Our Alumnus Ville Hautakangas: You got to love Finnish composers
Studying for a Master's degree brought Hautakangas up to date about studying processes and how the institution sees pedagogy today. The decision to enrol at TAMK was ultimately sealed by the research topic.
- I had a research topic ready, which is required at the application stage. In fact, my research topic was the main incentive to go to university. I knew that if anything, it would only fasten my graduation, says Hautakangas.
The subject was Finland's oldest preserved non-church piano score from the mid-1700s.
- Older hymn arrangements exist, but this sheet music is clearly keyboard music without a song.
As a student, Hautakangas knew he had access to various databases, which was another reason to do research at university. He found the thesis writing process very rewarding because it ignited his analytical thinking.
- Now I keep getting the feeling that, hey, it would be nice to write about that too.
Hautakangas worked alongside his studies but felt that the studies were very well tailored for those, who work fulltime. By the beginning of 2022, distance learning had become commonplace at the university of applied sciences.
Hautakangas was given extra time to complete his studies, as he was also working on an album of the latest Finnish piano music, 12 Premieres. He was fortunate enough to be able to present his thesis at the History of Piano Music in Finland symposium at the Sibelius Academy in the autumn of 2023. The studies also included a lot of conducting training, which Hautakangas found interesting.
- But what I was most interested about was getting my degree upgraded to a higher university degree. Quite a few jobs require that qualification. Now I'm qualified to teach piano at a polytechnic, for example. And I can apply for a doctorate at the arts university if I want to continue my research.
Family-owned piano notes from centuries back
Hautakangas found the topic of the thesis through genealogical research.
- I received a message from my relative Juhani Helenius, who is a genealogist. He told me that a female composer Anna Catharina Öhrbom from the 1700s was a member of our family. I thought, that can’t be true. But there is indeed a music book like this in the Sibelius Museum in Turku. It gave me the impetus to find out what it was all about.
Hautakangas was particularly eager to find out whether the pieces were composed by his ancestral mother or not.
- I actually managed to find out all the secrets in that book. This was another huge stroke of luck, because Eero Nallinmaa, the former rector of the Tampere Conservatory in the 1970s, was a musicologist. He had already listed almost all the old sheet music found in Finland. He had also found some sheet music from Sweden from the same period. There was a lot of source material there that I could get hold of.
Hautakangas discovered that many of the melodies in the music book were found in violin and flute books of the same period, but not written for piano.
- The pieces were then written for piano by my ancestral mother, with chords and left-hand patterns, so they are her arrangements of pieces from that period.
The research is closely related to piano pedagogy, as the material is elementary piano material.
- The ultimate aim was to get the sheet music into music schools for children to play, as we really don't have any Finnish Baroque music published anywhere. There are 15 little pieces in the music book, which have now been transcribed.
Anna Catharina Öhrbom's father was an officer in the Swedish army who had started his military career as a trumpeter. The fact that the foremother had been involved in military music may have been the key to the musical productions. And since the officer's father held a high position in the ruling society of the time, his daughter must have had the prerequisites for playing the piano and composing.
During his research, Hautakangas found two other old music books. One is from Hamina in the 1770s, and the other from Sweden, from the late 1700s. Hautakangas now has a follow-up project for his thesis research, for which he received a grant from the Fredrik Pacius Fund of the Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland.
- The two books that have been found have the same songs and are called "pianokoulu". These and my ancestor's music book will make one music book with about 100 pieces of piano music from the Swedish-Finnish period. The sheet music will be published online for free, and a print version of the book is also planned.
Normalising the commissioning and performing of new music
In the past twenty years, only four solo pianists in Finland have been nominated for a classical Emma. Ville Hautakangas was one of them with his 12 Premieres album in February 2024, on which he performs commissioned works by 12 contemporary Finnish composers.
- I still not quite realise how big a deal it was. It was an amazing experience.
Almost all the composers on the album studied at TAMK as students of the late Jouni Kaipainen, and they have already established themselves in the Finnish composer scene. The lives of Finnish composers are close to Hautakanka's heart.
- Finnish composers and student composers must be loved and encouraged to move forward. Cooperation between composition students and music students could be developed a lot. New compositions cause a lot of activity around them! In the halls, in the audience and at concerts.
New compositions also have a novelty charm that is missing in music made in the past.
- When the composer dies, the music becomes sacred in a way, and the score remains the only source of information. Working with a living composer is quite different - the work can live, and the players have better understanding of the composer's mind.
Tampere Hall produced a series of concerts in which Hautakanka's new works were premiered to a live audience. Mr Hautakangas believes that Tampere has a very good situation in terms of cultural spaces suitable for the performance of classical music.
- In addition to Tampere Hall, we have the excellent Satamakatu Hall of TAMK Music, the Pyynikkisali Hall of the Conservatory, the G-livelab and the Laikku Music Hall in the central square, not to mention the many churches. In Helsinki, they can only dream of such venues, where free-market operators can organise concerts.
Classical music is a marginal genre at the Emma Gala. Most of the Emma Awards are based on the number of performances, but the Classical Emma winner is chosen by a jury. Hautakangas was nominated by the record company Alba Records. The process of making the album was an interesting one for the solo artist to watch.
- Of the 80 albums released in Finland, only six were selected as official Emma nominees. It's a very tight sieve. I'm happy that new piano music from Tampere made it to the centre stage.
Yle and Helsingin Sanomat wrote extensive reviews of Hautakangas’ album, and in Germany the album also received good reviews. Hautakangas urges people to take their time and listen to the album in parts. The themes of the songs are big and thought-provoking.
Hautakangas believes that all musicians should commission new works from composers all the time. He hopes that modern piano music will also gain a foothold in education. He is happy to help if, for example, TAMK needs expertise.
- I would like to help people get into the aesthetics of new music. You have to find a slightly different way of listening.
Over the years, Hautakangas has visited TAMK composition concerts to play pieces that no student has agreed to play.
- It would be really important to get acquainted with playing new music and collaborating with composers already during the student phase. I encourage everyone to take up the latest music.
Modern music is characterised by special features such as unusual playing techniques and a kind of filtering of musical notes.
- Sometimes a composer writes music that is impossible to play exactly to the note. It takes courage to jump into different ways of thinking and creativity. Working together with the composer can also help to find new solutions to the work and make the message of the music more audible to the audience.
Text: Emmi Rämö