# Music by Genre > Celtic, U.K., Nordic, Quebecois, European Folk >  More Nordic?

## d18daddy

So, I have been working on the Uff Da Mandolin book by Dix Bruce and having a great time learning the tunes. Looking for more Scandinavian tunes to learn. Any ideas?
I also highly recommend The Andreson Guitar Group's CD "Best of the Jack Pine Style". Great Nordic tunes flatpicked on guitar. I have arranged some of these for mandolin.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Best-Jack-.../dp/092411908X

----------

Mandobart

----------


## morgan

Here's a few resources:

http://www.bluerose.karenlmyers.org/...dUppland1.html

http://www.nyckelharpa.org/archive/w...-allspel-list/

Somewhere I have links to sites with Finn tunes and a vast collection of polskas - post again if you're interested and I can try to find them.  

Finnish music is lovely, and Mettsakukia, one of the more famous Finn tunes, is a great mandolin piece.  Sheet music attched, along with a second part I wrote a while back that you can take or leave.  The freeware program I used has a bit of a problem inserting rests, so they often look a little funny but I think they add up correctly.  There were some typos in my first try but I think this is the cleaned up versioin

----------

John McCoy

----------


## theinone

If you are looking for more Finnish/American tunes and on the mandolin check out the UP's Oren Tikkanen. He recorded several fine albums   http://www.musicoutfitters.com/artis...o_tikkanen.htm  I've picked with him in the past and he is a wealth of tunes and history. The Andreson collection is a fine one too. The Late Bob Andreson was a close friend and we lost a great musician as well as a local collector and historian of scandinavian music in Northern Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. His wife Gail also played with a early group I was in some time ago. But by all means check out Oren and his buddy Al Reko (Finn Hall Band out of Minneapolis) lots of great music.

----------


## d18daddy

Thanks you two. Learning standard notation would make my life easier I guess(I learn by ear and tab). Ted, I am a big fan of Robert. I have been in contact with his son and he has be very helpful. I wish more musicians knew of Roberts work, truly a great picker. I have had a very nice correspondence with Dix Bruce about Scandanavian music and how it could be really something if some great young players would pick it up like the bluegrassers did with the Celtic tunes. I would like to start working some of these songs in with my solo gigs(I write folk songs). Thanks again for the links-I have some Finn friends near French Lake, MN who would like to hear the songs you mentioned.
http://www.reverbnation.com/christopherlaumb

----------


## morgan

I play in a Finn band called Oivan Ilo based in southern NH; with bass, fiddle, accordion, mandolin and sometimes guitar.   We play solo and as a backup for a Finnish folk dance group called Revontulet.   I think the UP and my area are two of the larger Finnish-ancestry populations.  We play a good number of the tunes on the Reko/Tikkanen albums in Ted's link.  It is great music and, as you say, it is a pity it has not penetrated very well into North American musical consciousness.  The second part to Metsakukkia was my attempt to introduce Finnish music to a group I play with that only plays multi-part arranged music.   

I have tab for some of the tunes - if I can remember to scan them I'll send you a pm to email them to you.

----------


## d18daddy

That would be great Morgan. Here's a pic of the inlay on my new mandolin:

----------


## Paul Kotapish

The American Nyckelharpa Association has a nice repository of transcriptions (in a variety of file formats plus some midi files) of various Swedish nyckelharpa and fiddle tunes. Great resource.

http://www.nyckelharpa.org/archive/written-music/

----------


## JeffD

I absolutely love this book!

----------


## theinone

There is a very fine mandolin book written by a friend of mine in Finland, Seppo Sillanpää called MANDOLIINIOPAS. Not sure if it is in print any more. He wrote a couple other mando-tune books also. I believe he is a member of this Cafe so maybe he can chime in and let us know. I lost his email address a while back so if you are there Seppo send me an email. Arto Jarvella also hangs out and contributes a comment now and then. The Nyckelharpa Association is a fine one too that I've belonged to.

----------


## Jim Garber

> I absolutely love this book!


