The nyckelharpa is a traditional music instrument from Sweden.

nyckel = key in Swedish
harpa = string instrument in Swedish (not only harps)
A possible English translation is "keyed fiddle" but most players keep the original Swedish name.

Builders

Bow makers

Teachers & courses

A bit of History

The oldest sources for similar instruments with bowed strings and a keyboard are dating back to the 15th century. At that time, the instrument was apparently found in several European countries : Germany, Italy, Denmark and Sweden. These early nyckelharpas were much simpler than the modern ones and couldn't play as many notes. With time and probably with the violin-family spreading, the nyckelharpa got forgotten except for Sweden. It survived mostly in Uppland, the region North of Stockholm.

For many centuries, the nyckelharpas were diatonic instruments with one or several drone-strings (Moraharpa, kontrabasharpa, silverbasharpa). During the 20th century, August Bohlin and Eric Sahlström (who were also prominent players in their time) amongst others worked to develop further the range and technical abilities of the instrument, giving birth to the modern chromatic nyckelharpa.

Technical information

Most nyckelharpas nowadays have :
- 3 playing strings, tuned ACG from the top
- 1 low-C string used as a drone
- 12 resonance strings with various possible tunings
- around 39 keys disposed on 3 rows
- 40 cm of vibrating string

There are also nyckelharpas with other tunings, more rows on their keyboard therefore more playing strings, more or less resonance strings, different keyboards, different measurements, different tunings, etc. Nyckelharpa builders experiment a lot to expand the abilities of the instrument and to find new interesting sounds.