%%abc-version 2.1
%%abc-copyright (C) Copyright Ben Paley 2024
%%writefields N
%%writefields D
%%measurenb 0
%%partsbox 1
X:1
T:Polska efter Pål Karl Persson
T:Polska from the playing of Pål Karl Persson
L:1/8
M:3/4
C:Trad arr. © 2019 Ben Paley
N:Don't believe the rhythm of the MIDI, it's terrible.
N:This appears on the album "Längs Gamla Stigar och Färdeväger" by Simon Simonssons Kvartet
N:from 1989 — it's a fantastic version with interesting modern instrumentation and imaginative
N:tonality but, sadly, it seems to be completely unavailable, even on YouTube. Here's a link to
N:me playing it, instead, some years ago, with my friend Tab — it's the second of two these two tunes.
N:The first beat of some bars is short, the second long — but this can vary bar by bar. It's
N:the essence of a certain sort of polska, and the phenomenon is more or less impossible to
N:describe except by demonstration. In the first bar of the A part, for instance, the first three
N:notes can be played so as each to take up a more-or-less equal amount of time, as though they
N:were quarter note triplets. Personally, I analyze them in the way I've written them — as
N:uneven beat lengths — but I suspect listening will prove more useful than reading in this
N:case.
N:On top of that there are the ambiguous Fs — I play the Fs at the beginning of the second and
N:fourth bars of the B part as F-sharps, Simon Simonssons Kvartett plays them pretty solidly as
N:F-naturals. I think the underlying situation is that they both represent a half-sharp, which
N:melody players choose to represent as either a sharp or natural under the influence of fretted
N:instruments. I daresay PhD theses have been written about the influence of frets on traditional
N:tonalities. Just do your best.
N:All in all, Swedish music can appear at first as a sea of notes and fragmentary harmony which
N:strongly hints at some elusive form, but the more you listen to it the more it starts to make
N:sense.
N:Good luck, have fun, and remember it doesn't matter!
O:Dalarna, Sweden
R:Polska
D:Simon Simonssons Kvartet, "Längs Gamla Stigar och Färdeväger", 1989
Z:Ben Paley
K:Am
P:A
|: A2 dB c>c | d2 ^fe/2d/2 e>c | A2 dB c>c | d2 ^fe/2d/2 e2 | e>g a2 a>g | =fe/2d/2 e4 :|
P:B
|: A2 ag a>e | ^f2 fe/d/2 e>c | A2 ag a>e | ^f2 fe/d/2 e>A | d>c A