At Fiddle Academy, there are close to 50 tunes to learn, and the list continues to grow. Here are some films which are free for everyone to see. If you really enjoy them, you can, if you want, buy a 1 month subscription for €20 to learn some more, or just to support the academy. You are also welcome to join us for one of the longer subscriptions, of course, or simply enjoy the films without any obligations!

Here are the different subscription plans.

IMPORTANT: You are allowed to use these films and the PDFs of the sheet music, but they may under no circumstances be printed (except for personal use), distributed or recorded without permission from Mia Marine.

Tunes to learn
Click on the links or scroll further down.

Skrap Ollas Polska efter Glysen

Polska efter Magnus Olsson - Learn the tune

Polska efter Magnus Olsson - Play Along version

Tiden by Mia Marine

Menuett efter Mattis Kollberg

Farängladagen by Mia Marine

Concept lessons
You can find a whole bunch of them, on different topics, at Fiddle Academy. Here is one you can try for free. It is a lesson about improvising accompaniment, for people who are beginners at improvisation.

Concept lesson #2: Harmonic improvisation/Improvised accompaniment

Key: D

A Polska I've played since I was a child, so I don't remember who taught it to me in the first place. (Could it have been Anders Norudde?) It is one of my all time favourites! I never get tired of it. Glysen was a vagabond who was moving around a great deal, so to determine "where this tune is from" (which is never as true as we sometimes pretend anyway) is difficult. His tunes have been transcribed in Värmland, Närke and Västmanland. Maybe more places. I don't know. It seems as if he composed many tunes himself, but I don't know if he made this one. It is a variant of a well known musical theme, sister to a Swedish christmas tune called "Klang min vackra bjällra" amongst others.

This tune can be played as a Slängpolska or as a 16th Note Polska with heavy one and three. I usually play it as a Slängpolska. 

The tutorial is "cut out" from a workshop at an online festival, so I may sometimes refer to things having to do with that. :-)

At Fiddle Academy, if you have a subscription, you also get films with technical exercises and suggestions to which ones are particularly good for each tune.

These technical exercises can help you with this tune:
Emphases
Dajstråk
Double string playing

Some of the comments in the films may be meant for people with subscriptions, who have access to all films at Fiddle Academy.

How I usually play it.
PDF with sheet music.

Tutorial (Long version from an online festival workshop.)

Slow + fast.

Second voice.

Key: D 
Tuning: GDAE (CGDAE)

One of my favorite Polskas from my home town, Arvika, in the west part of Värmland. Magnus Olsson was a farmer, but he and his brothers were said to play fiddle so much they didn't take care of the farm properly. 

I've tried to avoid improvising this time, playing the arrangement I've written, so that you can play along. 

Find the Play Along Version here.

These are some of the technical exercises available at Fiddle Academy, which can help you with this tune:
Emphases
Ornaments
Intonation & Double string playing

Some of the comments in the films may be meant for people with subscriptions, who have access to all films at Fiddle Academy.

Four voices (or three...)
PDF with sheet music of the arrangement.

How I usually play it.

Tutorial.

Slow version.

Second voice tutorial. (Unfortunately, my microphone was malfunctioning, so this is the sound from the camera.)

Key: D 
Tuning: GDAE (CGDAE)

One of my favorite Polskas from my home town, Arvika, in the west part of Värmland. 

Learn the melody and the second voice here.

I've tried to avoid improvising this time, playing the arrangement I've written, so that you can play along. 

Form:
Intro one A part with only voice 3 and 4.

1
AA Mel + voice 3 and 4
BB

2
AA Mel + voice 2 and 4
BB

3
AA Mel + voice 2 and 4
B1 Mel + voice 2 and rhythmisized drone on D
B2 Mel + voice 2, 3 and 4 Crescendo!

4
A Tutti


These are some of the technical exercises avaliable at Fiddle Academy, which can help you with this tune:
- Emphases
- Ornaments
- Intonation & Double string playing

All voices.
PDF with sheet music of the arrangement.

