Gammelkäring

Gammelkäring

Title: Gammelkäring

Performer(s): Myrkur Øksemorder

Culture: Nordic (Northern Denmark)

Instruments: Female voice and nyckelharpa. A nyckelharpa is a traditional Swedish musical instrument. It is a string instrument or chordophone. Its keys are attached to tangents which, when a key is depressed, serve as frets to change the pitch of the string.The nyckelharpa is similar in appearance to a fiddle or the big Sorb geige or viol. Structurally, it is more closely related to the hurdy-gurdy, both employing key-actuated tangents to change the pitch.

The nyckelharpa is a very intriguing instrument as it can be classified as a chordophone. A  chordophone can be defined as "sound produced by vibrating string" (Wade, 2013, p.39) Further more, a nyckelharpa can be considered a composite chordophone, meaning that there is more one string producing the sound. In this particular instance, instrument classification is useful because it allows the listener to be comparative to instruments in their own culture. This can help listeners to better understand the original sound source and better relate to the new sound.

Wade, B. C. (2013). Thinking musically: experiencing music, expressing culture. New York: Oxford University Press.