Thinking about dialects, my personal experience is always a feeling of loss: As a child I spoke in Fryksdalsmål, a dialect from the region of Värmland. The dialect is renowned for its singing, musical qualities, which is sometimes stated as one of the reasons for the very strong oral storytelling tradition within Värmland. Today, as a professional flautist living in Gothenburg, some of my dialect washed away over the years. However, I do believe that my playing and musicianship is influenced by the dialect and story-telling from Värmland in several ways. With this exposition-draft, I would like to address the question on how dialectal story-telling can inform musical interpretation. How much interpretational liberty is allowed to a classical music performer? Leech-Wilkinson forms a critique against the belief among the classical music community where musicians “should be transparent (inaudible) mediums for the composer’s intentions" (Leech-Wilkinson 2023) Expanding his thoughts, “classical musicians are brought up to believe that there is broadly one proper performance of any score, the performance its composer imagined; and that it is their job to produce that” (Leech-Wilkinson 2023). This string of thought is based on a discussion of authenticity that is informing the musical world today. On the other hand, and a bit confusing; an individual performing style is also sought after. Summarizing, the norms of the musical world makes the possible interpretation choices rather narrow. Accordingly, a performer of contemporary music would typically go to the composer in question to obtain knowledge as to how a score should be authentically rendered in performance. However, the debate of what authenticity in the performance of scored music may entail has also underlined how composers' intentions for performance may be erratic, entirely lacking or, of course, very detailed. But, what about the personal authenticity of the musician, and its consequences for the quality and credibility of the work as performaed? In this exposition, I explore the notion of story-telling as a fundamental quality in the rendering of a scored composition, and further, that there is a fundamental relation between the rhetorical means in language and in the structuring of music as performed. Further, my artistic PhD project explores the impact of dialect in the formation of an authentic, personal performer's voice. Hence, by learning more about the prosodic patterns in their native dialect, performer's of classical and contemporary music may challenge the norms of fidelity to the composer's intentions, and instead turn to one's own personal experiences of storytelling as a source for artistic experimentation. This exposition-draft discusses how historical analogue voice recordings of Swedish story-tellers and their dialect have a capacity to inform and inspire musical interpretation, by activating and re-vitalising aspects of a performer's individual dialect. The archival recordings are in many ways marked by time and the archival touch, nevertheless, by returning to them from an artistic research perspective we can bring them to life again, and thus, create new micro-stories. This exposition will be completed with professional audio-recordings, providing detailed examples of the relation between the prosodic qualities in the archive materials and the musical shaping in the author's flute performances.

Audio 6

Audio 5

Audio 7

Audio 4

Exposition-draft:

Ann Elkjär, Musikhögskolan Ingesund

PhD student LTU

Swedish Fryksdalsmål as a path to personal authenticity in contemporary music performance: the hidden rhetoric of a native dialect.

How much interpretational liberty is allowed to a classical music performer? Leech-Wilkinson forms a critique against the belief among the classical music community where musicians “should be transparent (inaudible) mediums for the composer’s intentions" (Leech-Wilkinson 2023 ch 3) Expanding his thoughts, “classical musicians are brought up to believe that there is broadly one proper performance of any score, the performance its composer imagined; and that it is their job to produce that” (Leech-Wilkinson 2023 ch 3). This string of thought is based on a discussion of authenticity that is informing the musical world today. On the other hand, and a bit confusing; an individual performing style is also sought after. Summarizing, the norms of the musical world makes the possible interpretation choices rather narrow.

Accordingly, a performer of contemporary music would typically go to the composer in question to obtain knowledge as to how a score should be authentically rendered in performance. However, the debate of what authenticity in the performance of scored music may entail has also underlined how composers' intentions for performance may be erratic, entirely lacking or, of course, very detailed. But, what about the personal authenticity of the musician, and its consequences for the quality and credibility of the work performed?

In this exposition, I explore the notion of story-telling as a fundamental quality in the rendering of a scored composition, and further, that there is a relation between the rhetorical means in language and in the structuring of music as performed. Further, my artistic PhD project explores the impact of dialect in the formation of an authentic, personal performer's voice. Hence, by learning more about the prosodic patterns in their native dialect, performers of classical and contemporary music may challenge the norms of fidelity to the composer's intentions, and instead turn to one's own personal experiences of storytelling as a source for artistic experimentation.

