(re)thinking idioms, conventions and tradition

Lewis, G. E. (1996). ”Improvised Music Olof Misgeld

After 1950: Afrological and Eurological
Perspectives”. In Black Music Research Jour- On Variation and Melodic Improvisation in
nal, vol. 16, no. 1. Swedish Folk Music
Lewis, G. E. (2000). ”Too Many Notes:
Computers, Complexity and Culture in
Voyager”. In Leonardo Music Journal, vol.
10.
McClary, S. (1992). Georges Bizet, Car-
As a fiddle player, folk musician and a longer history than recording technology
men. Cambridge: New York: Cambridge
teacher of folk music, my interest in the there is an extensive body of folk music
University Press
traditional playing of dance tunes –”låt- transcribed into musical notation that goes
Moten, F. (2003a). ”Magic of The Object”. spel” in Swedish – has continued to grow back over 400 years. Sometimes notation
In Callaloo, vol. 26, no. 1. over the years. My fascination emerged is used for remembering tunes – but for
Moten, F. (2003b). In the Break: The from the basic things: how to learn tunes, music that belongs to a living oral tradi-
Aesthetics of the Black Radical Tradition. to play them and hopefully be able to do it tion detailed notation is usually a tool
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota in a traditional but personal and innovative for description, collection and analysis. A
Press. way. But the tunes have been played for notation is often seen as a representation of
generations and cultured and perfected by how a tune was played once by one specific
a long list of musicians. How can a player player – but not necessarily how another
add something or create something unique player, or even the same player, would play
within such a framework? it at another moment in time or place and
A ”låt”, a traditional tune, could be certainly not as the only correct version of
described as a melody consisting of musical the tune.
ideas that have been orally transmitted To transcribe or notate a piece of music
through a chain of different individuals, is to translate something sounding into a
and therefore exist in a large number of written language. Thus it involves transla-
variants. There is usually no original or ting from one medium (recording, live per-
final version of a tune and most tunes share formance) to another (into writing) – but
features with other closely related tunes also from a temporal mode (in progress, in
in a way that you can’t really tell where the present) to another (static, independent
one tune ends and the next one begin. You of time) and from one sense (hearing) to
could argue with the Danish folklorist another (vision). Walter J. Ong has writ-
Thorkild Knudsen that a tune or melody ten in depth about this in his book Oral
”kun eksisterer som summen af samtlige and written culture (1982). The auditory
varianter” (Knudsen, 1961) – only exists as impression of music or judgement by ear
the sum of all variants. This is a common differs from the visual impact of sheet mu-
feature of most oral music traditions in sic or reading written text. While hearing
Sweden – and around the world. puts the listener in the centre of an event,
Many accounts from players involve reading and writing places the reader out-
stories on how they have changed and side in a specifically distanced relation.
varied tunes – sometimes in older times to The translation of sound into writing
avoid a competing musician to get hold of means to divide something perceived as a
it! In spite of that – the tunes that fiddlers whole into parts. To delineate and genera-
like myself learn and play, often come from lize, to denote certain sounds as belonging
a very specific source; sometimes from a to specific musical categories defined by a
certain musician and in many cases from specific musical discourse and technology
one specific recording. (i.e. the technology of notation).

Transcription Models on meter and tonality in Swe-

dish traditional music
A method often used for getting into
how tunes have previously been played is To describe the metrical structure and
through transcription. Since notation has tonality of older Swedish folk music the

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 (re)thinking idioms, conventions and tradition