Jeff: it seems like that book is no longer in print. I thought on some thread there was a link to where to get it from the author but I can't seem to find anything.

BTW there is this older thread on Nordic music with other sources.

----------


## Jim Garber

> There is a very fine mandolin book written by a friend of mine in Finland, Seppo Sillanpää called MANDOLIINIOPAS. Not sure if it is in print any more. He wrote a couple other mando-tune books also. I believe he is a member of this Cafe so maybe he can chime in and let us know. I lost his email address a while back so if you are there Seppo send me an email. Arto Jarvella also hangs out and contributes a comment now and then. The Nyckelharpa Association is a fine one too that I've belonged to.


There is a whole thread on Finnish tunes.

It looks like Seppo's contact info is on the link on post #9 or here. From what I can tell that book referenced above is a mandolin method tho Seppo has also published tunebooks as well.

----------


## JeffD

> Jeff: it seems like that book is no longer in print. I thought on some thread there was a link to where to get it from the author but I can't seem to find anything..


I found it on Amazon UK. I just checked and it says out of stock, but there is a third party seller that has some.

----------


## Jim Garber

I must have a sieve-like mind, Jeff, because I found a thread where I had asked you this already. It seems like it is available in the UK on both on Amazon and eBay. It looks like shipping is slightly less on Amazon to the US.

----------


## JeffD

> I must have a sieve-like mind, Jeff, because I found a thread where I had asked you this already. It seems like it is available in the UK on both on Amazon and eBay. It looks like shipping is slightly less on Amazon to the US.



I figured you just have slept since then.   :Smile:

----------


## Jim Garber

The author/editor of Fiddle Music from Nordic Lands  is selling directly on eBay.

----------


## d18daddy

I'll have to pick that up.

----------


## Jesse Harmon

Picked up the "Fiddle Music from Northern Lands" book.  It was 26.60 Euro with shipping and came to a little over 40.00 US.  Well worth the money with CD and wire bound lay out. Been having a great time reading through these.

----------


## erol

thanks Morgan for metsakukkia ,i shall try to play. erol

----------


## Seppo

> There is a very fine mandolin book written by a friend of mine in Finland, Seppo Sillanpää called MANDOLIINIOPAS. Not sure if it is in print any more. He wrote a couple other mando-tune books also. I believe he is a member of this Cafe so maybe he can chime in and let us know. I lost his email address a while back so if you are there Seppo send me an email. Arto Jarvella also hangs out and contributes a comment now and then. The Nyckelharpa Association is a fine one too that I've belonged to.


Hi, 
yes it's my book - Thanks Ted.

I still have those books available, with more brownish cover. Let me know if you are interested. I could think of trading
books or CDs as well since sending money to Finland might be complex if you don't have Paypal.
The other books Ted refers to are a duet book and a fiddle guidebook for 'grown ups' . All in Finnish but the music is universal.

----------


## Pasha Alden

Hi there I would be interested to learn Finnish music for the mandolin.  As you will see I am a beginner stationed in South Africa so I may not have much to tried.  However, I believe if we contact each other off list I could obtain your details and perhaps pay electronically easily enough?  

Best Vanillamandolin

----------


## mrmando

Saw a great Finnish-American duo, Kaivama, last night, and bought their tune book. The fiddler, Sara, is a student of Arto Jarvela. I'll try to get a chance to work through the tunes.

----------


## Pasha Alden

All this serves as inspiration to work towards playing the Finnish music.  Now let's count the days to my mandolin arriving and all the hours of practice I will need to play the attached music.  So for now, one of you must play it and upload to mandolin cafe?  
Best Vanillamandolin

----------


## Seppo

Hi again,
I got 2 private messages about the tunes in my Mandoliiniopas
Here's the list with origin and all tunes in the book have both music & tabs:

Laulu Dnjeprille		Finnish
Pieni tytön tylleröinen	Finnish
Emma			Finnish
Kymmentä kynttä		Finnish
Ajelivat mustalaiset	Finnish
Sä lumi lentävä		Finnish
Villiruusu			Finnish
Eikä sitä sanaa sanoa saisi	Finnish
Le petit bonhomme		French
Minka			Russian
Auran aallot		Finnish
Pala Magla		Greek
Leskiäidin tyttäret		Finnish
Valssi Toijalasta		Finnish
Koiviston polska		Finnish
Tuusteppi		Finnish
Fingerpolka		Danish
Eldankajärven jää		Russian
Bublisthki		Russian
Kerenski			Russian
Lomir zich iberbetn		Jewish
Krimiläinen sävelmä	Russian
Knapsauspolkka Vetelistä	Finnish
Pientä polskaa Viitasaarelta	Finnish
Sianporsaan valssi		Finnish
Koskisen Sakarin valssi	Finnish
Tremandreel		Danish
To ting			Danish
Hewlett			Irish
Kerry polka		Irish
Jerry's beaver hat		Irish
Pleasures of hope		Irish
Kauhajokelainen polkka 	Finnish
Hauranmaan polska	Finnish
Unkarilainen kansantanssi	Hungarian
Gaitanaki			Greek
Jössehäradspolska		Swedish
Enkeliska		Finnish
Norrala polska		Swedish
Ance battante		original
Vielle			original
Saturday Night Breakdown	American
Frank's house		American
Reel de Courville		Cajun
Keep her under your chin	American
Vanha sotiisi Kaustiselta	Finnish
El Amor de panchita	Mexican
Triolietydi			Classical
Bourr'e			Classical
Lamentarola		Classical
O'Carolan's concerto	Irish

----------


## Jaakko

Howdy! Check this one too: http://etno.net/en/learning_material..._and_mandolins

----------

Jesse Harmon

----------


## Jesse Harmon

Thanks Jaakko, thats a great site.  I will be using some of that on guitar and checking further into this recourse.  I have a question on the Fiddle Music from Northern Lands book.  I have been reading through this book and ran into a dirge or funeral piece called  "Soorgelat fran Indal"  written by a fiddler who had lost three of his children in infancy, two in a fire.  I wondered what would be the tempo on a piece like this?

----------


## Jim Garber

> I have been reading through this book and ran into a dirge or funeral piece called  "Soorgelat fran Indal"  written by a fiddler who had lost three of his children in infancy, two in a fire.  I wondered what would be the tempo on a piece like this?


Dirge-like, I would imagine.  :Smile:   [shd really be  :Frown:  ]  Very slow.

----------


## Jesse Harmon

Thanks, that would have been my instinct, however it is written in 2/4 time with 16th and 8th not groupings, no different than any other fiddle piece except it is described as a dirge.  So it leaves me wondering if they actually played it like --slower, --really slower--  or up to speed.  Don't really expect to be called upon to do this one---it was more of a curious question.

----------


## Jim Garber

Does it sound appropriately sad when played slowly? Notation is notation and someone else could notate it differently. This is primarily aural music and the notation is much more recently and not by the players necessarily.

I have seen musical pieces written in 8th and 16th notes but marked adagio or lento. The subdivisions don't necessarily indicate the tempo of the piece.

----------


## Jesse Harmon

That these were written from an aural tradition and the notation being more recent is a real consideration.   Sometimes in reading through a whole tune book of these when they are written out in such excellent transcription you can forget where they originated.  Thanks for the feedback.

----------


## Roland Sturm

A number of tunes are posted on www.pelimanni.fi, some very good and detailed transcriptions as well. You may need Google translator, which most of the time will get you a somewhat understandable idea of what it means. Here is a tune that should be suitable for beginners: 
http://www.pelimanni.fi/festivaalija...nessaSpoof.pdf
My 11-year old daughter is not a mandolin player, but a fiddler, and we do twin mandolins on this tune. The tune is in 3/4, not a Polska, but slower, maybe more like a Polonaise? 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYc0pvXVNKI

It is one of a number of tunes our family has learned from Antti Järvelä. We learned it by ear, so by now there may be deviations compared to the transcription, the kids are more likely to make up parts as they go along, while old people like me are more literal-minded.

----------

Jesse Harmon, 

Jim Garber

----------


## Jim Garber

Thanks Roland for that Finnish site. It took me a little while but I figured out that Nuotit is Sheet Music. Lots of it there. I esp love Finnish waltzes so I am looking fwd to checking this site out.

----------


## Roland Sturm

Oh no, I violated Scott's rules about embedding videos and posted a link instead, so I better fix that. Our family twin mando version:  

It is a rainy night in Southern California and  we had some jamming on Nordic tunes with out-of-town visitors at our house. This tune  works great (Himlens Polska and another Dm one were other favorites), but just this whole genre is great for gloomy winter days. 

At our jam, it was surprising that people have subtle differences in the feel, so a morphing of styles as maybe our deeper influences come through (none of us would be native Nordic style musicians). But it sounded great anyway. A few fiddles, one or two guitars, 1-2 mandolins, upright bass. 

I have sheet music for one of the Dm Polskas posted at in a column in Folkworks
http://www.folkworks.org/all-columns...finnish-polska

Here is an authentic performance from a Kaustinen fiddler of that Polska

----------

Mandobart

----------


## mandopat

Heres a dutch site with nordic tunes scattered about..it translates fine!!

http://gonnagles.nl/nl/node/70

----------

Jim Garber

----------


## Charlieshafer

Very slightly off-topic, and seeing as we have a few Nordic contributors here, are there any books over there for two fiddles, as sort of an attempt to emulate Hardanger fiddling? Maybe 3-4 part books? Thanks to anyone who can help!

----------


## Pasha Alden

An interesting consideration - especially when one has associations of what one would then ainticipate when interpreting the music.

----------


## Jean Andreasen

I realize Im late to this party, but is it still possible to get a copy of this book? I cant seem to find it for sale anywhere online. This is directed to Seppo re: mandoliiniopas

----------

Mandobart

----------


## Eric Platt

> I realize I’m late to this party, but is it still possible to get a copy of this book? I can’t seem to find it for sale anywhere online. This is directed to Seppo re: mandoliiniopas


Don't think it is in print. Although I could also use a copy. Noticed even the Finnish Folk society doesn't have it stock. 

And finding the earlier Heikki Lahti recordings would be nice, too. Or even the most recent one. That seems to have disappeared quickly. Ah well, it's what happens when I get interested in something too late.

----------


## Mandobart

Thanks for reviving this old thread jenebene!  I've been looking for Nordic material for my Hardanger fiddle.  I may have scored a copy of Fiddle Music from Northern Lands by Charles Saksena from Amazon UK.  I ordered all the other books mentioned on this thread as well. Skål!

----------

Eric Platt

----------


## Trubadur

I play Swedish fiddle and am just starting out with the mandolin. If I wanted to learn Nordic tunes on mandolin I would turn to Magnus Zetterlund. He teaches a group of Nordic tunes on his YouTube channel, and he has an ebook if you need dots and TAB.

YouTube instruction: http://www.magnuszetterlund.com/nordic-folk-mandolin

Tune book: http://www.magnuszetterlund.com/prod...ditional-tunes

----------

Eric Platt

----------


## Trubadur

ETA Oops, just saw the other thread on Hardanger and see that you have already joined HFAA. Anyway I really recommend them.

---------------------------------

Have you checked out the Hardanger Fiddle Association of America? They are great people and they have a Facebook page. I would bet you might find local hardanger players and resources through HFAA if you are anywhere near Seattle.

----------


## Jean Andreasen

Thanks to everyone who responded.

These are some really nice leads.

j

----------


## Seppo

Hi there,
I still have a small amount of Mandoliiniopas books in stock.
I can send them via Paypal for $ 30 including postage. That means economy postage which is approximately $ 15.
Let me know if you need them. sillanp@gmail.com
Seppo

----------

Eric Platt

----------

