First, let me give my definition for what I'm on about. It's not complicated drawn out multi-part monstrosities, or trying to be exhibitionist - "See what I can do!". No, it ain't that. I mean 'PARTY' pieces, something shared for the craic, for a laugh, things to raise a smile, a bit of joy, like sparklers on Guy Fox night, maybe even some singing, even silly and fool hardy stuff, things NOT to be taken too seriously. On the contrary, I mean the kind of inclusive tunes that work against that kind of constipation, that help loosen and break up the shight of ego, tunes that can goose the starch away, that are a party....
To try to convey some idea of what I mean by example I'll give a few to start ~
BUT ~ I fully realize that others may have a completely different definition and idea of what is meant by 'party piece'... So, this is open ended, as if you lot ouldn't be tempted to light your own stick of dynamite, firecracker or fart here... But please, no tricks with condoms...
Two tunes that always (well. usually) get a laugh and/or help ease the atmosphere -- 'The Stripper' and 'Hearts and Flowers'. Just the first few bars is enough.
'...the kind of inclusive tunes that work against that kind of constipation, that help loosen and break up the shight of ego, tunes that can goose the starch away...'
A dragon has come to our village today.
We have asked him to leave, but he won't go away.
Now he's met with our king, and they've made out a deal.
No homes will he burn, and no crops will he steal.
Now there is but one catch, we dislike it a bunch,
twice a year he invites him a virgin to lunch.
We have no other choice, so the deal we'll respect.
We can't help but wonder and pause to reflect.
Do virgins taste better than those who are not?
Are they salty, or sweet, or more juicy or what?
Speaking of "Jingle Bells"
When I was seven or eight years old, my mother made the mistake of telling me about "Spoonerisms".
Next Christmas, myself and my two younger sisters tried to serenade our parents by singing:
"Bingle jells, bingle jells,
Wingle all the jay.
Oh fat whun it is ro tide in a one slorse open heigh."
Out parents were not amused by this because we made the mistake of trying to sing this too loudly while we were riding in the car on our way to visit relatives in another state for Christmas.
"Do Virgins Taste Better?" was written by Randy Farran who was originally from Parsons, Kansas and now lives somewhere in Oklahoma. I first heard Farran perform this song in Tulsa approximately thirty years ago.
Ceolachan, if you are going to mention "Irish Washerwoman", I may just have to give into temptation and re-post the two YouTube links to both versions of "Scrub Me Mama (With A Boogie Beat) by Don Raye as well as Raye's lyrics which he wrote to this tune.
I like to launch into Abba tunes on the box, basses pounding away. Don't know enough of them, but *have* got the Greatest Hits album, so all I need is to believe sufficiently that it matters, and then I'll (maybe) clean up the lot. They're very good melodeon tunes, though I'm talking specifically about D/G fingering here.
Some people think that they should play something complicated for a party piece, and sometimes something they haven't quite mastered because of its complexity. I always launch into something dead simple that I know well, with as much verve as possible, and invite people to join in. That's what a party is about!
Not JUST Gilligan's Island, but Amazing grace, sung to the tune of Gilligan's Island, while the guitar is playing Stairway to Heaven.
My husband and I launched into it as a joke at a church dinner, and the choir joined in, thinking it was some new arrangement.
You're welcome, Nicholas. Somewhere on a bookcase in our house, there is a songbook with all of ABBA's songs in it. No, I don't try to play them any longer. I just keep it around as a memento of my wild and misspent youth (before I developed good taste in music).
It's because of people like you that they put bands up on a platform so everybody can keep an eye on them.
And magicians too.
Yet somehow there is always magic.
Some I play on the pipes: La Marseillaise, Unter dem Doppeladler, the Entertainment Tonight theme, Swingtown by the Steve Miller Band. My pipemaker used to essay the Rockford Files theme. At a tionol recital I played Strauss's theme from Also Sprach Zarathustra on the regulators. Finished it off with my take on proto-humans howling. Also a few bars of Iron Man.
Been listening to a lot of jazz vocalists the last few years and might crank out Summertime or the like at the Seattle tionol next month. Maybe do a bit of warbling while I'm at it.
Iron Man? The Black Sabbath one, or the J. S. Skinner tune? (I plan to do a medley of the two, for my dinner-set gig later this month. The first tune will be ostentatious piano plus violin, the second one just solo fiddle. No, really. They let me get away with murder, at that place. Well, so far, anyway....)
