Other popular kind of folk music is hymns, work songs, trialling vocals skillingsviser. Like the nearby countries of Sweden and Denmark, Norway too has a Nordic dance music tradition. The most distinctive instrument in Norwegian folk music is hardingfele. Bygdedans including halling, pols, springleik, rull, gangar and springar are the traditional dances of Norway. They were performed on important events such as weddings, funerals etc and were called the Courting Dances. Few dances were also brought from Europe like the fandango, reinlender, waltz polka and mazurka. Norwegian harp, bukkehorn, harpeleik, lur are a few other traditional instruments.

A movement throughout Europe, National Romanticism, affected classical musicians as well as the classical musicology. Bull was the first to present folk tunes to the public in urban areas. The urban audiences were slow in responding and understanding the traditional music. With the booming economy after the French Revolution, many foreign musicians settled in Norway and hence, contributed a lot to Norwegian music. Many female musicians were widely accepted and were paid well. Music post World War II addressed social and political concerns.

Many technological developments with a variety of electronic effects and peculiar instruments took place post World War II. By the end of the 20th century, Norwegian classical music had become very diverse, incorporating elements from throughout the country’s documented musical history, as well as modern jazz, pop and rock.