Å male i blått – om måling av intonasjon på hardingfele

Abstract

This article investigates and discusses possible explanations for unconventional intonation practices in Norwegian Hardanger fiddle tunes. Software measurements of archive recordings, mainly of the Telemark fiddler Johannes Dahle (1890–1980), have given access to relevant visual and numerical data. The results show that the conventional diatonic system is not suitable as an analytical tool for intonation practices within this genre. The article presents examples of intonation patterns linked to a genre-specific tolerance and suggest that such patterns, which involves variability and step sizes between the whole step and the semitone, are governed both by the idiomatic left-hand technique, acoustic factors and by choices made possible by a normative and aesthetic framework, including expressive freedom.