Without melody.

Without middle voices.

Without bass voice.

"Time"
Key: Gm
Tuning: GDAE (CGDAE)

A Waltz that I made when I had been experiencing one of those periods in life when time seems to be passing both too fast and too slowly at the same time.

For subscribers at Fiddle Academy, there are suggestions to which technical exercises on the website go with each tune. For this tune, it could be these ones:
Waltz.
Emphases.
Dajstråk.

The way I usually play it.
PDF with Sheet music.

Slow version + medium tempo version.

Key: D (But G is the "orginal" key.)
Tuning: ADAE (DADAE) if played in D.

Mattis Kollberg was born in 1782 in Barkåkra, but lived most of his life in Skepparkroken, Skåne. 

If playing for dancing, some dancers might react to the fact that the B part is not 8 bars, like some want it. It is even enough for the dance to work though, with its 12 bars in the B part.

This tune is most often played in G, so I've added sheet music for both keys. I just love playing it in D with a lot of double strings, so that's how I recorded it. It is also perfect for viola if played in D, so I added sheet music for that.

To learn more about Minuet - Buy a subscription at Fiddle Academy.

There are also suggestions for specific technical exercises you can practice for the swing of this tune, if you buy a subscription.

Some of the comments in the films may be meant for people with subscriptions, who have access to all films at Fiddle Academy.

Two voices. 
PDF with sheet music in D (violin + five string violin)
PDF with sheet music for viola in D.
PDF with sheet music in G.

Melody

Slow melody.

Tutorial

(”Travel Day of the Angels”)
Key: Gm

This Polska was written as a gift for my aunt, when she was going through a very difficult time in her life. 

If you buy a subscription at Fiddle Academy, you will get suggestions for technical exercises to practice for this tune, like "Rolling arpeggios" or "Emphases". You can also see videos of the dances that go together with this kind of tune.

How I usually play it, and tutorial.
PDF Sheet music violin
PDF Sheet music viola

Here is a lesson for you who find it a bit tricky to improvise second voices or melodic variations, because you don't know how to make it sound like the right chords/harmonies. If you for instance feel like you always need to write a specific second voice rather than improvise, or if you feel like you want more knowledge on how to create simple accompaniments on your fiddle by learning more about the most common chords; 
This is where we take it from the beginning. :-)

This is based on a kind of accompaniment or second voice playing often used for traditional music in Sweden today, but it is not old or traditional or "correct". It sounds nice, and is fun. And people do it. A lot. (Well... it has developed from chord "seconding" over the past hundred years or so, so it is at least fairly traditional by now.)

If you do these lessons, you will be practicing your chord accompaniment skills, improvising skills and actually - you can also use the films for composing your own "Summer Waltz". Just use the chord lines and record yourself, or write your ideas down, and voilà! After doing part 3 you'll have a brand new tune!

There is a PDF file with grip charts and note names for the chords in D major which are used in this lesson, in case you want to print it and use it to practice chords some more. Make up your own chord lines and practice by improvising the same way as we do in this lesson. 

If you want more than three chords, add the parallels as well. (See the concept lesson at Fiddle Academy on chords and their parallels for more info about this.) For instance, you can have the chords for G major and e natural minor in front of you, if playing in G. To get access to a bunch of PDFs with the chords in different keys, log in to Fiddle Academy. You can also make your own charts of course. 

Some of the comments in the films may be meant for people with subscriptions, who have access to all films at Fiddle Academy.

Part 1. Learning the method on one chord at a time.

Here's a PDF with the chord notes, if you want to print it and have it in front of you.
PDF D major: Chord notes in the D major, G major and A major chords.

Part 2. Improvising with chord shifts. 

Part 3. Improvising an A and a B part, with some tips.

Part 4. Improvising melody, bass voice and treble voice.
Available at Fiddle Academy, only for subscribers.

Part 5. Natural minor and harmonic minor.
Available at Fiddle Academy, only for subscribers.