Reeta Hämäläinen has delighted Emil Lindholm with her style of reading sheet music.
Henri Pitkänen,
Roope Visuri
The phenomenon of this summer’s World Rally Championship in Jyväskylä can be found at a somewhat surprising address. It is by Emil Lindholm map reader Reeta Hämäläinen.
In ‘s popular rally chat and on social media, Hämäläinen’s fresh style of reading sheet music has been widely praised. Hämäläinen reads the sheet music with great emphasis on certain words.
While Lindholm and Hämäläinen are driving, the rally chat has been flooded with admiring messages.
Hämäläinen is happy when he hears that he has become the people’s favorite.
-Very cool. That’s really nice to hear. I’m just doing my job, so to speak, Hämäläinen smiles in the service park.
– Of course, I know myself that my music reading sounds a bit comical sometimes. That might affect this a bit. But nothing. Fun.
Is comical the word he uses to describe the rhythm and emphasis?
– When I’ve watched my own incar (a video from inside the car), yes, that might have been the word I used to describe it myself, Hämäläinen laughs before getting serious.
– Actually, it’s the right way for us with Emil, so that’s what we do.
See samples of Reeta Hämäläinen’s reading of the score to Emil Lindholm. The story continues after the videos.
According to Hämäläinen, reading the note depends on the driver’s wishes. He has read music differently for different people. Together with Lindholm, they have stated that the way they heard now has been good.
– I usually focus more on bad or surprising places with something a little special.
In general, Hämäläinen wants to be very clear.
– It’s not easy to hear someone else in a rally car. The car jolts and jolts, knocks a little everywhere. There is quite a bit of noise. You have to articulate in such a way that the other person also understands what is being said there. It’s not easy for yourself either. Sometimes you have to say what hurts, Hämäläinen states.
Reading sheet music is meticulous work. If you fail, the consequences can be great, especially on the fast gravel roads of Central Finland.
– It is really important that the driver understands the note. Big decisions have to be made in tenths of a second. I don’t even understand how the drivers handle it. That’s cool. Those drivers are wild, Hämäläinen marvels.
Hämäläinen has come a long way to this point. Lindholm and Hämäläinen started working together in May of last year. At the end of the season came the Finnish championship. At the Jyväskylä World Rally Championship in the fall, the duo won the WRC3 class and was the third best team among those competing with R5 cars.
Now the duo leads the championship series before the last two races. In the World Cup rallies, they have competed in the WRC2 class with a Skoda R5 car in the Toksport team.
In Estonia, it took second place in the class, and in Croatia, third place. In Finland, they are in strict competition with other Finns. Teemu Suninen and Mikko Markkula hold the top spot in the class. Lindholm and Hämäläinen are in second place when Saturday’s driving day is over.
– After all, this is amazing to be in front of the home crowd. The crowd makes this race special. Otherwise, the roads in the Jyväskylä region are wild and wild anyway. This is such a rollercoaster. You don’t need to go to Linnanmäki much, Hämäläinen says.
shows all Jyväskylä World Championship special tests live in Areena and the app. You can find everything about the World Rally Championship in Jyväskylä at EPN.fi/mmralli.