I
wanted to post some music associated with turkeys, in honor of
Thanksgiving - but turkey music seems to be nearly non-existent.
The once-popular Turkey Trot dance (over 100 years ago) isn't foremost in my piano repertoire.
So I searched through my music files and extracted an old recording I made of the Rooster Rag.
Heck, roosters are sort of similar to turkeys - - and if you're drunk enough you can't even tell the difference.
Last
night I made a video to accompany the music. I threw it together in
less than half an hour - which explains the shabby quality.
I'll readily confess that it isn't easy to do anything creative with a rooster theme.
The Rooster Rag was composed by Muriel Pollack (1895-1971) and published in 1917.
Pollack
was a composer/lyricist who started out as a piano player for silent
movies. She studied at the New York Institute of Musical Art
(which later became Julliard) and eventually had a fairly successful
musical career.
Her full name was Mary Muriel Pollock Groll Donaldson (she was married twice). Born in New York, died in Hollywood, California.
I heard that Muriel initially wrote The Rooster Rag when she was about seventeen, but it wasn't published until several years later.
It's a brilliant piece and fun to play.
If
you listen to this recording carefully, you'll probably hear the music
manuscript fall off the piano (around 1:12) while I was in the middle of the
performance.
Fortunately I kept valiantly playing without missing much of a beat......
Jon
This was originally posted two years ago
Definitely that Rag time quality. I don't want anyone to know that I know the dif between ragtime, blues or jazz. I'm not known for liking those genres, but I do have my favorites in each category. ( Like the Sting.) For a moment, I was in a John Wayne Saloon.
ReplyDeleteRagtime has never been my favorite genre, yet it has always fascinated me - and it's not easy to play.
DeleteWhat's this? You've never heard that grand old classic "Turkey in the Straw"? Where's my banjo....
ReplyDeleteGood grief - I never thought of "Turkey in the Straw". Thanks for reminding me. It's been a very long time since I heard it.
DeleteWhat a delight! 'Almost puts me in the mood for the upcoming marathon -- aka, Hunger Games at the supermarket.
ReplyDeleteIt is delightful (sometimes I actually make myself smile....). It would be appropriate background music for shopping in Walmart.
Deletedelightful indeed. threw my back out, so i can't toe tap. HAPPY Thanksgiving.
ReplyDeleteRest up and take care of your back - - and don't do any turkey trots...
DeleteVery entertaining, Jon! And you obviously had the music memorized so you didn't really need the sheet music anyhow I suppose. :)
ReplyDeleteSubconsciously I did have it memorized. This piece is fun to play.
DeleteEnjoyd this very much! Once again, thank you for sharing your God-given talent with us!
ReplyDeleteI truly appreciate that, Kim!
DeleteThis was a fun listen, Jon, and I was also thinking that Thanksgiving gets the short stick in the music dept. by the way, I would delete that comment from Ratana as I believe it’s spam since it has appeared on several of my posts and on the posts of other bloggers. There’s always a link to online gambling or something similar. Also, the comment is always generic and never related directly to the post…just saying.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dorothy. I strongly suspected that Ratana's comment was spam - because I received numerous similar comments in the recent past. They never say anything specific about your post, but rather give a very vague "compliment".
Delete