Description
Dates: Weekly on Wednesdays – January 8 – February 26, 2025 Online, via Zoom
Time: 5:30 – 7:00 PM CST each week
Skill Level: Advanced beginners and intermediate players. You should be familiar with your instrument and fingering. It is recommended that you know and play the scales for the keys of C, D, G, and F. We will review fingerings and arpeggios for these keys.
Class Registration Fee: $160 for entire 8-week session
Hasse Gille is perhaps best known to the general public as the colorful character who led the allspel at the annual Österbystämma every June. Folk musicians who are more familiar with the lay of the land in Uppland know Hasse to be a legendary point of focus and inspiration among nyckelharpa players far and wide. Hasse is an institution all unto himself. He earned the title Riksspelman (fiddler of the realm) in 1974 and became world champion on the gammelharpa in 1992. He passed away on December 31, 2012. This class will start off with a few easy tunes, then move to tunes by Hasse Gille. You will also learn techniques to help with learning these tunes
It is expected that you play Bondpolska efter Båtsmandäck, Emmasvals, Bonden i paradis (vals), and Stenbergsmarsch or Flickorna Svensson. Audio and print music available to registrants as needed for these tunes. Be sure to know these tunes before class starts. Becky will be teaching in the traditional “C” tuning, but will be able to work with you if you normally play with the “D” tuning.
Students will be sent a form upon enrollment to fill out and return to Becky, listing the tunes you know, and the tunes you would like to learn.
Students need to bring: Computer and internet access, a tuned nyckelharpa A = 440 HZ, optional tempered tuning minus 2 cents (See American Nyckelharpa Association [www.nyckelharpa.org] for the John Olsson tempered tuning) with tuned tangents and strings
Becky Weis has played and studied nyckelharpa on both sides of the Atlantic. She is known as a teacher and a player for dancers, and has fun teaching and making tunes danceable. Becky guides playing with technique tips, and likes the spirit of getting a good tune going.
Becky is also a scholar in the Swedish nyckelharpa tradition, the subject of her doctoral dissertation in ethnomusicology. She serves on the board of directors of the Twin Cities Nyckelharpalag, and has taught both nyckelharpa and hardingfele at St. Olaf’s College.
Here’s a film featuring Hasse Gille with Anders Mattson, originally published as a DVD in 2003.