Also a bit off topic, maybe--but one of the first examples of genre-bending I ever saw was a bluegrass band playing, "You Just Keep Me Hanging On." You know, a la Diana Ross, or Vanilla Fudge, take your pick. Delayed recognition, for sure.
Okay, here's the chorus: everyone on this side sings the first part of Swanee River to'la la la'.
Everyone on that side sings the first part of Dvorak's Humoresque to 'tumty tumty tum'.
-Leader sings the verse (Humoresque)
Passengers will please refrain from flushing toilets while the train is standing in the station in full view
Railway workers underneath may catch it in the eyes, or teeth
I'm sure they wouldn't like it, nor would you
chorus
Ladies wishing to pass water would you kindly call the porter
Who will place a vessel in the vestibule
We encourage constipation while the train is in the station
That has always been our golden rule
chorus
Newlyweds within the carriage please don't consummate your marriage while the train is standing here at Crewe
Please refrain from natural function till we get to Clapham Junction where there's really sod all else to do
Back to the definition........sometimes I think a part piece is a tune that impresses people unfamiliar with the music. Something that sounds impressive to the initiated, but not necessarily hard to play. Or have I got it wrong?
A party piece is one of they pieces cut across the diagonal and the crust sliced off. Not to be confused with a funcie piece, which you'll find in a pâtisserie.
"Back to the definition........sometimes I think a part piece is a tune that impresses people unfamiliar with the music. Something that sounds impressive to the initiated, but not necessarily hard to play. Or have I got it wrong?"
I always thought of a party piece as the one that is pretty much guaranteed to crack. Difficulty doesn't influence how fun a piece is to play, good writing and playing does.
But, I can say that pieces that are "comfortable" to play are a bit more fun. e.g The Graf Spey is a great tune, but I don't enjoy playing it because it's in C, a key that i'm not well practiced in, and it's very uncomfortable to play. But The Foxhunter's, even though it's not much easier, it's a lot more fun because it's more comfortable to play, and I sound better playing it.
In a group setting, the party piece would be the one that everyone knows and enjoys. It's likely in a comfy key(or range, in terms of singing), and it's just a down-right AWESOME tune ;)
At a party we were goofing around and a guitarplayer started playing "Take Five" and I started playing "The Butterfly" with him. Took me until later to realise I was playing The Butterfly in 15/8 to make it match, but it matches great, the chords fit perfectly (just use the first two parts).
A real "party piece", a thing made up on the fly at a party!
(Can be written in 15/8 but actually it's just taking one beat out of every other bar, in other words a 9/8 bar plus a 6/8 bar in each phrase, equalling five beats to match Take Five.)
A friend years ago used to play Somewhere Over The Rainbow as a Sean Nos Air, was lovely.
That would be the Sabbath Iron Man, John, although I'm a big fan of the Strathspey King, too.
Well, I look up "party piece" and urbandictionary.com says it's "Some exhibition of talent specifically used to entertain at gatherings. Often some goofy impersonation or a strange talent, but may be as broad as a favorite song or poem." I've a couple of recordings of Seamus Ennis singing what he describes as a favourite party piece of a Scotsman, Frank Steele, which only takes maybe 30 seconds to get through; it ends thus: "Tobacco pipes, tobacco pipes, tobacco pipes and porter; you'll maybe sing a longer song but I'm damned if you'll sing one shorter." Can't fish out the lyrics at the moment, though. The, uh, other line. Come on, brain! ;-0
Searching for info on "party piece" also brings up an article on a Mozart composition, "Leck mich im Arsch." Yes, that means what you think it does. Props to the Wolfgangster! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leck_mich_im_Arsch
Now see what you started Ceolachan. Are you ashamed or proud of this "thing"?
Wyogal, were you and your husband playing and singing Amazing Grace/Gilligan's Island/Stairway To Heaven in the same key or different keys?
Was listening to A Prairie Home Companion about 2 years ago when they snag the "Irish Blues" - lyrics to The Irish Washerwoman - which I introduced to a session I attend. We sing it regularly.
Chorus (B part):
And, last night we really got going
and last night the Guiness was flowing
The singing, the dancing, I couldn't refuse
I woke up today with the Irish Blues
Speaking of the Cunninghams, in one of their high-powered sets, they drop in a slowed-down "Do You Want To Know A Secret" by the Beatles, whom they accuse of having stolen the melody from the trad repertoire.
