Shchedryk

December 11, 2010 2:28 PM

A quick surf-punk blast thru the Ukrainian folk song which was neutered into Carol of the Bells. For the challenge, obviously!

I think I'm playing a hemiola in the final third -- eighth notes grouped in fours against a 3/4 groove. I did this because I'd heard it was traditionally sung as a hemiola but I couldn't find a recording of it anywhere.

Everyone seems to use the same simple four-part arrangement, which I didn't like, so I did a completely different one. This turns out to be very easy since the melody works over almost any set of chord changes you can think of.

posted by unSane (9 comments total) 9 users marked this as a favorite

Attentive listeners will notice that I ripped off one of my most favorite ever TV themes.
posted by unSane at 5:37 PM on December 11, 2010


Wow, ha ha. This sounds pretty great.

Okay, so now I know what a "hemiola" is. But now you have to point out where the "picardy third" is -- I read the description on Wikipedia but I'm not grokking it.
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 1:03 AM on December 12, 2010


Picardy third is when a minor piece ends on a major tonic chord (e.g. [x] piece in Cm ends on a CM chord). The "third" refers to the third of the chord, which is the pitch that changes from a minor chord to a major chord.
posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 3:35 AM on December 12, 2010


Yeah, this is in Em but the last chord is Emaj. The only difference is that you play a G# everywhere instead of a G -- that's the tierce de picardy.
posted by unSane at 5:54 AM on December 12, 2010


(Also I think technically a hemiola is 3 measures of 2/4 following 2 measures of 3/4 so it's counted like this

1-2-3 1-2-3 1-2 1-2 1-2

but you can play one over the other so it's

1-2-3 1-2-3
1-2 1-2 1-2

which is what I'm trying to do at the end, but in eighth notes... it's fun to play but really hard to keep track of)
posted by unSane at 7:10 AM on December 12, 2010


unSane you closet Progger you!! All the hallmarks are there baby - there's no hiding it! Really enjoyed listening to this - it made me go all misty eyed and reach for my Yes albums.

Seriously, very well done mate. Everything here sounds great.
posted by MajorDundee at 10:04 AM on December 12, 2010


Jeez, and I thought a hemiola was a hemorrhoid with pretensions to be something more than just a pain the the arse.....
posted by MajorDundee at 10:09 AM on December 12, 2010


For being such a rocked version you sure haven't lost any of the heart or feel of this. Kick ass!
posted by snsranch at 4:27 PM on December 13, 2010


The way this builds is really nice!
posted by TheCoug at 10:05 PM on December 14, 2010


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