While Lars was off touring mines and iron-works, Sheila was at the 5-day nyckelharpa course at Ekebyholm Slott (Castle) in Rimbo, Sweden. It’s a fairly intensive week doing little other than playing Swedish folk-music in a lovely environment. This led to not very many photos being taken…
Now… the word “castle” probably brings up an entirely wrong image for most of our readers. In Sweden, this word is often applied to what we would more likely call a “manor”. In this case, the original building was built in the 1600s, but attained its current appearance in the 1700s. Here is the castle itself, and then the view from the front steps. Sheila’s room was in the main building, on the attic floor all the way to the right as you look at this photo. You can’t see the window, it’s around the corner.
Sheila was happy to discover that her roommate would be Marita, who she had already met at the Midsummer party. You couldn’t ask for a better roomie! And the attic placement of the room meant it was easy to stay up late for the “visstuga” (“song-cabin”…singing folk-songs in a large group), and then just walk down the hall to bed.
Lessons were in another building. The Ekebyholm property belongs to the Seventh-Day Adventists, who operate a school there during the rest of the year, and lessons happen in the school building itself. Looks pretty much like a school….
The schedule was as follows: arrive before 11 a.m., get your room assignment and key, and move in before the orientation meeting at 11. Assignments of groups for classes are posted…this is always a bit exciting, to find out who you’ll be spending the week with. Classes start after lunch….there is a complicated chart posted showing which group visits which teacher at what time. Sheila’s Group 7 (aka “The International Group”) started at 1 with Markus Svensson, for a double session ending at 2:30. There were 4 people to start with: Sheila, Fred and Toby from El Cerrito, California, and Marielle, from Brussels, Belgium. In the middle of the class, Karin decided she did not care for her original group and joined Group 7. Lessons were in English, as neither Marielle nor Toby speak Swedish. Changing groups is expected and encouraged, especially early in the course—it’s hard to learn much if your group goes at a radically different pace than you do.
After the first batch of lessons, the teachers gather and discuss assignments for private lessons, while any first-timers have a separate orientation session. The assignment of teachers is a high point—as part of the application process you are asked for first and second choices. Some teachers are HIGHLY sought-after! There was much speculation among the participants….”Who did you ask for? Oh, me too. Everybody wants him this year.” When assignments were posted sometime during the evening, there was a huge crowd around the whiteboard. Sheila got her second choice, which turned out to be a really good fit.
Dinner was at 5, then dance lessons (hamburska and Upplands slängpolska) at 6. At 7:15 every evening there was a concert. Sunday’s was Magnus Holmström (nyckelharpa) and Markus Mikael Räsänen (accordion). After the concert, the group broke up into smaller groups for jam sessions. Sven-Olof held forth in the dining-hall, playing traditional tunes at a gentle pace. Another group was playing the same tunes in the library, but faster, and with some more complex tunes. At 10, many people went up to the attic to sing with Eva. With a view toward the intense week of music ahead, things wrapped up pretty early, around midnight.
After breakfast at 8, private lessons started. This is a major feature of Ekebyholm…everyone gets 4 half-hour lessons with one of Sweden’s best nyckelharpa players. Plus 5 group classes…a lot of information and technique is imparted during this short week. Sheila’s lessons weren’t until 11, so she had the morning free to practice (or goof off, but that would kind of defeat the purpose). There was a coffee-break (fika) at 10:15…the first of three every day.
Markus Svensson was Sheila’s teacher this year. He teaches at the Folkhögskola on Gotland…the word translates as “high school”, but it’s more like a college devoted to the arts. Magnus teaches Swedish folk-music to people who play any manner of instrument, even if he does not play most of them himself. So, he has spent a LOT of time thinking about what we play and how we play it. There were lots of bowing exercises and discussion of how to add expression. Toward the end of the first session, he recorded a tune for Sheila to work on over the next three days…Svanpolska fr. Gotland (Swan-polska). Sheila thought “Oh, help! I’ll never be able to play THAT!” Lots of rolling-bow and flageolets (flute-notes or overtones). But, with a lot of practice, she CAN actually play it, though not as quickly as Magnus. While we would love to post a video of Markus playing the tune, Sheila neglected to ask for permission to do so.
Practicing for lessons happens either in your room (by agreement with roomie) or, preferably, out in the park.
There are usually lots of orange plastic chairs scattered all over the area, each with its very own student intently playing a new tune, singly or in groups, or sometimes with people just playing for fun.
The days passed quickly…breakfast, practice, lesson, lunch, singing, group lesson, practice, dinner, concert, dancing/playing/singing until the wee hours. Rinse and repeat. Monday, we had a special guest for a short lunchtime concert…Nisse Nordström, who had just been awarded the Zorn Gold Medal for lifetime achievement. He played for about 20 minutes, together with his playing partner Ann-Christine Granfors. Monday evening’s concert was from the teaching staff, each of whom played one solo piece or duet, plus a couple of tunes from the whole gang. Tuesday’s concert was Josefina Paulson with Torbjörn Näsbom, two of the teachers who had “discovered” each other the previous year (Josefina’s first as a teacher), and who play together with great skill and glee.
Wednesday evening was different…dress rehearsal for the farewell concert to come, plus a chance to show off for your fellow students. First, we all crammed onto the very tiny stage in the chapel to run through our repertoire of five tunes and two songs (most of them learned during the past couple of days). This was followed by all manner of presentations; Jalle “List-man” had compiled statistics for the 38 years of the course (some 2500 attendees, made up of 825 individuals from every province but one in Sweden plus 8 or 9 countries), Marielle played a medley of 3 Belgian folk-songs, the Japanese contingent showed up with a Taiko drum/nyckelharpa/singing trio, and lots more fun.
Thursday was much like the other days, except for the growing realization that it was your last chance to 1) get that tune right, 2) record more tunes for later study, 3) sit and play tunes with your new friends, 4) say good-bye, etc., etc. Oh…AND pack, and clean your room.
Shortly after dinner, we loaded into cars and headed for Rimbo Church, built in the late 1400s and later reconfigured in the 1700s. It has lovely paintings from the 1500s. Sheila’s little phone-camera doesn’t do it justice,
but you can see some better pics here (scroll down to bottom of page): http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimbo_kyrka
We played our concert, scholarships were handed out, and then we marched out of the church to the strains of Fasterna Brudmarsch (Fasterna Bridal March). Then, time for a last fika and hugs all around as we said goodbye to this year’s Låtkurs på Ekebyholm.
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