I think "If I Only Had A Brain" from The Wizard of OZ would make a good reel.
"A Louie Lou-aye - na-na-na-naaa" ~ with stepping and finger snaps...
The bad habit I've had of singing "Clementine" to the hymn "Cwm Rhondda", which used to wind up my mother in law, a native Welsh speaker who had a passion for church and hymns, old Westerns and snooker. I tried to explain to her that I did it for her sake, combining several of her passions together. Maybe I should have sung it in Welsh?
I too enjoyed the spoonerism tale... Oh to have been there, and for Wyogal & hubby's take on a similar meld.
Do it Kevin, I only wish we could be there for it...
A bluegrass "You Just Keep Me Hanging On" ~
" ~ a part piece is a tune that impresses people unfamiliar with the music." - minijackpot
Or ~ giving them something familiar but couched within tradition, surprising them rather than stupifying them?
"pieces that are "comfortable" to play are a bit more fun." ~ fiddlelearner ~ YES! FUN! What we want a party for, and it's that which crosses the barrier between differences and draws people in to the craic, makes them smile.
"A real "party piece", a thing made up on the fly at a party!" ~ Richard D Cook ~ Yeah, that too...
Me too Al...
Come on Whistlestop, there must be more lyrics to that?
I've been known to play "If I Only Had a Brain" as a barndance...
Don't laugh, because I'm sure some of you have struggled with this one, but it is, in my mind, a 'party piece', a joy to play, and a joy I've seen returned from people I've taught it too ~ "The Banks" ~ & in Eb of course ~ http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/922
I raises the jolly, even when it goes awry...
Silver, take my word for it, it makes more sense as a barndance.
Occasionally, just for effect, I'll start Carolans Concerto (on fiddle) using the Dmaj fingering but up by a whole tone - truly bewildering for the listeners until they realise 'that can't be right'? I haven't managed to get much further than about six or seven bars before being told to 'pack it in' (in the nicest way of course ) or cracking up myself.
There's a whole vast multitude of "new" tunes out there obtained by taking existing ones and changing key/fingering. Most of the results are truly diabolical on the ears, of course. Well, unless you're into the...is the Locrian mode the one that begins on F#? You know, the one you play while soaking the naked virgin in goat's blood or whatever.
Once I tried to learn the Washerwoman by playing a rendition of it backwards. Didn't really happen.
A rather innocent piper at a local session used to regale the other attendees with verrrrrrry long bits of slow air or strings of reels no one had ever heard of before, played at a brisk clip he wasn't up to, technically. When finally done he always seemed to be exhausted, too...then the box player running the show would fire up "If I Only Had A Brain." ;) Can't beat a non-verbal slag like that. Piper remained innocent, too, although last time I heard him he'd thankfully slowed down, at least.
I would play "If I Only Had A Brain" for a certain sister-in-law but I don't think she would understand the joke. Her sense of humor is urgently in need of repair.
:I woke up this morning and got out of bed
My face was all ruddy,my hair was all red
I looked in the mirror and thought I was dead
I woke up today with the Irish Blues
I'm a grown man and just like my daddy
I like to go out on the Feast of St. Paddy
and take on the ways of the much younger laddie
I woke up today with the Irish Blues
My brother's a priest and my sister's a nun
And my wife is against any measure of fun
So I go out myself and I get the job done
I woke up today with the Irish Blues
I get up early 'cause mass is at 7
and there I find Seamus and Michael and Kevin
We're all trying to get our sad souls into heaven
I woke up today with the Irish Blues
Les Dawson said it ceol.. where would we be without good music!
Coincidentally watched a documentary about him recently, a gentleman and a very funny comedian!
'Party' pieces ;-)
'Party' pieces
This started life in a discussion recently:
Discussion: Fiddle Skills
# Posted on January 19th 2012 by DavidEd
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/29179
First, let me give my definition for what I'm on about. It's not complicated drawn out multi-part monstrosities, or trying to be exhibitionist - "See what I can do!". No, it ain't that. I mean 'PARTY' pieces, something shared for the craic, for a laugh, things to raise a smile, a bit of joy, like sparklers on Guy Fox night, maybe even some singing, even silly and fool hardy stuff, things NOT to be taken too seriously. On the contrary, I mean the kind of inclusive tunes that work against that kind of constipation, that help loosen and break up the shight of ego, tunes that can goose the starch away, that are a party....
