We are an "Open Membership" group. Anyone is welcome to join who shares our interest in playing traditional Scandinavian folkdance music. In keeping with Scandinavian tradition, beginners are particularly encouraged to participate. While fiddlers are in the majority, we also welcome players of other traditional, non-electric instruments.
We practice on Sunday evenings from 7:00 to 9:00 pm at the Swedish Cultural Center (formerly The Swedish Club.)
Most of our members learn the music primarily "by ear". Others learn more efficiently from printed notes. Cassette tapes and CDs which contain some of our tunes, plus printed music for all the tunes in our repertoire, are available for the cost of their reproduction. While playing from printed music at rehearsals is OK for learning purposes, we follow Scandinavian spelmanslag tradition and play without printed music at public performances. Sheet music does not capture the nuances of the tunes and impedes visual contact with each other and with the dancers.
The following examples are two tunes played by the Skandia Spelmanslag (recorded at live dance performances).
Lokomobilen (schottis dance from Northern Sweden)
Leken Hass Steffa Henningsgård (pols dance from Røros, Norway)
All members who have attended at least a few recent practices are encouraged to participate in our public performances. Being an "Open Membership" group, however does not mean that any musician with an instrument in hand is free to "sit in" during a performance.
After an introductory visitation period, musicians are required to purchase a yearly $45 membership to the Swedish Cultural Center. The SCC membership application form can be found here.
Down load an information sheet about the Seattle Skandia Spelmanslag