fiddle player, and Professor of folk music listener’s and the player's consciousness. the first beat is sometimes shorter, and the degrees. These different intonations are
Sven Ahlbäck, has suggested models (Ahl- The aim of a metric model can be to second beat longer – giving the impression represented in the transcription above.
bäck, 1995) that I will shortly recapitulate find the key to a ”groove” in the tension of an ”early” second beat. The relative du- This (figure 4) shows that in Gössa Anders’
here. between different metrical and rhythmi- ration of the three beats are often close to playing the scale degree represented by ”f ”
One of the dominant dance tune types cal possibilities in a metric context. The the ratio [Link] (see also figure 3). Someti- has the largest variants of micro intona-
of older Swedish folk music is the ”polska”. tension can lay in how the tune is put into mes though there are symmetric measures tions – a quartertone between f and f#, a
References to polska in Sweden goes back rhythm – one example is to play in bet- too - with three equally long pulse beats slightly lower f# and an f#.
to the 16th century and since then polska ween even eighths and triplets. It may be [Link]. In the transcription the time signa- The ”g” is also varied by Gössa and the ”c”
has developed into a great number of vari- found in the polymetrical layering- like ture 2+4+3/16 is used, but in some measu- is generally played as a quartertone bet-
ants in Sweden. The ways to play a polska in the polska above – or by various pulse res the note beaming of 3+3+3/16 is used ween c and c#.
can differ in meter and groove as well as in markings. Metric groove emerges from to show when the pulse is symmetric. The If the tonic centre is perceived as ”d”,
tonality, melody and variations on orna- challenging and stretching the boundaries relative beat durations are not fixed – but the variable scale categories are the medi-
mentation, articulation and microtonal of the meter. subject to variation of expression. The same ant (3), the subdominant (4) and the subto-
intonations. The above model of metrical layers phrase can sometimes be played both in nic (-2). This conforms with the tonality of
In order to describe what creates the represents the underlying context to which a lot of older Swedish folk music connected
meter and the specific groove in a certain the surface – melody – refers. The built-in to the herding practise – a tonality that
kind of polska, transcriptions of individual tension in the model – different possible by Ahlbäck is referred to as the ”Vallåts-
tunes might not be enough. Unless you get pulse layers and pulse markings – give way modus” – the mode of the herding music
the context behind the specific you might for endless opportunities to create vario- (Ahlbäck, 1995). The mode is found to be
miss what the scope of the variation is. ations by applying the model to tunes in typical of herding calls and herding music
You need to understand what's behind the different ways and to alternate between the – vocal as well as played on instruments
specific means of expressions. One way to various layers in the structure. like cow horns, flutes etc - but also for the
avoid this is to make a graphic model based Another example is from a polska with older instrumental dance music where the
on pulse, pulse layering, the marking of the fiddle player Gössa Anders Andersson fiddle was the dominant instrument.
pulse in the music and rhythmic patterns (1878–1963) from Orsa in county Dalarna The use of micro intonation is an im-
and articulation. How is the groove created in central Sweden. This is a transcription portant part of the tonal colour palette in
in the music – how is the meter varied? this music. As both notated and recorded
A graphical description of the musical Figure 3: A representation of the general material indicates it has been a common
pulse and how it is articulated together asymmetry of the beats. and widely spread practice. How dif-
with a precise rhythmic notation gives a ferent musicians use micro intonation is
symbolic representation of the groove in a something that’s dependent on and can be
tune. indicative of a players personal style. The
same tune played by different players can
a ”straight” and ”asymmetric” way in the
present different micro intonation varia-
same tune.
tions.
Microtonal variation From this I would conclude that a very
The tonality of the polska by Gössa Anders untraditional way of playing a traditional
has some typical features of older Swedish tune would be to reproduce a previous
folk music. One is the variable intona- version by another performer. To actually
Figure 1: metrical articulation in Polska tion and micro intonation of certain scale play in the tradition means to create one’s
efter Peckos Per.

Figure 4: The scale with the microtonal

The model may look like this (Ahlbäck inflections.
1995:16): Below the staff with the trans- Figure 2: Polska efter Jämt-Olle represen-
cription of the melody – in this case a ting the asymmetry of the beats.
polska played by the fiddle player Hjorth
Anders Olsson (1865–1952) – are two dif-
ferent pulse layers represented by graphic
notation. Both layers exist simultan- of one of his polskas from a film by the
eously and are implemented differently by Swedish Radio from the 1960s:
rhythms and articulations in the melody as In many of Gössa Anders’ polskas there are
two different ways of expressing the meter. asymmetric pulse variations typical for
By alternately playing on either one of the polska styles in these parts of Sweden (as
two pulse layers both are kept alive in the in many parts of Norway). This means that