To try to convey some idea of what I mean by example I'll give a few to start ~
"The Dingle Regatta"
Submitted on May 21st 2001 by Jeremy.
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/23
"Irish Washerwoman"
Submitted on May 25th 2001 by Jeremy.
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/92
"Jingle Bells"
Submitted on December 23rd 2011 by ceolachan.
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/11656
BUT ~ I fully realize that others may have a completely different definition and idea of what is meant by 'party piece'... So, this is open ended, as if you lot ouldn't be tempted to light your own stick of dynamite, firecracker or fart here... But please, no tricks with condoms...
# Posted on January 21st 2012 by ceolachan
Re: 'Party' pieces
"I Wish I Had a Kerry Cow"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlejWgiPlqA
# Posted on January 21st 2012 by ain't fluffed
Re: 'Party' pieces
What's with the alternative titles for the Irish Washerwoman?!?!/!
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by SmashTheWindows
"Irish Washerwoman"
I'm surprised at the paucity, there are a lot of lyrics, comic, rude and otherwise, that have been attached to that melody...
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by ceolachan
Re: 'Party' pieces
The Birdie Dance is always good for breaking the ice at parties.
And the theme from Monty Python: http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/2767
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by skreech
"Irish Washerwoman"
http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/IP_IZ.htm#IRISH_WASHERWOMAN
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by ceolachan
Re: 'Party' pieces
Monty Python songs!
Iwas fearing someone might mention the "B****e Song/Dance".
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by ceolachan
Re: 'Party' pieces
Two tunes that always (well. usually) get a laugh and/or help ease the atmosphere -- 'The Stripper' and 'Hearts and Flowers'. Just the first few bars is enough.
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by gam
Re: 'Party' pieces
A certain famous piper used to break out with the theme from "Star Wars", and that was a hoot...
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by ceolachan
Re: 'Party' pieces
Ceolachan, have you ever tried to play the theme from Star Wars as a waltz in 3/4 time? I did that in public and I am still alive to talk about it.
Laurence
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by fauxcelt
Re: 'Party' pieces
'...the kind of inclusive tunes that work against that kind of constipation, that help loosen and break up the shight of ego, tunes that can goose the starch away...'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uub0z8wJfhU
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by Dragut Reis
Re: 'Party' pieces
A dragon has come to our village today.
We have asked him to leave, but he won't go away.
Now he's met with our king, and they've made out a deal.
No homes will he burn, and no crops will he steal.
Now there is but one catch, we dislike it a bunch,
twice a year he invites him a virgin to lunch.
We have no other choice, so the deal we'll respect.
We can't help but wonder and pause to reflect.
Do virgins taste better than those who are not?
Are they salty, or sweet, or more juicy or what?
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by ain't fluffed
Re: 'Party' pieces
Speaking of "Jingle Bells"
When I was seven or eight years old, my mother made the mistake of telling me about "Spoonerisms".
Next Christmas, myself and my two younger sisters tried to serenade our parents by singing:
"Bingle jells, bingle jells,
Wingle all the jay.
Oh fat whun it is ro tide in a one slorse open heigh."
Out parents were not amused by this because we made the mistake of trying to sing this too loudly while we were riding in the car on our way to visit relatives in another state for Christmas.
Laurence
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by fauxcelt
Re: 'Party' pieces
Lukáš Kmiť ~ my hero!
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by ceolachan
Re: 'Party' pieces
"Do Virgins Taste Better?" was written by Randy Farran who was originally from Parsons, Kansas and now lives somewhere in Oklahoma. I first heard Farran perform this song in Tulsa approximately thirty years ago.
Laurence
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by fauxcelt
Re: 'Party' pieces
Ceolachan, if you are going to mention "Irish Washerwoman", I may just have to give into temptation and re-post the two YouTube links to both versions of "Scrub Me Mama (With A Boogie Beat) by Don Raye as well as Raye's lyrics which he wrote to this tune.
Laurence
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by fauxcelt
Re: 'Party' pieces
Yes, Lukas Kmit is a very "Force"ful person, isn't he?
Laurence
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by fauxcelt
Re: 'Party' pieces
I like the Spoonerisms story, Laurence!
