Anika had the opportunity to visit a music appreciation class at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA and share the hardingfele with this group of college students. She's accompanied by Martha Levenson, her first violin instructor and director of the Seattle Lilla Spelmanslag. They also played some other Scandinavian tunes. Here is a video of their class discussion along with a little bit of playing.
Peter Michaelsen and Anika post performance at the Skandia 5th Friday Dance in September 2011
Anika and her mentor Peter did a half hour set of hardingfele tunes for the Skandia 5th Friday Dance in September. Anika's now been playing this instrument for nine months. Pretty cool music.
Here she is warming up the Telespringar Agderhusen.
Anika performed the hardingfele for the all school assembly at West Woodland's K-5th grade elementary in September. She played while the 460+ students were being seated. She also had some time to share the hardingfele with her 4th / 5th grade class. The recording below is the show and tell session she had with her fellow classmates. It's a little long but it's interesting to hear the student's questions and Anika's impressions on hardingfele and her time at the HFAA workshop this past summer.
In July, Anika and her Papa attended the HFAA Hardanger Fiddle Workshop in Dodgeville, Wisconsin. It was a fun adventure into a part of the world they haven't explored much - the mid-west. It was record hot and humid and that was quite different than our unusually cool and gray summer we were having in Seattle this year. Anika came home with some new tunes and enjoyed the time learning from other hardangerfele players. Aside from Hardingfele, they had a good flight to Milwaukee, Anika enjoyed the fact that there are not many Mexican Restaurants in Dodgeville, and they enjoyed the unusual atmosphere at the Don Q Inn. The pool at the hotel was a big hit.
Here are some impressions from Anika:
At HFAA camp the classes were all pretty good and the teachers and students were all quite nice. My teacher was Toby and he always had a lot to say about the tunes he taught us. I thought a lot more about how I played tunes after that. I loved seeing the different kinds of Hardingfeles and I learned the more common things about a Hardingfele, like the dragon heads normally don't have black tongues. I also loved the sound of so many hardingfeles. It's like a really rich cake that has just enough sugar and the perfect amount of frosting. I remember a couple of things people said to me like one woman said “You are the most patient kid I've ever met.” Another woman said “I was counting how many Hardingfeles there were and I figured out there were 35 ½ counting yours!” I also remember the other student who won the scholarship (Jason) who's grandpa gave him a Hardingfele for his high school graduation. The tune I remember most we learned twice because people didn't remember it that well. Peter, my teacher here in Seattle said he didn't know it when I played it for him. At the talent show I played a Gangar from Telemark. I really liked the Hungarian Music one kid played. It sounded hard and he seemed really good. I feel like this experience broadened my picture of the Hardingfele and I hope I'll go back to this camp again when I'm older.
HFAA Talent Show
Photos were gratefully provided by Harriet Gerber, Byron Wiley, and Papa.
Anika and Loretta Kelly.
The HFAA Workshop Scholarship Recipients for 2011 Darlene Lerwick, Anika Anderson & Jason Reimnitz
There were some new instruments to try out.
A nice cool cave to explore before getting on the plane after the hot week-end in Dodgeville.
The Seattle Lilla Spelmanslag was one of the performers at ScanFest in Astoria, Oregon. This was a festival of all things Scandinavian. Anika performed with the group and was able to do a few solos on Hardingfele. The kids did great at the festival. Three performances and a parade were a lot to do in two days time along with travel but it was a great experience for the group.
Happy girl with the Hardingfele
Anika's Impressions:
I had a great time in Astoria with my fiddle group, the Seattle Lilla Spelmanslag. The first day was tiring since we had to get up at 8:00 and we had three performances in one day but we had a fun time. I was a little bit nervous every time I did a solo on my Hardanger fiddle. I hoped my mistakes wouldn't be that noticeable. One thing I've realized from playing the violin so long is that if you're performing and you make a mistake you just have to push on. It sounds bad if you start over. I'm going to Wisconsin for a Hardanger fiddle camp in two days and I'm excited about it. I hope I learn lots more tunes.
Seattle Lilla Spelmanslag at Scanfest
The following video is of the Seattle Lilla Spelmanslag performing Honen at Scanfest
