Music in Sweden 2 - Folk music
Music from the summer pastures

 

Music from the summer pastures The wooden flute (Sw. "spelpipa", literally "playing pipe") and the horn were typical of the music from the summer pastures. The summer pastures are little used these days in Sweden, but a few people who spent part of their childhood at work there are still alive. The summer pasture system, used in the whole of central Sweden, was a way of freeing the land closest to the villages for the growing of various crops. The cattle were driven up to pastures on the slopes of nearby hills. The chalets and sheds of the summer pastures (Sw. "fäbodar") were often owned collectively by the inhabitants of the village. The people who took care of the cattle, mostly young girls and old women, stayed there the whole of the summer, producing cheese and butter from the milk. Music was an integral part of the work in the summer pastures. The cows were often far away in the woods when the time came to milk them. "Locklåtar" – calls sung in a piercing, high-pitched falsetto voice – were used to bring them in. If the cows were nearby short calls were used; if far away, long powerful melodies. Horns were used as a means of signalling by the people of the pastures. On the long birch-bark horns – up to 2 yards in length – fanfare-like tunes could be played. The ram horns and the cow horns had three or four fingerholes and could be used for playing many tunes or "låtar" as instrumental melodies are called in Swedish folk music. Each tune had a particular meaning and a special function in the daily routine of the pastures from rising in the morning and letting the cattle out to graze to the last tune of the day called the "bofred", which more or less means "peace around the home". Horns were also used for scaring away bears and wolves. A horn without fingerholes which had never touched the ground was regarded as having exceptional powers to scare away beasts of prey. When a bear was known to be in the vicinity it was best not to play tunes, since the bear was thought to be attracted by fine music. Wooden flute.  From Jan Ling: Svensk folkmusik. The "spelpipa"– a wooden flute – was mostly used to while the time away when the cows and goats were in the pastures. The "spelpipa", on which were played song melodies and dance tunes, is similar to a recorder but has eight holes on the front and no thumbhole on the back. The people of the summer pastures mostly worked alone: thus the music has a solo character and is often very intricate. The "spelpipa" tunes and the cattle calls are richly decorated. The scale intervals differ, moreover, from those of "normal" European music, and the tuning normally varies from one instrument to another. Neutral and diminished thirds are common, resulting in a minor character. Both rich ornamentation and minor character have been passed on to Swedish folk music of a later date.

 

Music from the summer pastures
Music in Sweden 2 - Folk music