My artistic research project is a practice-led work investigating the properties of motif structures in traditional music as a departure for creating new music in various forms alongside new interpretations of old traditional music.
The horisontality of the motif structure with all its properties in between; in between well tempered tones, in between metric beats, in between the ornaments of a phrase, in between modality and harmonic structures. These fine tuned properties are the materials investigated in my work through methods of crystallization, densification, stretching, applying elements of motif properties to other musical entities, and not least removing properties from motifs.
Key to traditional music are oral transmissions, and the work will be informed by practice, listening, reviewing and then more practice, in line with the evolved method of traditional music. My work will also seek new methods of including learning by ear and applying the metamorphic qualities of motifs in a written music score.
I want to research how the traditional tunes repertoire may appear if formed by a free paraphrasing over motif archetypes rather than interpreting complete forms of the tunes, how traditional fiddle music linked to informal dance contexts can be transformed into music for a sitting down, listening audience, and how properties and variability of motifs from traditional music could contribute to new music in various forms.
Anne Hytta (1974) is a performer of the Hardanger Fiddle, a fiddle with sympathetic strings and its own repertoire of traditional tunes. Her background is deeply founded in the highly distinctive playing style of the traditional tunes’ repertoire for the Hardanger fiddle, with master teachers as Einar Løndal (1914–2006) and Knut Buen (1948). From this position she composes and performs her own music in solo performances and various chamber settings. In autumn 2022 Hytta began as a PhD fellow in artistic research at the Norwegian Academy of music.
Elasticity in Traditional Music
– A Potential for Something Other?
The fine details of a hardanger fiddle tune flash by in an instant. This is their essence: these are tunes meant for dancing, where motifs and details weave together in chains of subtle developments, shifting and evolving in small and large cycles, always in motion—changing, returning, transforming. It is the beauty of the tunes.
How might these fine, intricate qualities of traditional music serve as entry points for new forms and new music? What methods are employed in this exploration, and to what extent do these methods—and the ideas behind them—align with the intrinsic qualities of traditional music? And how is that a relevant question? These are among the topics hardanger fiddle player Anne Hytta will reflect upon in her presentation. She will share examples through scores and recordings of her work.
In her presentation, Hytta will focus on the specific quality of elasticity, a concept that has gradually become central to her Ph.D. project. Using the auditory lens of four different musical projects, she examines how elasticity manifests and evolves in various contexts. These projects include her solo work, her trio HYTTA with jazz and improvisational musicians, her project Spelemannslaget Straum, Stille with four other Hardanger fiddle players, and her chamber music collaboration with nine string players from the Telemark Chamber Orchestra. Across these settings, she has explored different dimensions of elasticity—whether in rhythm, tonality, or motif structures. Why do elastic qualities spark the desire to create something other, and what might that "other" be?
Anne Hytta is a hardanger fiddle player and a composer. As a traditional musician, she has studied the repertoire of traditional tunes with fiddle masters Einar Løndal (1914–2006) and Knut Buen (1948–), among others.
Her artistic research project at The Norwegian Academy of Music shines the spotlight on the fine details of traditional music and their potential as starting points for new creative processes.
Hytta's Ph.D. focuses on the deconstruction and reconstruction of motifs from traditional music through practice-led research. Her work traverses a dynamic landscape of collaborators and collaborations, constantly seeking new ways to engage with and reinterpret the essence of traditional music.
This presentation text was written in collaboration with Sikt KI.
Rive laus og brote sond: Musikalske egenskaper i nye omland
Kan musikk skille lag med tid og ta form av et bilde, et landskap, et omriss av et minne, en fornemmelse? Hva skjer når man isolerer motiver og detaljer fra deres musikalske omland, og leiter etter en kjerne, en vilje, en spire til noe annet i motivet?
Kontrasten mellom det horisontale, linjepregete uttrykket i tradisjonsmusikken i møte med minimalisme, repetitive mønstre og klanglig utforsking er sentralt i Hyttas kunstneriske utviklingsarbeid, som solist og i møte med andre musikere.
Hva innebærer det å arbeide med forsøk på å lage musikalske bilder med utgangspunkt i et uttrykk der det lineære – selve tidsforløpet – er visualisert gjennom dansere i ring i stadig framdrift?
Hytta vil spille eksempler fra eget arbeid, snakke om paradoksene i arbeidet og motsetninger og samsvar mellom tradisjon og nyskaping:
Så lenge jeg kan huske, har jeg som hardingfelespiller kjent på en sorg over å miste et motiv til det neste. Hardingfeleslåttene skal videre, stadig videre, som et tog som aldri stopper, det ligger i deres natur. Når et motiv i en hardingfeleslått farer forbi, videre til neste motiv, vil jeg gripe tak i det, holde det fast, kjenne på detaljer, klanger, vendinger.
I stipendiatet undersøker jeg hva som skjer i meg og i det jeg «spillekomponerer» – det jeg lytter meg fram til – når jeg stopper strømmen og griper fatt i det som griper meg. Hvordan kan jeg stanse strømmen, og kan musikk stanses og fremdeles være musikk i en form for bevegelse, som noe foranderlig i noe uforanderlig?
Jeg vil inn i tradisjonen, vekk fra tradisjonen, fram til noe eget ut av kontrasten mellom innenfra og utenfra.
In her presentation at ARF spring 2023, Hytta will talk about her work, and play examples of her music as a soloist, member of ensembles and as a composer.
Her artistic research project offers the spotlight to the fine details in traditional music, and the details’ potential as various starting points for creating new music.
What occur in a musician and in the music when you stop the flow, and dwell on the elements that grab your attention? How can flow be intervened, and can music be stopped and still be in a state of quiet, inner energy while standing still at the same time? How can the intricate horisontal qualities of traditional music, constantly pushing forward and informed by ornaments, tonal variation, or phrasing figures, be integrated in a musical expression of standing still?
The PhD focuses on various forms of deconstruction and reconstruction of motives from traditional music in a practice-led research work, constantly moving between different collaborators and collaborations.
Immersing tradition; leaving tradition; shaping an own expression built on the contrast between the ‘from within’ and the ‘from outside’, is the theme of this presentation.