MASTERCLASS SULLA COSTRUZIONE DELLA NYCKELHARPA

[size=medium][color=FF0000]A TOBO (SVEZIA) UNA MASTERCLASS SULLA COSTRUZIONE DELLA NYCKELHARPA[/color][/size]

Gyllby 2009-04-08/Esbjörn Hogmark
Mästarbygg 2009

A Nyckelharpa Makers’ Master Class at the Eric Sahlström Institute in
Tobo on 11th and 12th June 2009

Topic of the year: How do we explain the appearance of the
Swedish Nyckelharpa?

Contributors
– Hasse Gille (fiddler and maker)
– Sigurd Sahlström (music teacher)
– Christer Öhman (guitar maker)
– Per-Ulf Allmo (nyckelharpa scientist)
– Esbjörn Hogmark (course leader,
fiddler and maker)

For the fourteenth time we are
holding our Nyckelharpa Makers’ Master
Class
A great opportunity to meet with like-
minded people. Don’t miss it!

Nyckelharpa made 2007 by Judith Genot France
This year we have invited some nyckelharpa makers from outside Sweden. To
facilitate a rapid joining of the community we will make a comprehensive review
of what we have done in previous courses.
Together we will tackle the following difficult questions:
Preserve? – Adapt? – Develop?
We will try to highlight the historical connections between the ancient nyckelharpas and
our instruments of today. We will also elaborate on what August Bohlin and Eric
Sahlström did to the modern chromatic 3-row nyckelharpa. Finally we will speculate
together over the future of the instrument.
We will look into the ESI project dealing with how to get more children’s nyckelharpas
into our elementary schools.
Part of the Master Class will always contain a more practical hands-on approach. We will
have a number of practical options waiting to be carried out. How to carve a key? How to
stain and lacquer? How to make a proper bridge? How to make the tangents? How to get
slanted sides of the body? How to hair and re-hair a bow?
We will continue our tradition of visiting some old nyckelharpa fiddlers’ homesteads. This
will take place on Friday and will include al fresco dinner and coffee.
Please bring your own nyckelharpa (made by you or someone else). We will
have a small exhibition and we will play and listen to newly made instruments.
Don ́t forget to bring note books, cameras, video cameras, audio recorders etc.
High quality instrument wood will be available for sale together with cello tuners,
guitar mechanics, strings etc.
Information; Esbjörn Hogmark tel. +46 295 10706 home, +46 702 11 04 30 Mobile or E-
mail: esbjorn@hogmark.com

We believe in an open and friendly atmosphere where we all share our
knowledge with our fellow nyckelharpa makers!
Esbjörn
2
Full accommodation at the Institute.
Applications can be sent by E-mail; anna.sundquist@esitobo.org
For information call +46 205 342 90 Anna Sundqvist at ESI office.
Seminar fee EUR 150 (EUR 100 for students.), Food and coffee is included in the
price. Cost for room only per person per night in a double room is EUR 20 and in a
single room EUR 35. Applications to be received before 8th June.
Programme Mästarbygg 2009
Thursday 11th June (Preliminary)
09.00 – 10.00 Introduction by Esbjörn where, among other things, we will decide on
the practical exercises to be carried out later in the afternoon. Per-Ulf
Allmo will inform us about the nyckelharpa excursion on Friday and
Erik Rydvall summarize the status of the children’s nyckelharpas
10.00 – 11.45 Coffee outdoors. Sigurd Sahlström will entertain us with music from
his father Eric Sahlström
10.30 – 11.30 Per-Ulf and Esbjörn talk about the different stages of development of
the Swedish nyckelharpa from the middle Ages to today. A step by step
explanation based on demonstrations of some old preserved, how the
instrument has been modified from the kontrabas-harpa in the mid
1800s to the period of Eric Sahlström.
11.30 – 12.15 Hasse Gille plays and tells us about his instrument making
12.15 – 13.30 Lunch at the Institute. Time to socialize with other makers
13.30 – 15.10 We will meet in the instrument workshop for practical exercises
15.10 – 15.40 Coffee outdoors. Sigurd Sahlström and other fiddlers will entertain us
15.40 – 16.45 Discussions and practical exercises will continue in the workshop
16.45 – 17.00 Short summaries of the day and information about the evening at the
Hogmarks’
17.00 – 20.00 Free time, during which participants may stay at the Institute, talk or
play with other participants. Towards the end of this period we will
show the video ”The secret of the Stradivarius violin”
20.00 – late Barbecue at the Hogmarks’ (EUR 10). We will entertain ourselves
with stories, music and songs
Friday 12th June (Preliminary)
09.00 – 10.00 We will play and listen to the instruments we brought with us. We
will discuss how to judge a good instrument. We will also discuss the
Nyckelharpstämman in Österbybruk www.nyckelharpa.just.nu on the
following weekend.
10.00 – 10.30 Coffee outdoors. Fiddlers will entertain us
10.30 – 12.15 We head for the ”old nyckelharpa fiddlers ‘homesteads”.
12.15 – 13.15 Lunch at a distant place.
13.15– 15.15 We continue our trip by car through the Land of Ancient Nyckelharpa
Fiddlers
15.15 – 15.45 Coffee outdoors. Fiddlers will entertain us
15.45 – 16.45 At this point we will give our foreign guests an opportunity to tell
us about their goals in the context of the nyckelharpa. We will then
continue with a question and answer session where we all can
contribute to the answer
16.45 – 17.00 The seminar comes to a close with a short evaluation
I wish you all a very warm welcome
Esbjörn