I like to launch into Abba tunes on the box, basses pounding away. Don't know enough of them, but *have* got the Greatest Hits album, so all I need is to believe sufficiently that it matters, and then I'll (maybe) clean up the lot. They're very good melodeon tunes, though I'm talking specifically about D/G fingering here.
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by nicholas
Re: 'Party' pieces
It's not a party until someone's *down* on the dance floor;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3U4kDzwZAMk
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by ain't fluffed
Re: 'Party' pieces
A mate of mine sings 'Mama Mia' in 5/4, and it's actually bloody good...
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by Dragut Reis
Re: 'Party' pieces
El Choclo!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAF_cVOdkEA
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by Boots MacAllen
Re: 'Party' pieces
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Vae_AkLb4Q
Never fails.
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by John Galt
Re: 'Party' pieces
Sharon Shannon & Imelda May ~ New Years Eve '09
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHvMGpk2vMk
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by ain't fluffed
Re: 'Party' pieces
Anybody remember the theme song for Leave it to Beaver?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMAi6JwxlGo
Its a pretty good jig and gets people's attention - especially at a dance.
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by John Culhane
Re: 'Party' pieces
Oh, that's one for sure! Of course there's also Gilligan's Isle.
What next, Hawaii Five-O?
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by ain't fluffed
The theme song from "Mr. Ed"...
Thanks all...
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by ceolachan
Re: 'Party' pieces
Some people think that they should play something complicated for a party piece, and sometimes something they haven't quite mastered because of its complexity. I always launch into something dead simple that I know well, with as much verve as possible, and invite people to join in. That's what a party is about!
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by AlBrown
Re: 'Party' pieces
Not JUST Gilligan's Island, but Amazing grace, sung to the tune of Gilligan's Island, while the guitar is playing Stairway to Heaven.
My husband and I launched into it as a joke at a church dinner, and the choir joined in, thinking it was some new arrangement.
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by Wyogal
Re: 'Party' pieces
You're welcome, Nicholas. Somewhere on a bookcase in our house, there is a songbook with all of ABBA's songs in it. No, I don't try to play them any longer. I just keep it around as a memento of my wild and misspent youth (before I developed good taste in music).
Laurence
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by fauxcelt
Re: 'Party' pieces
Holy Frak, Wyogal! Best 'party' piece ever.
Cheers!
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by ain't fluffed
Re: 'Party' pieces
Thank-you. It was surreal. No one caught on. Which made it even better. Not sure how my husband and I got through it without laughing.
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by Wyogal
Re: 'Party' pieces
It's because of people like you that they put bands up on a platform so everybody can keep an eye on them.
And magicians too.
Yet somehow there is always magic.
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by MorganYYZ
Re: 'Party' pieces
Some I play on the pipes: La Marseillaise, Unter dem Doppeladler, the Entertainment Tonight theme, Swingtown by the Steve Miller Band. My pipemaker used to essay the Rockford Files theme. At a tionol recital I played Strauss's theme from Also Sprach Zarathustra on the regulators. Finished it off with my take on proto-humans howling. Also a few bars of Iron Man.
Been listening to a lot of jazz vocalists the last few years and might crank out Summertime or the like at the Seattle tionol next month. Maybe do a bit of warbling while I'm at it.
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by Kevin Rietmann
Re: 'Party' pieces
Iron Man? The Black Sabbath one, or the J. S. Skinner tune? (I plan to do a medley of the two, for my dinner-set gig later this month. The first tune will be ostentatious piano plus violin, the second one just solo fiddle. No, really. They let me get away with murder, at that place. Well, so far, anyway....)
Also a bit off topic, maybe--but one of the first examples of genre-bending I ever saw was a bluegrass band playing, "You Just Keep Me Hanging On." You know, a la Diana Ross, or Vanilla Fudge, take your pick. Delayed recognition, for sure.
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by John Galt
Re: 'Party' pieces
Okay, here's the chorus: everyone on this side sings the first part of Swanee River to'la la la'.
Everyone on that side sings the first part of Dvorak's Humoresque to 'tumty tumty tum'.