This exposition-draft discusses how historical analogue voice recordings of Swedish story-tellers and their dialect have a capacity to inform and inspire musical interpretation, by activating and re-vitalising aspects of a performer's individual dialect. The archival recordings are in many ways marked by time and the archival touch, nevertheless, by returning to them from an artistic research perspective we can bring them to life again, and thus, create new micro-stories.

In audio file 4, Wilhelm speaks in a staccato, and makes a short cesura before the most stressed word in the sentence (In Swedish: "Han var -- skeppare så att säga"). In the score of Bozza's Image (figure 5) the bottom music line, a slow phrase leading up to the introduction of the fast part, where a short cesura is marked by the composer. In audio file 9 to the right, my endeavour to make use of Wilhelm Larsson's paus to inform the temporal shaping of Bozza's Image.

In audio file 5, Wilhelm imitates the voice of a rather harsh man. In his imitation, he uses his lowest voice register. In the score of Bozza's Image, the bottom line (Figure 7): A cadenza, that could be interpreted as two different persons talking. In audiofile 11, I am trying to sound "harsh in my lower register" to convey the situation of "speaking with two different voices".

Exploring solo flute music with a storyteller’s tools:

To connect storytelling with flute playing, I first let the analysis of Wilhelm Larsson's tools shape my interpretation of Eugène Bozzas solo flute work Image (Bozza 1940). French flute music of the 20th century forms a central part of the literature, and typically characterised by a free and improvisatory “Fantasia” style. In such compositions, the performer is expected to contribute more extensively in how the music is performed, especially with regard to temporal shaping. Image poses particular challenges to the flautist's technical command, for instance in terms of shaping the extended melodic lines, and of the rapid passages with large intervals. A further musical challenge is how the quasi-polyphony of the writing should be rendered. Hence, Bozza's Image is a relevant composition through which a flautist may broaden their palette of interpretational perspectives.

A second contrasting solo flute work is Luciano Berio’s “contemporary classic” flute solo Sequenza I (Berio 1958). In this score, Berio used a special notation technique that is close to graphic notation. Every rhythm is carefully measured, but not in the ordinary notation technique. Learning this piece takes a long time, since the performer first must master reading the score before learning to play it. Berio made several versions of his masterpiece, but I have always preferred his first detailed, yet open structure for notation. Even though Berio’s Sequenza was composed in 1958, it is still considered a contemporary work. Partly because of the challenging notation, but also that one has to work hard to get a grip of the melodic content. At first, it might seem as if there is no melodic line, but as a performer finds their way through the musical structure, the somewhat fragmentary nature of the music brings out unexpected vocal qualities, and melodic relations between materials. There are inded parts that appear to be drawn from qualities of spoken language. I have made note of how I, when instructing students in the interpretation of this piece, I sometimes suggest that they should try to imitate the voice in the Italian cartoon La Linea, in such sections. In the exposition, I will show examples of how my interpretation of Berio's sequenza has been further inspired by my analysis of the rhetorical and musical qualities of the archival recordings of Wilhelm Larsson's storytelling.

Here follows a few examples of how I worked on implementing my analysis of Wilhelm Larsson's storytelling qualities in my flute playing:

In audio file 6, Wilhelm tells the final words of a funny story, and doing so he talks in larger intervals. In the score of Bozza's Image (Figure 6), the first music line, a fast passage with large intervals leading to the top c. In audio file 10, I am trying to interpret the phrase of Image as if I would be telling "something funny" on my flute.

In the following I will provide an outline of the main types of findings drawn from my analysis.

As an example of the musical structures identified, Figure 2 and 3 shows how sentences would sometimes be structured to remain in one key, and audio files 2 and 3 plays Wilhelm's voice.

In audio file 7, once again the pitches that Wilhelm rests on when pausing to think. In the score of Berio Sequenza (figure 4) there are long notes that comes abrubtly. By borrowing the idea that we sometimes makes thinking sounds when we get stuck in the middle of a sentence, I try to play the abrubt long notes in Berio's Sequenza as if making thinking sounds (Audio 8).

