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I got asked to play a polka gig on Wednesday for a county fair. I've never played much polka beyond "In Heaven there is no Beer" at a wedding this past May. Any helpful tips/suggestions would be great. The guy said they do it all by ear, mostly in the keys of Bb and Eb. Most polkas use just I, IV, and V chords correct? Thanks!

Go onto YouTube and listen to the Six Fat Dutchmen.

Well, mostly I IV V yes, but certainly not exclusively.

You know how to play bass lines, you do it in Sousa marches all the time, right? It would help if you had at least a leadsheet, but that doesn't sound
possible.

Listen, listen, listen. If there are other horns, keys will probably be flat oriented. If it's just an accordion, or accordion and guitar, look out for sharps.

Keep the time, that's the most important thing. If you are lost as far as changes, simply keep the time and try to make some sounds that are indeterminate. It works.

And, buy the band a beer, no one will notice or care. The audience won't have a clue unless you get off the time.

steve

When I play with a local Swabian polka band I WATCH the accordion player as much as I listen - when I see the fingers move to the next chord button row I am ready for the key change, and when they go back to the first row, I am ready to end the song at the end of the chorus! I have played dozens of polkas I have never heard in my lifetime using this method.

Not sure how true that is for other polka styles...

All diatonic chords are possible, including secondary dominants, although I, IV & V are main chords. Phrases are not always a multiple of four measures. The "road maps" sometimes have skips, cuts, and obscure repeats, D.C. or D.S. markings.

Make sure you are on "one" (the "oom" of "oom-pah") of the beat solidly, and to a lesser extent, "three." Rarely, if ever, will there be any syncopation. Sometimes you will have pickups or passing tones as in V vi vii or such back to I into a repeated strain or key change/modulation, or, say, I ii iii going to the IV chord. Watch for when you have figures with the rest of the lower brass, but you won't necessarily have countermelodies as in typical marches.

Key changes are common, but mostly add a flat or a sharp either way, sometimes two; again, this is different from a typical march that adds a flat at the trio.

Remember this is first and foremost dancing/party/drinking music. Have fun!!!

Thanks for all the comments and tips. They have been very informative and are most appreciated! I'll let you know how it goes...

Polkas are fun, have some fun. If I had the same task as you described, I would start doing a lot of my practicing with whatever recordings I had available, polka or not. You will be surprised at the improvement in your ear. A very short note is only a wrong note for a very short time.

I just found out the instrumentation: a drummer, a tuba and ten accordians. Kinda sounds like it could be the opening line of a joke....

Tubajug wrote:I just found out the instrumentation: a drummer, a tuba and ten accordians. Kinda sounds like it could be the opening line of a joke....

WHAT! Only one musician?

Well, the gig is over and I had a lot of fun! It was two hours, so the first hour I played it "safe" and played mostly just the diatonic stuff and basic rhythms. The other folks all said I did a good job and the leader told me I could have more fun and and go a little more "crazy" during the second half.

I like to think I did a good job of following the changes and things by ear (although they made it pretty easy, 95% started in Bb and changed to Eb part way through, the other 5% started in Eb and changed to Ab). I had more fun in the second half adding more runs, passing tones, etc. while playing. Overall, it was a lot fun and I'd say pretty successful for my first polka gig.

They said they'd call me back if they needed a tuba player again, so I must have done something right! Thanks again for all the tips and suggestions. Sorry, no recordings.

You can send payment to Schleppy, he will distribute to all those who helped.....


Glad to hear if went well!

I think I counted 12 accordians, by the way... It was pretty amusing. One of 12 approached me about playing in his group too, hooray for networking!

I was looking through old posts and came across this old one of mine. That first gig of 12 accordions turned into several gigs over the years, so I thought I'd post a video of one from a little more recently. Sorry for all the crowd noise, and the music doesn't start until about 30 seconds in. I've actually been asked to play for other groups along the way now too. I've made more money playing polka than I ever did doing brass quintets at weddings!

Enjoy!

The Crying Katie Polka

Cool sound!!

What's with the audience??

Is no one playing Pinochle??

If you aren't dancing or drinking beer you must!!

It's been a rule where ever I've seen a polka band...

Those 6 fat Dutchmen were new to me. And kind of really fat, as they were 8. 9 if their conductor W. C. Fields counts also.

I've been playing in Bavarian bands for years. If the drummer uses his bass drum, stay right with it. Play short notes, as Bloke suggested, but don't play ahead of the beat - be right with the bass drum. You and the bass drum should sound like one instrument (as best you can). Don't try to do fancy runs until you're more comfortable with the situation. Your employers will most likely want you to keep it simple.

If you get to the point where you want to spice things up, you might copy tricks that some of the better banda players employee. However, you don't want to be running up and down the horn non-stop, like many of the hot banda players do (or synthesizer copies). If there's no trombone or euphonium player there, that may open the door for more freedom. Otherwise, stay out of their way. I repeat, stay out of the way of the trombone and/or euphonium. Let them shine. Hope this helps. Drink beer, learn how to sing the "ein prosit" song, smile and have a ball.

At the Bavarian Radio web-site, http://www.br.de" target="_blank, the "Heimat" channel can be heard on line. This broadcasts all sorts of folks music twenty-four hours a day; everything from a vocal duo to full symphonic bands. For a change in listening habits, have a go at this!

Bob