-Leader sings the verse (Humoresque)
Passengers will please refrain from flushing toilets while the train is standing in the station in full view
Railway workers underneath may catch it in the eyes, or teeth
I'm sure they wouldn't like it, nor would you
chorus
Ladies wishing to pass water would you kindly call the porter
Who will place a vessel in the vestibule
We encourage constipation while the train is in the station
That has always been our golden rule
chorus
Newlyweds within the carriage please don't consummate your marriage while the train is standing here at Crewe
Please refrain from natural function till we get to Clapham Junction where there's really sod all else to do
chorus
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by oldstrings
Re: 'Party' pieces
Back to the definition........sometimes I think a part piece is a tune that impresses people unfamiliar with the music. Something that sounds impressive to the initiated, but not necessarily hard to play. Or have I got it wrong?
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by minijackpot
Re: 'Party' pieces
A party piece is one of they pieces cut across the diagonal and the crust sliced off. Not to be confused with a funcie piece, which you'll find in a pâtisserie.
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by Weejie
Re: 'Party' pieces
"Back to the definition........sometimes I think a part piece is a tune that impresses people unfamiliar with the music. Something that sounds impressive to the initiated, but not necessarily hard to play. Or have I got it wrong?"
I always thought of a party piece as the one that is pretty much guaranteed to crack. Difficulty doesn't influence how fun a piece is to play, good writing and playing does.
But, I can say that pieces that are "comfortable" to play are a bit more fun. e.g The Graf Spey is a great tune, but I don't enjoy playing it because it's in C, a key that i'm not well practiced in, and it's very uncomfortable to play. But The Foxhunter's, even though it's not much easier, it's a lot more fun because it's more comfortable to play, and I sound better playing it.
In a group setting, the party piece would be the one that everyone knows and enjoys. It's likely in a comfy key(or range, in terms of singing), and it's just a down-right AWESOME tune ;)
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by fiddlelearner
Re: 'Party' pieces
The theme from Match of the Day. Two other theme tunes, putting on my harmonica hat: Dixon of Dock Green and Last of the Summer Wine.
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by Steve Shaw
Re: 'Party' pieces
At a party we were goofing around and a guitarplayer started playing "Take Five" and I started playing "The Butterfly" with him. Took me until later to realise I was playing The Butterfly in 15/8 to make it match, but it matches great, the chords fit perfectly (just use the first two parts).
A real "party piece", a thing made up on the fly at a party!
(Can be written in 15/8 but actually it's just taking one beat out of every other bar, in other words a 9/8 bar plus a 6/8 bar in each phrase, equalling five beats to match Take Five.)
A friend years ago used to play Somewhere Over The Rainbow as a Sean Nos Air, was lovely.
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by Richard D Cook
Re: 'Party' pieces
That would be the Sabbath Iron Man, John, although I'm a big fan of the Strathspey King, too.
Well, I look up "party piece" and urbandictionary.com says it's "Some exhibition of talent specifically used to entertain at gatherings. Often some goofy impersonation or a strange talent, but may be as broad as a favorite song or poem." I've a couple of recordings of Seamus Ennis singing what he describes as a favourite party piece of a Scotsman, Frank Steele, which only takes maybe 30 seconds to get through; it ends thus: "Tobacco pipes, tobacco pipes, tobacco pipes and porter; you'll maybe sing a longer song but I'm damned if you'll sing one shorter." Can't fish out the lyrics at the moment, though. The, uh, other line. Come on, brain! ;-0
Searching for info on "party piece" also brings up an article on a Mozart composition, "Leck mich im Arsch." Yes, that means what you think it does. Props to the Wolfgangster! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leck_mich_im_Arsch
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by Kevin Rietmann
Re: 'Party' pieces
Johnny Cunningham frequently played Somewhere Over the Rainbow. I wish he still did.
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by AlBrown
Re: 'Party' pieces
Now see what you started Ceolachan. Are you ashamed or proud of this "thing"?
Wyogal, were you and your husband playing and singing Amazing Grace/Gilligan's Island/Stairway To Heaven in the same key or different keys?
Laurence
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by fauxcelt
Re: 'Party' pieces
Was listening to A Prairie Home Companion about 2 years ago when they snag the "Irish Blues" - lyrics to The Irish Washerwoman - which I introduced to a session I attend. We sing it regularly.
Chorus (B part):
And, last night we really got going
and last night the Guiness was flowing
The singing, the dancing, I couldn't refuse
I woke up today with the Irish Blues
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by Whistlestop
Re: 'Party' pieces
Speaking of the Cunninghams, in one of their high-powered sets, they drop in a slowed-down "Do You Want To Know A Secret" by the Beatles, whom they accuse of having stolen the melody from the trad repertoire.
