The Whistle Annex is pleased to announce its first CONTEST: in honor of the galactic proportions that oh so famous thread, the Whistle Annex is accepting submissions of Chiffboarder Original Music Compositions…
This contest is for the best original POLKA. I’ll post the submissions annonymously on the Annex site (or, in the event of a flood of submissions, perhaps Rich will post them on C&F), allow all of you to view and cast your vote, and the winning submission will have the honor of being entitled the “Its Sickening Polka”.
Just think,
One Polka To Rule Them All
Dazed
[ This Message was edited by: DazedinLA on 2002-05-14 12:58 ]
[ This Message was edited by: DazedinLA on 2002-05-14 13:01 ]
[ This Message was edited by: DazedinLA on 2002-05-14 13:01 ]
On 2002-05-15 17:28, StevePower wrote:
Why a Polka? Presumably because we’ve all been lead ‘a merry dance’!
Steve
Steve,
You’ve not been keeping up with all the current threads, shame on you! Dazed has managed to cross-reference 3 or 4 different current topics in this thread, a tapestry indeed!
I’d be proud to be in on the fun, & I’ve been known to create an original tune once in a while (well, once full stop), so I’ll have a stab at a polka over the weekend & see what I can come up with. Is there a closing date for entries?
Do we have to be able to play the thing too?
Phil - I got properly started on polkas because of a Kerryman’s Polkas (Mimi & the New Generation) which I loved! I then discovered some of the catchiest tunes I have on CD are polkas! Some still think that all polkas are of the oom-pa Bierfest variety, you need to edumakate them!
There’s no such thing as a bad Polka, they’re just misunderstood.
A few years ago I sent Bruce Springsteen a demo of a whistle tune called “chunder road polka”.Well,nothing came of it,no reply or nothing..sickening isnt it?I guess I could offer this to the whistle annex. Peace, Mike
Yes, Martin, thanks for appreciating my somewhat obtuse sense of humor.
We are prepared to be reasonable regarding the deadlines for submissions in the “It’s Sickening Polka” contest. Ideally, We would like to have at least two or three entries.
I recognize that a gifted composer may not have their chops quite up to the task of playing their own masterpiece…Im looking for a submission of the abc/sheet music, and if a composer abstains from submitting their own MP3 recording of their Grand Opus, then perhaps Michael Eskin or one of the other Worthies would assist us by sending me an MP3 of their rendition??? Nudge Nudge
Just think, you’ll be able to instantly know who really is or is not a Chiffboarder by whether they know this Polka!!
Though I have composed songs and instrumental music I am too lazy to write this polka. However i will supply musical ideas so somebody with a busier thyroid than mine can do it:
I suggest many repeated ostinato-type figures and I would say move everything up or down a half-step and repeat but then it wouldn’t be TRAD (easy on the whistle)but all with very little change, punctuated by the occasional musical obscenity.
And its going to have to be verrrrry longgggg.
i really think a very clicheed air would be better because you could write it in a way that would never end. Lots of meaningfully played pauses but for no good reason…
HAAA! I hadnt thought of that approach Weekenders…HAAA…a touch of comic brilliance, having a polka thats musical composition parallels the character of the thread that inspired it.
Does that mean that it starts out angry and forceful, with lots of dissonance and then quiets down to something like a Beethoven pastorale, and then degenerates into silly whimsical musical nonsense, endlessly repeating musical themes by other composers that were played long ago, and that when each theme has played itself out longer than it should, it slows and quiets down so it seems like the piece is going to end,…and then starts up again???
My sick sense of humor enjoys your suggestion. Ihad contemplated a truely good, traditional Polka to get a silly name, but I can be democratic.
If someone wants to be the P.D.Q. Bach of Whistlery and compose a polka in line with Weekender’s suggestion, I’ll certainly post it, and we’ll let the Masses decide which tune deserves the august title of “Its Sickening”.
This doesn’t sound quite right played through the Tune-o-tron, especially in the first 8 bars but it gives you the jist of the thing. My speakers are so pants that it’s hard to hear anyway in a busy office, but here it is for what it’s worth. Franky I’m chuffed to even have got it to play at all!
Thi is actually meant to be 3 polkas, in D, G and D again.
When my ABC skills have improved I may be able to edit it a bit better!
MCM Transatlantic Whistle Detective Agency - No Case Too Small (terms & conditions apply)- Branches in London & Salt Lake City
[ This Message was edited by: Martin Milner on 2002-05-20 13:22 ]
are your ~ rolls all the time, or just a bit of the business? Rolls on a quaver would be tricky! Not that my whistling skills are up to all the half-holeing anyway.
Any hoo, good to have some competition in ths competition! I thought it was going to be another winner by default!
Very nice Jens! But is it sickening? I have something that may be.
Years ago I and another fiddler used to play every Monday night for the dancing classes of a well-known local teacher here in Montreal. It was a good chance to play tunes together, and natter in the pauses. In the adult ceili-dancing class at the end of the night, every dance used to be preceded by long explanations. Once we got so engrossed in our conversation that we stopped paying attention to the teacher.
We were hauled out of our reverie by her exasperated voice shouting, “BOYS!!! POLKAS!” Both our minds went totally blank. Grabbing my fiddle I tried to play a polka - any polka. But I couldn’t think of one. This is exactly what came out.
X: 1
T:A silly polka
M:2/4
L:1/8
C:Steve Jones (1990?)
S:Composed spontaneously (and it shows) under duress!
R:POLKA
P:2
K:D
|: e/2 | fd ed | fd ed | fd ed | Be e>g |
fd ed | fd ed | fa ec | d2-d>
e/2 | fa af | gb bg | fd ed | fd ed |
fa af | gb bg | fd ec | dc d>e|
fa af | gb bg | fd ed | fd ed |
fd ed | fd ed | fd ec | d2-d> ||
My colleague picked up the tune in real time.
Edit: Ah. The ABC tag won’t handle two tunes in the same thread. I’ll post the music later on…
[ This Message was edited by: StevieJ on 2002-05-28 08:25 ]
Careful, there, Badge, I think there are copyright issues involved with your suggestion. That’s why I’m going for original compositions.
Wow! Three submissions! Do I have a fourth? Come on, folks…one more and we got ourselves a showdown! The current submissions are all different styles, but that’s OK, I think the chaotically democratic throng that is C&F will sort out which one they feel best deserves the title “Its Sickening”.
perhaps Rich will post them on C&F), allow all of you to view and cast your vote, and the winning submission will have the honor of being entitled the “Its Sickening Polka”.
Peace, Mike