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The Sue polka (played straight)
This is in contrast to the other recording. This is what people heard rather than what Farland intended.
Views: 192
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Comment by IAN SALTER on Saturday
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Please can you explain what you mean?
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I am also unsure what this and the previous recording are about. If Farland didn't intend for it to be played like a polka (which refers to a particular combination of form, meter, and tempo), then he wouldn't have called it a polka. If you prefer to play it in a non-polka-ish way, that's totally fine. But the composer's intent is very clear.
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- Basically Farland was a romantic dressed up like a standard American banjoist. You can tell by the way he writes for the banjo rests, no tempo markings, fermatas at the end of every section. Think Chopin rather than Converse.
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Comment by Joel Hooks on Saturday
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1. There seems to be a misunderstanding of 19th century notation. It was common to use the fermata symbol in the place of fine. So with Farland’s tutor. And pretty much anytime you see this on the double bar of the first part with D.C. then it means Fine.
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Comment by Jody Stecher on Saturday
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I am dubious about your claim(s). Perhaps you have a genuine insight into Farland's musicality. It would further your cause if you presented your ideas in compete sentences and offered corroborating evidence that support your clearly stated ideas. What you have offered as "evidence" (of something) is problematic.
Sue Polka appears on page 8 in Farland's A tuning tutor National School for the Banjo. It has a fermata at the end of one section. Other pieces in the book have one fermata. Most have none. Not one piece of music in the book has a fermata at the end of every section. Claiming that all sections end with this symbol when they do not does not inspire confidence in your thesis. And where they do appear context and history suggest that a pause or prolongation may not be what is meant.
Most of the many hundreds of sheets of printed banjo music from Farland's period that I have seen also lack tempo markings. Just as this does not indicate that any of the composers or arrangers were crypto romantics, the absence of such markings in Sue Polka etc does not indicate that Farland had Chopinic intentions. Joe Morley's "Donkey Laugh" also has no tempo markings. It has rests. It's supposed to be a comic piece. It would be a lot funnier if played as if composed by Chopin.
Romantic composers in the USA before, during, and after Farland's time were not a persecuted minority so why would Farland disguise his intentions and musical identity?
The notion of hiding a European aesthetic in an American form does not make sense because the polka as music and the polka as dance are both European.
In the two videos you are not playing what is on the page. You are adding and subtracting and substituting. I don't know if this is deliberate or not but this banjo playing does not support your thesis. I also think in the polka-as-polka video you are putting the ack SENTS on the wrong sy LAB bill and thereby misrepresenting the literal interpretation.
I don't know what you mean by "the way he writes for the banjo rests". There are rests where they are for the purpose of indicating how this polka is supposed to go. You are playing the first two notes of measures 1, 3, and 5 as if they were pickups to the down beat of the third note. As in the William Tell overture. The old radio (and then TV) show The Lone Ranger used this rhythmic theme. An old joke explains it well.
Q: Where does the Lone Ranger take his garbage? .
A: To the dump, to the dump, to the dump dump dump
You are playing "to the DUMP" rather than "TO the dump". The latter makes more musical sense to me because of where the melody is placed within the bar lines. There *are* polkas that place the accent where you do. The Clarinet Polka (which makes a fabulous banjo tune) does that but the first 2 notes are placed to the left of the bar line.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Uu78sJaiYQ&list=RD8Uu78sJaiYQ&...
As for hidden melodies and alto/tenor duets and the first etude and Annie Laurie, I don't agree or disagree because I don't know what you mean.
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The “tempo” is in the title… “polka”.
There were often no tempo markings because if you were alive when this stuff was published you would already have a good idea of the tempo that goes with the type of piece.
My unsolicited advice, keep working with a metronome. Your timing is improving but you have a long way to go. Count out loud if you need to. Reread what Farland wrote about practicing. Then read it again. If you are gong to follow Farland than take what he writes to heart… a piece is not ready until you can play it perfectly 6 times in a row. “Perfectly” means perfectly in time too.
Spend some time on clarity and tone. You are using a lot of “hooked tone” playing which causes fret slap. The theory of plucking harder for louder has limits and once fret slap is involved it the volume return is diminished greatly. It should be avoided at all times unless being used for a specific special effect.
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Sometimes it helps to read the instruction part of the instruction book:
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I'll give you a few reasons why I think Farland is a closeted romantic:
1.) he transcribed a bunch of romantic music
2.) hated minstrelsy
3.) advocated for respect for a mocked instrument
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He also saw a great artistry in banjo playing.
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