Andrea Een
Earlier this year, St. Olaf College Professor of Music Andrea Een was selected to give the college's Spring 2009 Mellby Lecture which she titled "Playing by Ear: A Journey from Classical Violinist to Hardanger Fiddler".
Unfortunately, St. Olaf does not allow embedding of the video of the lecture, but you can view it on the St. Olaf web site.
Een's lecture, which included her performing examples of traditional Norwegian music on the Hardanger fiddle, told her journey learning about the instrument and Norwegian folk traditions after years of playing and teaching violin and viola.
In particular, she spoke about the aural tradition of the music and learning to play the instrument by ear instead of reading notes off a page.
The press release for the lecture also said:
Hardanger music remains popular in Norway today, often crossing over into a combination of rock and jazz. However, its folk nature is changing as the rural culture of the country is changing and even disappearing. Een notes that she has noticed this even since her first trip to Norway in 1979. "We will always have the old recordings and pictures, but we may lose the folk milieu that has kept [Hardanger fiddle music] alive for centuries," she says. Een is optimistic, however, that the tradition will remain alive in the United States, thanks to organizations like the Hardanger Fiddle Association of America, St. Olaf's program (which is the only academic institution in America where students can earn credit for study on the Hardanger fiddle), and growing numbers of non-Norwegians who enjoy the music.
Since 1979, Een has taken nine research trips to Norway to study the rich tradition of the Hardanger fiddle and its music, particularly that of her ancestral area of Voss. She was a guest soloist with the St. Olaf Orchestra during the ensemble's 2005 tour of Norway and also played with them on their international tours in 1979 and 1985. In June 2009, she will travel again to Norway to give concerts and attend Norway's national folk music/dance competition in Hallingdal.
Een received a D.M.A. degree in Violin Performance and Literature from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and she has taught violin, viola and Hardanger fiddle at St. Olaf since 1977. She is a member of the Minnesota Opera Orchestra and has performed as soloist and chamber musician in the U.S., Norway, France, Germany, Austria, Puerto Rico and Costa Rica. Her solo CD of original and traditional music, From the Valley, was released in 2004. In 2003 Een received the St. Olav Medal, given by Norway's King Harald V, for her promotion of greater knowledge of Norwegian culture.