I think "If I Only Had A Brain" from The Wizard of OZ would make a good reel.
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by Ailin
Re: 'Party' pieces
...""Do You Want To Know A Secret" by the Beatles, whom they accuse of having stolen the melody from the trad repertoire."
Does the trad version include the whoa-o-whoa bit?
And - -does Norwegian Wood owe anything to The Cliffs of Moher?
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by oldstrings
Re: 'Party' pieces
"I think "If I Only Had A Brain" from The Wizard of OZ would make a good reel."
Welcome to my world. I should work it out -- it could be my theme tune.
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by DrSilverSpear
Re: 'Party' pieces
"A Louie Lou-aye - na-na-na-naaa" ~ with stepping and finger snaps...
The bad habit I've had of singing "Clementine" to the hymn "Cwm Rhondda", which used to wind up my mother in law, a native Welsh speaker who had a passion for church and hymns, old Westerns and snooker. I tried to explain to her that I did it for her sake, combining several of her passions together. Maybe I should have sung it in Welsh?
I too enjoyed the spoonerism tale... Oh to have been there, and for Wyogal & hubby's take on a similar meld.
Do it Kevin, I only wish we could be there for it...
A bluegrass "You Just Keep Me Hanging On" ~
" ~ a part piece is a tune that impresses people unfamiliar with the music." - minijackpot
Or ~ giving them something familiar but couched within tradition, surprising them rather than stupifying them?
"pieces that are "comfortable" to play are a bit more fun." ~ fiddlelearner ~ YES! FUN! What we want a party for, and it's that which crosses the barrier between differences and draws people in to the craic, makes them smile.
"A real "party piece", a thing made up on the fly at a party!" ~ Richard D Cook ~ Yeah, that too...
Me too Al...
Come on Whistlestop, there must be more lyrics to that?
I've been known to play "If I Only Had a Brain" as a barndance...
Don't laugh, because I'm sure some of you have struggled with this one, but it is, in my mind, a 'party piece', a joy to play, and a joy I've seen returned from people I've taught it too ~ "The Banks" ~ & in Eb of course ~
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/922
I raises the jolly, even when it goes awry...
Silver, take my word for it, it makes more sense as a barndance.
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by ceolachan
Where'd that 't' go ~ "It raises the jolly, even when it goes awry..." And that includes "If I Only Had a Brain" too...
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by ceolachan
Re: 'Party' pieces
Another swung chuckle ~
"Madra Mor Madra Beag"
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/3405
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by ceolachan
Re: 'Party' pieces
Occasionally, just for effect, I'll start Carolans Concerto (on fiddle) using the Dmaj fingering but up by a whole tone - truly bewildering for the listeners until they realise 'that can't be right'? I haven't managed to get much further than about six or seven bars before being told to 'pack it in' (in the nicest way of course
) or cracking up myself.
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by john knoss
Re: 'Party' pieces
I forgot to add, the open E and A strings are played as normal...
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by john knoss
Re: 'Party' pieces
There's a whole vast multitude of "new" tunes out there obtained by taking existing ones and changing key/fingering. Most of the results are truly diabolical on the ears, of course. Well, unless you're into the...is the Locrian mode the one that begins on F#? You know, the one you play while soaking the naked virgin in goat's blood or whatever.
Once I tried to learn the Washerwoman by playing a rendition of it backwards. Didn't really happen.
A rather innocent piper at a local session used to regale the other attendees with verrrrrrry long bits of slow air or strings of reels no one had ever heard of before, played at a brisk clip he wasn't up to, technically. When finally done he always seemed to be exhausted, too...then the box player running the show would fire up "If I Only Had A Brain." ;) Can't beat a non-verbal slag like that. Piper remained innocent, too, although last time I heard him he'd thankfully slowed down, at least.
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by Kevin Rietmann
Re: 'Party' pieces
I would play "If I Only Had A Brain" for a certain sister-in-law but I don't think she would understand the joke. Her sense of humor is urgently in need of repair.
Laurence
# Posted on January 22nd 2012 by fauxcelt
Re: 'Party' pieces
Oh, well, who can leave out the Danse du Canard? (dodges the bullets as they fly at me....)
