Contemporary Danish folk dance music |
Niels Mejlhede Jensen, Bøgeløvsvej 4, 2830 Virum, Denmark. e-mail (web master) |
Supplement to: Old tunes used for folk dancing in Denmark 1999 arranged with improvisations |
When the tune has been composed it means a lot to the composer, and the way he or she plays it or conceives it played may express some deep inner feelings, and this is just fine. But for others to play that feeling and like it, can be difficult. What happens is that we in the composer's group accept to put it on the dance programme once, to kind of honour the composer. We then play it after we, sorry, "didn't find time" to rehearse it much at home. This is then the chance we give a new piece of music to be accepted by the audience. A few tunes may be taken up more times in the group - as long as the composer himself is still part of the group. But for such a new tune to "jump" to other groups is seldom.
A few contemporary tunes are widespread and about just as accepted as the old tunes. But then we have the sneaky problem of "virus infection". That is when the composer (in a type of megalomania?) thinks that he like the pop artists should make money from his indispensable achievement, and registers it commercially. This means that when you play all evening to a dance, for nothing but joy, to give the audience the cultural interest for the old merry tunes and dances, and happens in ignorance just once to play such a melody instead of a better old one, then you some days later can get a bill of 430 kr ($ 60) from some lawyers, as a result of an anonymous tip from someone in the audience. (In the excellent music note collection by Flute Henning (see Folkets Hus) there happens to be a couple or more with virus infection, without warning).
The music here is free to be used for non commercial use, and the composers will feel honoured to hear of it. (For possible commercial use: ask the composers, e.g. through my e-mail). Here are 3 tunes as examples of contemporary (modern) folk dance music we have played many times (click to see the sheet music and hear the midi music):
I have wanted to make C1 and ns both more or less as typical "motor"
parts for dancing. Both hambo (a Swedish dance) and waltz are in the time
signature of 3/4, but very different 3/4 in rhythm. Hambo is played with
a marked beat 1 and beat 3, and a weak beat 2, (see dance
16). Waltz has all 3 beats, and typically with a slur from beat 1 to
beat 2 (see waltz description
in music design). (Vienna waltz, when dancing around and around, should
be played with beat 2 a little ahead of time, as can be heard from the
magnificent music when played by e.g. Austrian orchestras. But when playing
Danish folk dance waltz I feel, that beat 2 must not be ahead of time,
for the music to be adequate for our types of dance with tyrolese waltz
and family waltz, see dance 9).
So for Kjeld's Hambo I have intended to make the ns and C1 parts so
they facilitate the marked beat 3.
For Rolf's Waltz and Kim's Waltz I have intended to make the ns and
C1 parts so they facilitate the marked beat 1 with a slur to beat 2.
In a typical waltz motor I would propose the tone of beat 1 and beat
2 to be of different pitch to facilitate this slur.
In a typical mince waltz motor I would propose the tone of beat 1 and
beat 2 to be of the same pitch to disable the waltz slur (see mince
waltz, dance 14).
In Rolf's Waltz there is a marked tone on beat 1 in all bars, but in
a few bars the tone of beat 1 and beat 2 are of the same pitch. This can
be seen in many old waltz tunes as well.
In Kim's Waltz the first tone of the bar is not always there (the tone
is tied over the bar line from beat 3) making it a challenge to play the
melody as a good motor waltz for fiddles and wind instruments. (The melody
is well liked by our fiddlers). (No problems playing it on accordion).
There does not need to be a tone on beat 1 for it to be marked. A melody
with only holes (= rests) on beat 1 can be a specially good waltz melody,
as it is known from the many good two parts for fiddles. The other tones
that surround the hole must then be very precise for the dancers to "hear"
or feel the marked beat of the hole.
The parts made according to my rules of music design have "terraced" tone intervals according to the chord, while the melody has scale intervals. This gives an interesting difference in the music. Further the parts are mostly not "tonic striving" but end on a parallel, giving a tension to want the music to continue. So the performance of this music could besides the general performance proposal be: start with the parts and end with the nice melody.
Music is just a hobby for Kjeld, Rolf, and Kim.
Kjeld is a retired worker foreman.
Rolf and Kim are both engineers Ph.D.
Good luck and pleasure with the music.
Link to index to the folk dances.