The Madison and Southern Wisconsin Area now has a monthly meeting of hardanger fiddlers. We try to learn a tune a month by ear, although transcriptions are available. The group is subdivided into beginning and advanced fiddlers with separate practice sessions. Please contact Inna Larsen at 608-236-0468 for more information or email at ivlarsen@wisc.edu

Who is Fykerud'n? He is Lars Fykerud, an accomplished hardanger fiddle player at the end of the 19th century. Originally from Telemark, he toured America and paid many visits to Stoughton, WI, the home of his brother Hans Fykerud. Hans was also a fiddler and won the first Kappleik fiddle competition held in Stoughton in 1912. So it is in honor of Lars and Hans Fykerud that our local fiddle players' group (in Norwegian, a spelemannslag) is named. If you are interested in lessons, please feel free to contact me. Hope to see you.

Before you start on the tunes below, it may be a good idea to tune the fiddle! This is somewhat tricky and here is a link to a guide that I prepared, which will make this process easier.  Hardanger Tuning Guide

Note and fingering guide to what notes and what fingers go on which strings. Even if you prefer not to read music, this simple guide will hopefully be useful. So if I say G# on the D string, you will know that I mean the high 3rd finger. Assume the hand position has some distance between the 1st and 2nd fingers and notes like the C and G natural on the A and E strings, respectively, are indicated with L2, meaning low 2nd finger (the 2nd finger will be close to the 1st finger.  Violin/Hardanger finger placement guide

Tunes are working on, Links to Transcriptions and Music Samples

Notes to transcriptions:

• Bruremarsj fra Vang - Music sample found on the HFAA page.
• Bruremarsj fra Telemark - Simplified version above. Try playing it without the slurs and once you are comfortable with the notes, add the correct bowings
• Ola Jansens Vals, music sample Please bear in mind that the transcription above is approximate and I tried my best to put in the correct notes, bowings, fingerings, and double stops. You may have to tweak the tune a bit after you listen to it vs. relying solely on the written music.
• Homslien Gangar - simplified version without most of the trills and grace notes. If you need the MP3 file, please email me. Remember this tune is in regular violin tuning GDAE, so tune down your G string.

Additional transcriptions can be obtained from the HFAA annual meeting sheet music (I have music from 1994-present), or the Bernt Balchen abooks available from the Hardanger Fiddle Association of America (HFAA), or ask me for a copy.

Photo from the Soundpost, Fall 2002, Vol 19(4). This issue has an entire article on Lars Fykerud. Please contact the HFAA for back issues, or borrow mine.