Last week, I was involved in organising a two-day seminar for instrument makers - in collaboration with Swedish Gunnar Stenmark and Finnish Minna Hokka. We gathered participants from several places, including students from The University of Southeast Norway, Campus Rauland, to immerse ourselves in traditions, materials and practical crafts.
During the seminar, I shared the steps involved in building the bukkehorn, from selecting a horn to drilling, moulding the mouthpiece and placing the finger holes. To allow as many people as possible to experience the process in their hands, participants worked with wooden horns (wooden replicas of the bukkehorn) where they could practise the various stages of manufacture without using real horns. This provided an effective learning space where we could test, fail and succeed, without any loss of real bukkehorn.
At the same time, I got to learn new stuff myself: Gunnar Stenmark introduced us to Swedish folk flutes, with an emphasis on the Härjedal pipa, and Minna Hokka showed us the building techniques and playing traditions of Finnish shepherd instruments. It was inspiring to see how different traditions meet, and how much we have to learn from each other.
Many thanks to Sylvelin Hege Sevilhaug and Norsk Lur- og Bukkehornlag for the initiative 
Looking forward to more workshops like this in the future!
Next stop: Poland and Bankruptcy Gry na Instrumentach Pasterskich im. Kazimierza Uszyńskiego 29 November