48 600 måter å spille en slått på : om variabilitet i Truls Ørpens transkripsjoner

Abstract

This is the second article based on a research project at Telemark University College, where I have aimed to record the entire material of fiddle tunes that Truls Ørpen (1880–1958) wrote down from his own local community Krødsherad in the county of Buskerud, between 1915 and 1958. There are some significant differences between Ørpen’s notation and what he plays on his own recordings. In this respect, the source material and my recording process raise important questions concerning documentation, interpretation and continuation. The article focuses on variability and how Ørpen assumingly write a potential of variation into his scores. Not a single one of his recorded tunes corresponds in detail with his own transcriptions, and regarding the repetition patterns of the motifs/musical sentences, it seems obvious that his scores contain much more variation than the recordings. Especially when performing the music, it stands clear to me that this is meant by Ørpen as suggestions for choices and not as a strict and tide-up recipe of how to perform a tune. Therefore, if we aim for a personal style in performing the fiddle tunes, it is possible to regard even a detailed transcription as an “open source” for variation and improvisation.