# Posted on January 23rd 2012 by vonnieestes
Re: 'Party' pieces
Interesting how few trad pieces have been mentioned. Doesn't anyone but me play them for fun?
# Posted on January 23rd 2012 by Ebor_fiddler
Re: 'Party' pieces
Well? What party pieces does your session have to add to the list?
# Posted on January 23rd 2012 by ain't fluffed
Re: 'Party' pieces
Go on Ebor, up the ante!
# Posted on January 23rd 2012 by ceolachan
Re: 'Party' pieces
Ceolachan:
Verses are
:I woke up this morning and got out of bed
My face was all ruddy,my hair was all red
I looked in the mirror and thought I was dead
I woke up today with the Irish Blues
I'm a grown man and just like my daddy
I like to go out on the Feast of St. Paddy
and take on the ways of the much younger laddie
I woke up today with the Irish Blues
My brother's a priest and my sister's a nun
And my wife is against any measure of fun
So I go out myself and I get the job done
I woke up today with the Irish Blues
I get up early 'cause mass is at 7
and there I find Seamus and Michael and Kevin
We're all trying to get our sad souls into heaven
I woke up today with the Irish Blues
# Posted on January 23rd 2012 by Whistlestop
Re: 'Party' pieces
Any handy reel, but changed into the myxamitosian mode...
# Posted on January 23rd 2012 by banjoburger
Re: 'Party' pieces
Definitely green beer lyrics Whistlestop...
Yes banjo burger, making a good tune mixed meter and oddly keyed, like some of those mad piano pieces the comics used to play...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GazlqD4mLvw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nNGlaiVypU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8e1zWT9R1Y
# Posted on January 23rd 2012 by ceolachan
Re: 'Party' pieces
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlBiLNN1NhQ
Pleasant dreams!
# Posted on January 23rd 2012 by ceolachan
Re: 'Party' pieces
Les Dawson said it ceol.. where would we be without good music!
Coincidentally watched a documentary about him recently, a gentleman and a very funny comedian!
# Posted on January 23rd 2012 by banjoburger
Re: 'Party' pieces
Oh I forgot "The Bulgarian Washerwoman" I made up recently, The Irish Washerwoman played in 7/8.
# Posted on January 23rd 2012 by Richard D Cook
Re: 'Party' pieces
'Party Pieces' are best shared. You'd want to pull the 7/8 off with others and that would really confuse people...
# Posted on January 23rd 2012 by ceolachan
Re: 'Party' pieces
Vonnieestes, if you play that particular dance, I thought you were supposed to fly low enough so you can "duck" under the bullets?
Laurence
P.S. Yes I know that it is unfair to post such a "fowl" joke.
# Posted on January 23rd 2012 by fauxcelt
Re: 'Party' pieces
Laurence - ugh..solo they can't hear it....
# Posted on January 23rd 2012 by vonnieestes
Re: 'Party' pieces
As low as a bass?
Laurence
# Posted on January 23rd 2012 by fauxcelt
Re: 'Party' pieces
You guys quack me up...
# Posted on January 23rd 2012 by ceolachan
Re: 'Party' pieces
Ceolachan, don't you know how to "duck" out of the way of the bad jokes by now? Or are you unable or unwilling to stoop that low?
Laurence
# Posted on January 24th 2012 by fauxcelt
Re: 'Party' pieces
Age is catching up with me, I can't quite do the limbo as well as I once did, and beat a woman that was just under 5'...
# Posted on January 24th 2012 by ceolachan
Re: 'Party' pieces
I know the feeling Ceolachan. Age is catching up with me also. I am no longer "limbo" enough to do the limbo any longer.
Laurence
# Posted on January 25th 2012 by fauxcelt
Re: 'Party' pieces
I'll raise the bar for you...and me too...
# Posted on January 28th 2012 by ceolachan
Re: 'Party' pieces
Don't raise the bar too high or I will no longer be able to reach my beer.
Laurence
# Posted on January 29th 2012 by fauxcelt
Re: 'Party' pieces
My wife, who is almost one foot shorter than me, won't be able to reach her drink either.
Laurence
# Posted on January 29th 2012 by fauxcelt
Re: 'Party' pieces
Mine too, who constantly complains about the kitchen and things 'out of reach'...
# Posted on January 29th 2012 by ceolachan