Dyrsku'n is what Americans would recognize as a country fair. There are booths selling everything imaginable from wool socks, belts, and used household items to sausages and tea. They also have large things available for sale, such as home appliances and farm equipment.
Like Farsund, Dyrsku'n also involves a set of obligatory performances. The perks are: 1) the festival pays for our travel and parking, 2) we get food vouchers and 3) we are allowed to have a fiddle case open for donations. The downside is that we have to play outside in varied weather a program that is rather patched together for an audience that for the most part could care less about our music.
We were required to play with the two students taking the half year program. They are both very talented musicians, but it was a challenge to come up with a common repertoire in such a short time. Adding to the stress was the fact that three of us had rehearsals and the performance in Rjukan the previous weekend which cut into the available time to rehearse for Dyrsku'n.
In the end things went well. It was hot and sunny in the morning with more and more clouds as the day wore on. We played our last set just before it started to rain. Some of the audiences were more generous than others and we wound up with about $15 each to take home.
Our earnings from the day did not make it home in the form of cash, however. After we put our instruments back in the car, we had an hour to wander around the fair before we needed to leave. Somehow we managed to not spend all of our money; $15 doesn't last very long in Norway. Now, I have wool socks and David has a new belt; we also have fresh loose-leaf tea and a cast iron pan for small pancakes.
Showing posts with label performing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label performing. Show all posts
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Busy, Busy, Busy
Wow! What a week!
Over the weekend, starting Thursday night, I took a fabulous course with Unni Boksasp. She is brilliant; her voice is amazing, she is a phenomenal teacher, and she is a really nice person. Over the course of the weekend she managed to make everyone in the class happy by covering pretty much every genre possible in Norwegian vocal tradition (from cow calls to religious folksongs). We also all got a fifteen minute private lesson with her. While fifteen minutes isn't a very long time, she did manage to give good tips and encouragement.
Unni gave two bits of advice I can pass on here. The first is it really is important to warm up if you're going to be singing for any length of time. Each day we warmed up for about a half an hour, and then another ten to fifteen minutes after lunch. Remember that you should warm up your whole body when you sing!
The second bit of advice is - enunciate. Enunciate everything until you think you've got it clear and then over enunciate a little bit more. Especially if you're tralling, the syllables are what drive the rhythm in the music and are very important. If you're singing for dancing (or dancing to singing) you can appreciate how important the enunciation of the rhythm is. That's not to say that everyone in a group has to use the same syllables in a trall, but that's a different topic...
Somewhere during the course of the weekend I managed to find time to write my first paper. Our assignment was to analyze a tune (Skjåken, track #3 on CD5 - Folkemusikk fra Oppland in the Norsk Folkemusikk series). I think the entire class made the assignment harder than it needed to be, but it wasn't easy. Also, the tune is enough to drive a person crazy after listening to it nearly 100 times in the span of a week.
If that weren't enough, we had auditions today for extra lessons. The way it works is if you're good enough to be worthy of extra lessons, the teachers will try to find the time to give them to you. Otherwise, you get a note saying something along the lines of, 'We think you have enough with what you're getting now.' So, I practiced like mad all weekend (between taking the course with Unni and working on the paper).
Today at 4pm it was my turn in the hot seat. I was up first and got to the room before the instructors. I had prepared four tunes, but was only going to play three of them. I was shaking like a leaf. This isn't particularly compatible with fiddling, but I didn't really have any options. I sat down, introduced my first tune, said some words about the tuning and played it.
They were tapping their feet. I made it through the rough parts. I remembered to breath. It was over! Two more tunes...
I announced them, still shaking, and began to play. I survived the first one and introduced the last tune. I played it. Finally, I was done with the ordeal! My mistakes were minor, but they were there. I wasn't playing for a prize, but I was playing for judges. I'll know by the end of the week if I passed that test or not. At least I tried.
Over the weekend, starting Thursday night, I took a fabulous course with Unni Boksasp. She is brilliant; her voice is amazing, she is a phenomenal teacher, and she is a really nice person. Over the course of the weekend she managed to make everyone in the class happy by covering pretty much every genre possible in Norwegian vocal tradition (from cow calls to religious folksongs). We also all got a fifteen minute private lesson with her. While fifteen minutes isn't a very long time, she did manage to give good tips and encouragement.
Unni gave two bits of advice I can pass on here. The first is it really is important to warm up if you're going to be singing for any length of time. Each day we warmed up for about a half an hour, and then another ten to fifteen minutes after lunch. Remember that you should warm up your whole body when you sing!
The second bit of advice is - enunciate. Enunciate everything until you think you've got it clear and then over enunciate a little bit more. Especially if you're tralling, the syllables are what drive the rhythm in the music and are very important. If you're singing for dancing (or dancing to singing) you can appreciate how important the enunciation of the rhythm is. That's not to say that everyone in a group has to use the same syllables in a trall, but that's a different topic...
Somewhere during the course of the weekend I managed to find time to write my first paper. Our assignment was to analyze a tune (Skjåken, track #3 on CD5 - Folkemusikk fra Oppland in the Norsk Folkemusikk series). I think the entire class made the assignment harder than it needed to be, but it wasn't easy. Also, the tune is enough to drive a person crazy after listening to it nearly 100 times in the span of a week.
If that weren't enough, we had auditions today for extra lessons. The way it works is if you're good enough to be worthy of extra lessons, the teachers will try to find the time to give them to you. Otherwise, you get a note saying something along the lines of, 'We think you have enough with what you're getting now.' So, I practiced like mad all weekend (between taking the course with Unni and working on the paper).
Today at 4pm it was my turn in the hot seat. I was up first and got to the room before the instructors. I had prepared four tunes, but was only going to play three of them. I was shaking like a leaf. This isn't particularly compatible with fiddling, but I didn't really have any options. I sat down, introduced my first tune, said some words about the tuning and played it.
They were tapping their feet. I made it through the rough parts. I remembered to breath. It was over! Two more tunes...
I announced them, still shaking, and began to play. I survived the first one and introduced the last tune. I played it. Finally, I was done with the ordeal! My mistakes were minor, but they were there. I wasn't playing for a prize, but I was playing for judges. I'll know by the end of the week if I passed that test or not. At least I tried.
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