Lyre - Norse Music

This is meant as a companion resource to my informational videos where I discuss historical Norse music. With this improvisation, I wanted to showcase the salient features of Scandinavian Norse music that we can be almost certain of: the importance of the lyre as the primary stringed instrument, a heterophonic musical texture, heptatonic diatonicism (the natural minor is used here, although the tuning is slightly off due to the cold), and pentatonic tendencies within the melody. Basic harmony in the form of the tonic being played alongside the other notes is also used, as well as strumming. This sort of example is one of the most plausible approximations we can make of the general features of Viking Age Scandinavian music.