på at nettopp det håndverksmessige aspektet kan øke forståelsen for klang og intonasjon gjennom kroppen og stemmen som instrument.

Intonation practices in Scandinavian traditional music are characterized by great variability and scholars have faced considerable difficulties outlining the composition and logic of tonal systems. The present study approaches this question by evoking the concept of tolerance, which implies a context-dependent flexibility in the intonation of notes and intervals. The analysis highlights the contextual and processual nature of pitch production and perception. The contextual dimensions comprise of 1) discursive conditions that frame and inform how tonal relations are conceptualized, 2) the specific musical context for a tonal event, which includes the sequential placement of a note in a melodic-rhythmic pattern and the musical features that coexist with pitch/intonation in the musical moment (timing, attack, dynamics, intensity, timbre), and 3) the idiomatic characteristics of the instrument being used and the associated sensorimotor logic behind the production of a note or a sequence of notes. The processual dimension concerns how intonational norms and frameworks or reference structures are shaped through the musical activity itself, including the corresponding unfolding of musical events. In line with this practice-oriented approach, the analysis also broadens the concept of intonation to include all elements of performance action that contribute to the sonic shaping of a tonal event.

This article describes how a traditional fiddle repertoire can be adapted and applied to the recorder flute. The starting point is practical, where a springleik material in Gudbrandsdalen has been transferred to the recorder, or “Sjøfløyte”, as the instrument is often referred to in the folk music genre. The article, which has a practical-pedagogical purpose, addresses specific issues related to the relationship between the technical side of the instruments and the musical framework set by tradition, but thus has relevance beyond the regional and organological delimitation that the starting point would indicate. With a sideways look at affordance theory, I show how the music in Gudbrandsdalen can largely be adapted to the flute and visa versa, while culturally based barriers can create resistance in such a process. I discuss how and with what credibility a repertoire can be transferred and designed for recorder flute and what factors play a role. The article argues that such transfer is both a continuation on the genre’s terms and a significant innovative element embedded in the process. Methodologically, the approach is practice-based, founded on many years of practical experience with transferring tunes, preferably from fiddle to flute.

“He could not play the way I sang” is what Dansar Edvard Jonsson (1893-1976), Malung, Sweden, told the fieldworker Gertrud Sundvik when he performed together with a fiddler. The quote encapsulates a traditional singer’s take on the Scandinavian tradition of trying to demonstrate that the intonation patterns in what we today call traditional singing are hardly arbitrary. The purpose of this article is to illustrate the utility and implications of the Multi-modal Model, with a specific focus on melodic movements and pitch categories which “swap places”. This will be done through an analysis of the intonation in three recordings each of two songs with Dansar Edvard. The model is innovative in three ways; it implies a descriptive approach that does not presuppose any stipulated intonation pattern, the attention to intonation as something which emerges throughout a performance, and a focus on the phrase instead of the tones. The contribution is thus built on a thought structure which radically differs from those relying on abstract a priori tonal structures. This forms an attempt to look beyond norms derived from mathematical perfection.

In this article we are curious about what social dance can offer student teachers in physical education. What might form and enrich their educational journey so they can feel competent and empowered (Rustad, 2017) to teach dance? How can social dance enhance excitement and develop an appetite for teaching (Biesta, 2017), in order to move, flourish and exist as teachers? The study is placed in the generous categorization of practice-led research (Barret & Bolt, 2009), with educational experiences. Adopting a duoethnographic methodological approach (Norris & Sawyer, 2012) we investigate how social dance unfolds in the field of physical education. In addition to the teaching perspective, we base our data material on the students’ experiences with the social dance sessions, followed up in interviews of six students. We use thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) to interpret the data material. We lean on Biesta’s (2014, 2017) educational theories, Bandura’s (1997) theory of ’self-efficacy’ and Bresler’s (2018, 2019) ideas on beginner’s mind and ways of knowing. We draw attention to the experiences of engaging, embodied and collective learning processes. Our findings support that participation in the social dance (here with a focus on linedance, reinlender, and bachata) was an enriching experience and contributed significantly to a wider perspective on physical education and embodied leadership, a sense of community and companionship in the dance space.

There are many astonishingly beautiful and rare citterns exhibited in Norwegian Museums. The Norwegian cittern maker Amund Hansen (1734 – ca.1812) and his signature model, wich in the corpus design combines the shape of a bell and a pear, is the most famous of them all. The citterns by Hansen are made by the highest quality of craftsmanship and esthetical details. Even though Hansens popularity was highly acclaimed in his contemporary life, there are surprisingly few people in Norway that plays the cittern today. This article focuses on the creative approach where I try to revitalize the Amund Hansen cittern as a Norwegian folk music instrument. The first part focuses on how to make two new Hansen instruments, and the need for some stabilizing improvements. And the second part presents the process where I transform fiddle repertoire from Gudbrandsdalen over to the cittern. The imitation of the stroke patterns in the fiddle bow and other idiomatic technical elements, are important in the transformation process. You can hear the recordings at: DigitaltMuseum.no, cister/audiofiles.

This article addresses the new wealth of dance films made available through the internet. Clusters of approaches for the study of internet communities are often referred to as netnography. We aim to contribute an approach we call “netloristical” methodologies for dance. While netnography studies online communities, we propose netloristics, in parallel with folkloristics, as a term for studying their expressions, the netlore. Among other things, this article forefronts a need in dance research to work systematically with empirical material and to strive for transparency about how singular events bring us to generalisations. We combine this ambition with the old discussion of classifying the existences of dance genres and their practice into first or second existence – vival or revival. We propose a classification working with video documents that show concrete realisations of dances within dance events. This article presents an argument and strategy for developing dance research and its terminology further toward a precise empirical basis; to study not only communities but also their expressions. As the first step in this direction, we propose a series of what we call “modes of realisation”. The modes, or ways of realising dances are classified with the help of well-known distinctions. We also suggest ways to work diachronically, comparing the use of the different modes through time in order to elucidate changes and continuities.