Deep into the soul
I am a college student at heart and give lectures in most of the country.
My fee is usually between 6000-7000 DKK + possible travel, depending on the distance.
Some of my most popular lectures are:
In November 2021, I published the book “Th. Aagaard and Oluf Ring” by the publisher Multivers in the series of books about Danish composers. Based on the book, I will tell about the two song composers, who both had a large share of the credit for the flourishing of folk song in the early 1900s.
We will talk about their upbringing and life and not least their work as composers and their view on the melody of good community singing. And then, of course, several of their fine and good melodies will be sung.
What does it mean to kill time or stop time and when did we become so dependent on controlling time that we ended up becoming slaves to it? A lecture with stories, poems and songs that all revolve around the concept of “Time”.
Based on Carl Nielsen’s book “Living Music”, I will talk about his music – both the symphonic and the songs. What is it that makes Carl Nielsen in particular have touched the Nordic, Danish and Funen soul? And then of course there must be singing – because “music should not only be described in words but experienced”.
The Danish song treasure is enormous, but has it been somewhat neglected in recent decades? Based on the new high school songbook, the importance of song, including as a creator of identity, will be discussed and discussed, and the role it should play in today’s Denmark.
There is no doubt that the common song in the early 1900s experienced a clear flourishing period. This happened largely due to the strong four-leaf clover of composers consisting of Carl Nielsen, Thomas Laub, Thorvald Aagaard and Oluf Ring.
In their own way, they contributed to the common cause of creating good and singable melodies – melodies that still hold up to this day. I will talk about the composers, their distinctive features, their relationship to and views on each other, and their common mission. Along the way, there will of course be singing.
Despite over 100 years of difference in time, HC and Benny have a lot more in common than just their last names – including their humor and the “glimmer in their eyes”. During the lecture, this will be illustrated by singing some of the two gentlemen’s songs.
My father was a priest, my grandfather was a priest, my great-grandfather was a priest – 8 generations back have been priests in the Balslev family, but I became an organist and therefore sat at the opposite end of the church – but remained, as my grandfather said, “inside the room”. In an entertaining way, the story is told about the church service seen from the organ bench, about the church today and about the place and importance of music in high mass and church activities.
In 2016, a book was published about the poet Johannes Johansen, who is known by most for his beautiful and fine hymn lyrics – most famously “You who have lit millions of stars”. I have written one of the chapters in the book. The chapter is entitled “The unmusical poet with the musical hymns”.
The lecture is a story about the poet and his lyrics, and there will also be an opportunity to sing.
Over the past 30 years, I have written more than 200 melodies for both hymns and songs, many of which have been published in various songbooks. I am also represented in the latest high school songbook.
During the lecture, I will teach people several of my melodies, but there will also be more well-known songs on the program. I will therefore give examples of my sources of inspiration as well as my view of what a good community song melody should contain.