Background

Storytelling is one of the fundamental forms for communication between human beings. This oral tradition gives us guidance to “describe our self, our family, our ancestors, our history, and our place in the living world” (Institutet för språk och folkminnen 2023, my translation). Researchers even invented a new binomial nomenclature to stress the significance of storytelling: Homo narrans. Going from the global and biological perspective to more local ones, the Swedish region of Värmland has often been described as “the promised land of poetry and stories” (Nordmark 2020). Storytelling played an important part in country-side life in the past, and still does today. Storytelling has also left footprints in the art world within Värmland: Prominent Swedish authors from Värmland as Selma Lagerlöf, Gustav Fröding and Göran Tunström built their authorships from within the tradition of rural storytelling.

To conclude this exposition-draft, Wilhelm Larsson's storytelling is full of musical gestures, and I find it highly beneficial for the interpretation process of the flute solo pieces to work on implementing his storytelling qualities.

However, there are some things missing in the exposition of today:

Professional audio-recordings, providing detailed examples of the relation between the prosodic qualities in the archive materials and the musical shaping in the author's flute performances.

Video recordings of me performing both flute pieces, informed by Wilhelm Larsson's musical storytelling.
A discussion chapter
Machine analysis of speech in music notation (I attach a file below for demonstration, used for another project)

A few examples of the tools, related to musical gestures, that Wilhelm Larsson uses to convey his storytelling:

He uses short pauses just before the most important part of a sentence (Audio file 4)

He uses different pitches to sonically imitate or represent other characters in the story (Audio file 5)

When telling stories about something humorous, he uses larger intervals within the sentence (Audio file 6)

When pausing to think he often rests on a certain pitch (Audio file 7)

ISOF's archival voice recordings

The Institute for Language and Folklore (ISOF) is a governmental authority that builds and collects knowledge about Swedish language and culture. In their archives, a rich collection of voice recordings of Swedish dialects are found. While the first recordings were made in the late 19th century, the major part of the collection was recorded in the 1940s and -50s (figure 1), with the clear ambition to preserve the Swedish dialects for the future. The recordings were made in a mobile studio, built in a re-made Volvo car. The recordings are now digitalized and open-access.

Even at the time when the recordings were made, they had a retrospective character, as the interviewees often tell stories of earlier times. In each village they visited, the interviewers sought out the best local storytellers. This has turned the archive of ISOF to a collection stories from the past, that today can unwrap hidden fragments of history, but also of historical prosodic qualities.

Selecting materials from the archive

After listening to many files from the ISOF archives, I chose to focus my explorations on recordings of Wilhelm Larsson (Institutet för språk och folkminnen 1940), since it was obvious that he was a great storyteller, using many typical narrative tropes drawn from Fryksdalsmål. Larsson was a teacher in Sunne, and by that a professional in delivering oral presentations. He speaks with great confidence, and it is clear that he enjoys the recording situation. While many recordings in the arcives are in the form of interviews, the selected recording is instead a documentation of his storytelling, without the presence of an interviewer. He speaks in the melodic dialect from Fryksdalen in the middle of Värmland (Audio 1):

Figure 1. Recording dialects in 1944 (ISOF ULMA)

Audio 1

Results

By analysing short parts of Wilhelm Larsson’s speech, I set out to look for overarching musical qualities in his rhetorical means and prosodic patterns. Could favourite intervals, recurring rhythmic patterns, or perhaps even tonal structures that were maintained throughout a story be identified?

This analysis was made by ear and translated into standard musical notation. Hereby, I had to limit the material to characteristic shorter selections of the recording, since this analytical method was very time-consuming. Already at the outset, I was well aware that a machine analysis of the data would be more efficient, and allow for the use of bigger data. However, I chose to work from my own listening, since I wanted to use the analysis as a way of developing my individual performer's voice. This also allowed me to select material that I found musically interesting. My analysis was based on repeated listening, until I found a certain phrase or part of a sentence that caught my ear, and stopped there. By looping that part, the melodic content would eventually stand out, and was then transcribed into music notation.

When a few of these transcriptions were created, I could identify that Wilhelm Larsson's storytelling had some recurring patterns, related to rhythm, melody and timing.

Parts of this artistic research project was presented at a digital seminar at Karlstad University, that later was presented on YouTube: