German

[jeffshuniak]

dont ask why..I just answer the calls...I need some german music for some gigs I have coming this month...cheesy german drinking polkas are needed...
ein prosit and some other stuff...

[Martin Jonas]

Lots of stuff here in MIDI format, which you can translate into standard notation using any of a number of shareware programs. There's a much smaller selection in ABC or PDF format here, here, here and here.

Martin

[jeffshuniak]

thanks!

[Plamen Ivanov]

Oktoberfest?! Oh, yeah, i'll be there on Sunday. Will post some pictures!

[jeffshuniak]

you'll be in Germany, Plami?

i want a pic of real german shnitzel. being held by a pretty girl ..ok I better stop.

[Plamen Ivanov]

Hi Jeff,

Or a pretty schnitzel held by a real german girl! I'll post some, i promise. Hopefully the weather will be fine on Sunday.

Yes, i'm already here.

Best,
Plamen

[Plamen Ivanov]

Hi,

Here is a picture from the Oktoberfest. There is not a mandolin in there, but at least it's a band.


You can see some more pictures from the Fest, which are not music related here:

http://plamen.shtrak.net/index.php?path=0-3

Best,
Plamen

[Martin Jonas]

Looks like you're having fun, Plamen!

Not so surprising there's no mandolin in that photo. #Traditional (i.e. unamplified) Bavarian folk music tends to divide into the beer hall variety (or "oompah music", as it's usually called in the English-speaking world), which is dominated by accordions and brass instruments, and the much quieter and more contemplative chamber variety, with zithers, mandolins and guitars, which is sadly fairly rare now, at least in the media and public performance. #These days you're most likely to find cheesy keyboards and horrible sentimental Schlager-type vocals, which is what has given folk music its bad name in Germany.

I've tried to find a decent picture of an old-style Bavarian folk band with mandolin, and the best I could come up with just now is this bunch below.

That's hackbrett (i.e. German hammered dulcimer), mandolin, guitar, octave guitar (!), and concert zither. #The sound samples of that band are a bit lacking in energy, though.

Martin

[Klaus Wutscher]

The sound samples of that band are a bit lacking in energy, though.

May or may not be their fault; "real" German/Austrian/Swiss folk music can be quite laidback, which easily becomes lame if played by not so top notch players (just as weak bluegrass can sound quite rushed). Occasionally, I tried to check out my heritage, and the conclusion was everytime that the percieved lack of drive and absence of any blues elements and improvisation just didn´t cut it for me.

Regarding "new" folk this side of Schlager, there is still plenty of room for innovation - and the mandolin, I guess.

[Martin Jonas]

Occasionally, I tried to check out my heritage, and the conclusion was everytime that the percieved lack of drive and absence of any blues elements and improvisation just didn´t cut it for me.

It's my heritage, too: my grandmother played concert zither and guitar, while the mandolin comes from both my grandfather and my mother. When my mother grew up in the 1940s and 50s, they would play music much like that at home, with her sisters variously on guitar, flutes and clarinets. But my grandfather died long before I was born and I only vaguely remember my grandmother playing zither at family reunions. I have also tried to get into playing German folk tunes, polkas, waltzes, zwiefache and such like, but I can't really relate either -- I play folk tunes from other sources, mostly. My mother has rediscovered the mandolin in recent years, though (basically since I started playing a few years ago), and she plays German dance music a lot -- I made her a print out of all of the several hundred MIDI dances (transcribed to standard notation) from the site I linked above and she's been diligently working her way through them.

Martin

[Klaus Wutscher]

Martin,

a mandolin playing mother, how cool is that!

In some way, I find it kind of ironic that I (and most European musicians this side of classical players) am going through lots of hard work to connect to "somebody elses roots",when trying to master foreign styles such as Blues, Jazz, Rock or Folk (non German). The pathetic exploitation of our roots music in Schlager and Volksdümmlicher Musik is surely to blame, in part at least. Which brings us right back to the Oktoberfest... #

[1860]

I personally don't mind the German folk music while having a "Maß Bier" but otherwise tend to avoid it in other situations. The Bavarians make the best of it by emphasizing the Beer part of it. When I was at the Oktoberfest I didn't start enjoying it until the 2nd Maß, after that it was quite fun.

Growing up with German background in NC, I definitely prefer Bluegrass, Irish and Cape Breton music but somehow have ended up preferring living in Europe. Strange isn't it?

Regards

Marc

[jeffshuniak]

these octoberfest gigs are forcing me into more amplification..