 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: clarinets1
Date: 2005-04-07 16:56
hi all.
i have a job lined up in about two weeks to play in a polka festival. i've never done this before. i'm told it is a reading job and to bring both tenor sax and clarinet. any advice from other polksters? has anyone played in one of these things before? my plan is to listen to lots of polka and do a lot of sight reading from here to then. any other tips?
thanks,
~~JK
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2005-04-07 18:11
Be prepared to articulate through the whole gig and play as fast possible.
David Dow
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Author: GBK
Date: 2005-04-07 19:17
Be prepared for the aroma of kielbasa and sauerkraut ![[wink]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie3.gif) ...GBK
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Author: FrankM
Date: 2005-04-07 19:30
Although it's billed as a "reading" job, I would imagine you'll get a chance to blow some....polkas are sort of like Dixieland in a way, where the clarinet gets to noodle around and embellish the melody. I played many polka gigs when I first started years ago in Buffalo, NY......good fun and as GBK said...great food!
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2005-04-07 21:43
JK,
Any experienced tenor player has probably at one time or another played polkas. Lots of fun and be ready to improvise a harmony part to the melody line which is using played by the accordion. While it helps that I am part-Polish, nothing will serve you better than a good set of ears on a polka job.
Check out Oberek - Traditional Polish folk dance played in 3/8 or 3/4 time. Adopted and adapted by Polish American musicians and dancers and still popular today - another type of Polish music. You can fake it as a waltz.
See this website for some good examples of what you will need to know.
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~atpc/heritage/culture/music.html
Przyjemnego dnia
HRL
PS People at Polish gigs usually dance a lot. Be ready for a full dance floor! You'll have a lot of fun.
Post Edited (2005-04-08 12:10)
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2005-04-08 02:49
FYI, many accordions are tuned to A=444 or even higher. A "Click" barrel for the clarinet can help with intonation-they're the shortest ones I've found that fit my upper joint tenon...
Katrina
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Author: dummer musiker
Date: 2005-04-08 22:58
FrankM~ Are you from the Buffalo area?! Im about an hour away from there...just got excited to see someone post about NY.... :-P
"There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats."
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Author: FrankM
Date: 2005-04-09 02:41
I live and do most of my playing south of Rochester now, but I started with polka bands in Buffalo...about 35 years ago!!!
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Author: dummer musiker
Date: 2005-04-09 03:05
Im from South of Rochester, (Canandaigua)!! Its pretty cool to find someone from my area on here. Do you play in any local groups?!
"There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats."
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Author: Carol Dutcher
Date: 2005-04-09 04:00
I played in a polka band for a few years. Be prepared to play fast and hard. I also took my C clarinet along. It's fun but very very strenuous.
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Author: Carol Dutcher
Date: 2005-04-09 23:32
My first post got lost, but these jobs are strenuous and I took my C clarinet along because I had to read off the accordion music sometimes. Be well rested before you go, and believe me, you will fall asleep on the way home afterwards.
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Author: Guido
Date: 2005-04-10 09:24
Just to echo the remarks of others --- it's the absence of rests which fatigues. Playing polkas is highly aerobic and awesome fitness.
Akin to playing Irish jigs, reels and hornpipes, playing polkas leaves me feeling like I ran the Boston Marathon, just spent the next day.
'Funny how the rhythm guitar guy next to me seems so fresh at the night's end, at least by comparison.
Polka on!
G
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Author: clarinets1
Date: 2005-04-25 23:47
hey, i did the job. here's the update:
the charts are handwritten, so half of the time i was trying to figure out if the note was a G or an A. also, none of the changes were written in, so if one was subbing, like i was, and you didn't know the chart, you didn't know where to stop playing, where to solo, where to repeat...fortunately the trombone player next to me was kind enough to bark oders at me. it really broke me in, improvisation-wise, which is great. we did get to cut loose on a very freestyle version of "when the saints go marching in" a couple of times throughout the day. very fun. i say freestyle because there wasn't a chart for it. you just had to know it. lots of fun.
during our breaks i learned how to fox trot, and polka. wheeeee! in one of the other bands, there was a guy playing two trumpets at once, which was quite impressive.
from the other band members, i learned that not many subs are willing to play for this guy again after their first experience. perhaps I am just a glutton for punishment, because I think that i would play with the group again if asked. i only hope that I did well enough to be called back. but it was a great experience and I earned enough money to repair my flute.
auf wiedersehn!!! (sp?)
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Author: ken
Date: 2005-04-26 00:57
GBK wrote: "Be prepared for the aroma of kielbasa and sauerkraut..."
---and when a drunk polka couple brings you a free draft, toasts you and places it on stage at your feet, you'd BETTER drink it unless you want to rudely insult the audience and create an international incident! v/r Ken
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2005-04-26 01:06
ClarinetSL,
I'm glad to hear the gig went well. One thing that is important is your comment that :
"i learned that not many subs are willing to play for this guy again after their first experience. perhaps I am just a glutton for punishment, because I think that i would play with the group again if asked. i only hope that I did well enough to be called back.."
This is what it is all about. I have always been asked back, even with the most difficult leaders. As a sideman (sic), you have to be ready, adaptable, and be easy to get along with and you'll always have callbacks. Make yourself indispensable and you'll always have work.
You learned some very important lessons on your polka gig! Pretty soon, you won't even need charts (OK, "Saints" in 3 flats, 8 bar drum intro, 1, 2, 1234).
HRL
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