About the Nyckelharpa playing at Skansen - American Nyckelharpa ...

SUMMER 2008 N Y C K E L N O T E S 18
Spring Peepers
at Pine Lake
by Peter Blue
A
gorgeous day in April; Swedish music all around;
students out in boats, birds singing … this is what
prospective students encountered when they toured
Hartwick College’s Pine Lake Campus this spring. In
cooperation with the Music Department, the college’s
Climate Change theme program, and Arts-On-Queue of
Cooperstown NY, Pine Lake hosted master classes with
Väsen for the third time. Participants ranged in age from
twelve years old to sixty-four; and came from as far away as
Baltimore, Boston and western Pennsyvania. Seven nyckelharpa
students of varying abilities, seven violin students, and
four guitar students learned a tune Mikael Marin composed
in honor of Carl Linnaeus.
Why would Väsen be funded by a climate change
theme? May, 2007 marked the 300th anniversary of the
birth of Swede Carl Linnaeus, known as the “father of modern
taxonomy.” Botanist, physician and zoologist Linnaeus
laid the foundations for the modern scheme of plant and
animal nomenclature. He is also considered one of the
fathers of
modern
ecology.
Väsen was
commissioned
to
arrange
music to
mark the
occasion,
including
music from
the period
and region
of Linnaeus’ life, including pieces written by his brotherin-law
and by a cousin, and pieces newly rediscovered on
Linneaus’ restored “barrel organ.” How to create connections
around differing groups—musicians, community members,
biologists and history buffs led to the idea of combining
a Väsen concert with a talk on Linaeus and a series of
programs on species identification, discovery, and loss.
After the concert, Väsen returned to Pine Lake, to stay
in the strawbale house there. When they arrived, Olov asked
what the strange noise was. It was spring peepers. They
said they didn’t believe that such a noise could come from
little frogs, and asked to see one. Peter Blue went out into
the night and gathered a bowlful. Over beer and chips and
snacks the band and guests waited in vain for the peepers—
hyla crucifer in Linnaen classification—to sing indoors. We
marveled over their tiny suction cup feet. More than once
they escaped when someone said “What’s in this bowl?” and
lifted the cover. We released the peepers back into the spring
night, and dreamed of spring and frogs and nyckelharpa
music. ■
continued on next page ...