Hardingfele Club & Norwegian Fiddling

Click on orange arrow below to hear what hardingfele, or Hardanger fiddle, sounds like.

About Hardingfele Club  

We meet in person or over zoom on a weekday morning to review our large repertoire and talk about Norwegian music/dance and all things hardingfele (Hardanger fiddle). We have sometimes had a different geographic focus each week, cycling through our repertoire from Hallingdal, Setesdal, Valdres, Vestlandet, Telemark, Numedal, as well as some Runddans or other Norwegian tunes.  The club also has 2- or 3-day intensive jamming and learning retreats once a year. We sometimes play Norwegian tunes from Finnskogen, Røros & Gudbrandsdal on regular fiddle as well.  We welcome new members who are fairly advanced on hardingfele, or at least on violin/fiddle, possess a playable hardingfele, and who have a bunch of Norwegian dance tunes under their belts already or are quick & motivated learners.  Our goals are to perfect our existing repertoire of springar/gangar/halling/marsj tunes, to follow up after HFAA, NFF and online workshops by practicing the new tunes we've learned, to improvise the occasional harmony on vals and reinlender tunes, including from the HFAA Samspel tunebook (https://www.hfaa.org/about-our-workshops/samspel-book) , to tackle alternate tunings AND most of all, to play all of it well for dancing.  Contact me if this more or less describes your goals too! 

Club news

We had a fun 2-day intensive jamming and learning retreat, including a bit of dancing, in Ithaca NY in 2025, and I hope to plan another such gathering in fall or winter of 2026 as well. I now have two loaner Hardanger fiddles to rent out to local students, often both in use, but if you live in central New York State and want to try learning this instrument, let me know and I will try to accomodate you.

Resources

I've gathered audio, video, dance info and sheet music for our tunes from each geographical region on its own page.  These pages require a password and are for club members only.  Contact me if you have questions or are interested in joining us!

1. Telemark & Numedal Marsj, Springar & Gangar/Halling

2. Hallingdal & Setesdal: Marsj, Hallingspringar, Laus (Halling) & Setesdal Gangar

3. Valdres: Marsj, Springar & Halling

4. Vestlandet: Marsj, Springar & Rudl/Halling, and a few Shetland or Shetland-inspired tunes

5. Røros & Gudbrandsdal: Pols, Springleik & Halling (regular fiddle)

6. Finnskogen: Halling & Pols (regular fiddle)

7. Runddans (pan-Norwegian): Vals, Reinlender, Polka, Masurka, coming soon

Sample Hardingfele Club Repertoire Review Lists

Telemark/Numedal part 1 
1 Kølteguten, springar
2 Agerhusen, springar
3 Tømmerkjøyraren, springar
4 Veneflamma, springar
5 Halling etter Eivind Spellemann
6 Kjerringa på Tinn, gangar
7 Gvannesen, gangar

Telemark/Numedal 2  
1 Knut Eilefsen, springar
2 Valdreskvelven, springar
3 Haslebusken, springar
4 Halling etter Hølje Landsverk
5 Hopparen, halling 
6 Spelemannshaugen, gangar
7 Fossegrimen, halling
8 Till Bjørn, springar av Even Tråen 

Hallingdal & Setesdal (ADAE and GDAE)
1 Reiselåt fra Nes
2 Reiselått etter Tor Grimsgard
3 Leinen, springar
4 Sølve-Knut, springar
5 Halvbror til Reven, Setesdal gangar
6 Trulseguten, halling
7 Ivar Jore = Jeger-Sjugurd springar

Valdres 
1 Storeskøltin, springar 
2 Springar etter Torgeir Hegge
3 Øskesekken, springar 
4 Gjenta med garde, halling
5 Fanteladda, springar
6 Hansegardsspringar
7 Teiga-Berit springar
8 Halling etter Ola Okshovd
9 Bruremarsj frå Vang
10 Søraurdalsmarsjen

Vestland 1
1 Bestefarslåtten, springar
2 Stårøyguten, springar
3 Nordfjordhallingen
4 Rudl etter Mosafinn
5 Halling etter Mosafinn
6 Rudl etter Anders Kjerland
7 Urheimen, rudl

Vestland 2
1 Bruremarsj etter Mosafinn
2 Brureslag etter Ivar Fuglestad
3 Gammal Springar etter Ivar Fuglestad
4 Springar etter Skrangle Jens 
5 Ljøsno-Hallingen
6 Har du ikkje hoppa, so hoppa du vel no, rudl
7 Halling etter Anders Nedrelid

Runddans/Gammeldans 1 (ADAE and AEAE)  
1 Ringnesen, reinlender
2 Treskarens vals av Georg Brobakken
3 Imeland og Grimeland, reinlender
4 Water Lily/Tjønneblomen, vals av Gjermund Haugen (arr. L Hart)  
5 Linerla, reinlender etter Lars Skjervheim
6 Parisarpolka etter Harald Steindal
7 Reinlender etter Tor Homleid 
8 Vals etter Harald Modalen  

Runddans/Gammeldans 2 (ADAE and GDAE)  
1 Bringebær reinlender
2 Fantevalsen 
3 Kom Til Mei i Kvelden, reinlender
4 Vossavalsen 
5 Griffenfelt/Griffenfeld, reinlender 
6 Gammal Norsk Masurka  
7 Adam uti paradis, reinlender 
8 Finnjenta vals  

Springleik (FDAE) and Rørospols (ADAE)
1 Tussgubben, springleik av Hans W. Brimi  
2 Tjukkrustdagen, springleik av Hans W. Brimi
3 Jo Torstugun, springleik
4 Leken hinnes Karolina Wicklund, Rørospols
5 Litjbrekkingen, Rørospols
6 I  Bryllupsgården, Rørospols etter Einar Galaaen
7 Martnaspols etter Magne Haugom

Rørospols (ADAE) and Fanitullen (AEAC#)  
1 Amerikaturen, Rørospols
2 Pols till Wenche, Brekken pols
3 Pols e Anund Roheim = Jostein Nytroens pols fra Vingelen
4 Rørospols e Anund Roheim, sometimes called I Bryllupsgården
5 Steffaleken = Leken hass Steffen Henningsgård, Rørospols
6 Fanitullen (arr. L Hart), halling

Finnskogen, short 3rd beat pols/polska & a halling
1. Polska från Norra Finnskoga, Värmland
2. Pols nr 844 fra Elverum, Hedmark
3. Polskdans nr 814 fra Finnskogen
4. Kvekfanten runddom
5. Rendalspolsk 
6. Neverskopolska från Värmland
7. Rundom etter Østerdølenes Spellmanslag
8. Halling etter Halteguten

 

Dance Tempos, faster to slower

6/8 per dotted quarter, or 2/4 per quarter note:  

  • Halling/Laus 100-108  
  • Setesdalsgangar 96-100 
  • Numedalsgangar 92-96  
  • Telegangar 88-90  
  • Rudl/Rull 80-84  
  • Marsj 69  

3/4 per quarter note (but set metronome to one third of this speed for uneven springars, ie 42 instead of 126, marking the first beat of each bar):  

  • Hallingspringar 140 (47) -145  
  • Vestlandspringar 135-145 (even beat, so no need to beat once per bar)  
  • Valdresspringar 135 (45) -140  
  • Telespringar 125 (42) -132