NYCKELHARPA – Swedish Keyed Fiddle
(‘nyckel’ = key, ‘harpa’ = instrument)
The Swedish National Instrument
Roughly the size of a viola, the nyckelharpa has 4 playing strings which are stopped by pegs fitted to ‘keys’ sliding in a ‘box’ under the strings, and 12 sympathetic strings, one for each half-tone. The instrument is held like a guitar and bowed vertically with the right hand while the keys are pushed upwards with the left-hand fingers to stop the strings. Covering a range of three octaves, it sounds like a cello in the lower register and a violin in the higher register. The sympathetic strings give the characteristic ‘silvery’ nyckelharpa sound.
In medieval times, early forms of the instrument are believed to have existed all over Europe. The earliest known depiction (1350) is in Kallunge church on the island of Gotland in the Baltic and the oldest preserved instrument (1526) is in a museum in Mora, Sweden. Over time, the instrument design changed slightly to suit the prevailing musical taste e.g. drone strings were popular at some stage. By the beginning of the 20th century, however, the instrument and its music had almost died out. Only about half a dozen instruments and players were known to be left, all in a small area (100 by 100 km) just north of Stockholm. Fortunately, someone with foresight (and money) ‘wined and dined’ these musicians and recorded their music. For many years this single handwritten copy of 400 tunes was held in a private library but more copies have since been made, thus safeguarding their survival.
One factor believed to have contributed to the decline of the nyckelharpa was the improvement in transport at the end of the 19th century. Prior to this, each neighborhood had just one musician who played alone – in whatever key he chose (or had available). But with more interaction between communities and musicians beginning to play together, the old nyckelharpa, which could not be played in all keys, was of limited use – until 1940 when Erik Sahlström developed the chromatic version that is played today. It wasn’t until about 1970, however, when there was a renewed interest in all things ‘folksy’, that the popularity of the nyckelharpa started to grow again – especially when it was offered as a subject on woodworking courses. There are now thousands of nyckelharpas in Sweden, but only about fifty in Australia.
Some violin or viola players who take up the nyckelharpa are initially confused by the different tuning of the strings , C_G_C_A, and the fact that only 3 of the strings are keyed. Also, the bow is very short , and there is no way to produce vibrato. However, there is still plenty of musical ‘decoration’ via trills, double stops and ‘dipping to the lower C-string’. This practice of giving the lower C-string a ‘kick’ is especially useful for emphasising the beat e.g. when playing for dancing. Those of us who don’t have a perfect ear can have more success with a nyckelharpa than the violin – each of the 37 – 52 pegs is individually tuned. (This only needs to be done about once a year or with a string change).