recently I bought 'Made in Cork' by Patrick Street. It contains two polka sets, and one of them (Maurice O'Keefe's/ Maurice O'Keefe's/ Sonny Rearden's) is announced as a set of 'slow polkas'.
I am puzzled a bit by this category, because the polkas are only slightly slower than the other set (crotchet = 126, compared to 144 for the other set). We discussed slow reels before, and they are - as far as I have heard them - significantly slower than 'normal' reels, more of a melodic than a dance like character. Something like this in polkatime happens with "the Britches" by Martin Hayes on his 1st recording.
So: what exactly makes the Pat Street set 'slow'? I wondered if this has anything to do with the dancers (for example a fixed sequence of dance steps to these particular tunes).
I've never heard of slow polkas.I play now and again for dancers here in Flanders and polkas are always fast.As for the sequence of steps,the polka is just a fast two step.
Henk, I haven't heard that particular "slow" set, but I can think of other examples where particularly melodic polkas have been treated as listening pieces. Cherish the Ladies does a nice job of that with Jessica's Polka and also with O'Keefe's Polka, both slowed to the point where a dancer would probably just sit down.
Slow Polkas?
Slow Polkas?
Hi all,
recently I bought 'Made in Cork' by Patrick Street. It contains two polka sets, and one of them (Maurice O'Keefe's/ Maurice O'Keefe's/ Sonny Rearden's) is announced as a set of 'slow polkas'.
I am puzzled a bit by this category, because the polkas are only slightly slower than the other set (crotchet = 126, compared to 144 for the other set). We discussed slow reels before, and they are - as far as I have heard them - significantly slower than 'normal' reels, more of a melodic than a dance like character. Something like this in polkatime happens with "the Britches" by Martin Hayes on his 1st recording.
So: what exactly makes the Pat Street set 'slow'? I wondered if this has anything to do with the dancers (for example a fixed sequence of dance steps to these particular tunes).
# Posted on January 3rd 2004 by Henk Bos
Re: Slow Polkas?
I've never heard of slow polkas.I play now and again for dancers here in Flanders and polkas are always fast.As for the sequence of steps,the polka is just a fast two step.
# Posted on March 1st 2003 by dafydd
Re: Slow Polkas?
Henk, I haven't heard that particular "slow" set, but I can think of other examples where particularly melodic polkas have been treated as listening pieces. Cherish the Ladies does a nice job of that with Jessica's Polka and also with O'Keefe's Polka, both slowed to the point where a dancer would probably just sit down.
# Posted on January 4th 2004 by Will CPT
Re: Slow Polkas?
So: would that be the case with crotchet = 126? Zina, this must be something you can judge!
# Posted on January 4th 2004 by Henk Bos
Re: Slow Polkas?
The polka as danced in England is a lot slower than in Ireland so it's unusual to find slow Irish ones.
# Posted on January 5th 2004 by Geoff Pollitt
Re: Slow Polkas?
I'm no expert but it would be hard to dance a polka (the couple dance) at the same speed as is played for a polka set.
# Posted on January 5th 2004 by Paul_draper