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 (re)thinking idioms, conventions and tradition

could be perceived as having a more domi- for improvisation – but also underlines the
nant character by ending on scale degree 2, notion that playing in the tradition implies
while the B-part is more conclusive with its rethinking, recreating and creating varia-
movements towards scale degree -4 where tions – acknowledging that the music only
the piece also ends (in many recordings of really exists in the moment it is played!
this tune with Gössa Anders though the
last note is replaced by a ”d” – in the last References
round only).
The skeletal form can than be "dres- Ahlbäck, S. (1995). Tonspråket i äldre
sed up" with improvised material – new svensk folkmusik. Stockholm.
motifs or variations. Like described above, Ahlbäck, S. (1995). Låtpuls. Stockholm.
the new material could be variations in the
Figure 5: Analysis of meter or tonality, but it could also be new Knudsen, T. (1961): ”Model, type og
the opening bars of material: new melodic lines or rhythmical variant”. In Dansk Musikktidsskrift. vol 36.
Polska efter Jämt-Olle.
figures. A skeletal form can also serve as København.
base for a piece in a completely different Ong, W. J., (2002). Orality and literacy: the
style, type or genre. technologizing of the word. 2nd ed. London:
own variants – in dialogue with the tradi- important note as final note – which is By analysing the most common melo- Routledge.
tion. Music researcher and singer Susanne represented by a scale degree number. Scale dic patterns in the tunes and songs of the
Rosenberg has studied how songs inevita- degree numbering is positive above the Rosenberg, S. (2007). ”Variation – ett sätt
herding music, ”vallåtar”, of central Swe-
bly change when passed along orally and/ tonic centre and negative below. -2c means att tänka”. In Halskov Hansen, L., Ressem,
den Ahlbäck has put together a collection
or are varied by singers over time (Rosen- that the tone has an intonation of a quar- A. N. & Åkesson, I. (ed.) Tradisjonell sang
of common melodic patterns or melodic
berg, 2009). In an oral tradition, pieces tertone. (-2a would be c# and -2e would be som levende process. Oslo: Novus.
phrases representing different ways of
of music exist only through the people c). The tonic centre (1) is assumed to be d. arriving at different scale degrees. These
that remember, sing or play them, and The beginning of an analysis of the can be regarded as a vocabulary or a set of
are subject to those people’s memory and ‘skeletal form’ of the Gössa Anders polska building blocks. They can be pinned onto
modes of expressions. However, traditional could look like this: the ‘skeleton forms’ giving way for smaller
musicians who lack direct contact with The music is here divided into phrase mo- variations but also completely independent
living performers from an older tradition dules and shows the final note and its beat/ versions - in the style of the herding music.
often spend a tremendous amount of time measure position in each module. This par- Instead of sticking to the learned, fixed
trying to learn every detail of older player’s ticular form offers two different interpre- version, using this method for improvisa-
versions from recordings – and by that tations of the metrical structure – one that tion when playing tunes offers the chal-
inevitably creating fixed versions of tunes. sticks to the three-beat metric structure, lenge to make variations in the moment
So the question is how to ”unfix” fixed and another with two-beat melodic phrases that will more or less differ from the ori-
versions of tunes in a more conscious way – both being possible interpretations of the ginal. The more this is practised, the more
– in order to paradoxically play in a more skeleton form. ”un-fixed tunes” will appear, and the more
traditional way. An overview of the entire structure (for one will find oneself shaping lines over a
simplicity I’m sticking to the three-beat reduced form instead of delivering a me-
metrical structure) could look like this: lody predetermined in all is details. More
Improvising on structural frameworks
successful variations often stick to – and
In this sectionI will describe a method Mode: D – vallåtsmodus (herding call gradually becomes variants of – the tune,
of melodic improvisation created by mode in ”d”) creating alternative routes of the starting
Sven Ahlbäck that could an approach to version. The tune transforms from a fixed
traditional tunes that moves beyond copy- A melodic sequence to a more open form or
ing the surface structure of the music. The / -2c/ 5/ 1/ 2 / shape that holds something untouched
basic idea of the method is to reduce a mel- / -2c/ 5/ 1/ 2 / (repeat) about it – an open playground.
ody into a skeletal form consisting of the In addition to the improvisational free-
structurally most important notes of the B dom in shaping the tunes as a soloist, the
melody, along with the basic form and / 1/ -4 / 5/ -4 / 3c/ -4 / aim is of course toward greater freedom
phrase structure. The analysis also addres- / 1/ -4 / 5/ -4 / 3c/ -4 :// (repeat) in the interplay with other musicians and/
ses the tonality including global or local or dancers, and to have possibility for
modal shifts. The skeletal form could have Important to note is the role of the 4 (a), increased subtleness for musical impulses
different ”resolutions” – from modules of the forth below the tonic, which is to be and communication through the flow of
single measures to longer sections of the perceived modally as a second tonic centre music. Getting into the field of stylistic
melody. Each module has a structurally – and as such a resting point. The A-part and idiomatic variations creates a space

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