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This demo is a change of pace, more festive. My tennis coach was telling me a few weeks ago about when he was in Germany during Oktoberfest a few years ago, so it gave me the idea of writing this piece. I didn't use the accordeon, which is the most typical instrument of the bavarian style, so it has a bit of military happy mood.
My Oktoberfest 🍺 🎉🎵
OK as a german I tend to suffer from the association of Germany and its culture with that bajuvarian drinking bouts not much less as any guy with african origin being confronted with association to earlier hominidae (=monkeys).
However I fear this brass Band has still a bit to much tempo for the average alcohol level of producers and listeners of Oktoberfest-noises. I also fear the aspects Dixilandjazz and american marching bands you mixed in will aswell in the cultural formation aswell as in the instrumental abilities largly overburden the average Oktoberfest-"Musicians" try to imagine, that the major chord is already something very complicated and if you are happy to know perhaps two or three of them you are defenitly in danger to overshoot notably the musical horinzon of average bajuvarian-drinking bouts brassmusicians.
So here is my Tip how you might improve your attempt:
try to forget nearly everything else you know about music than get completly and constantly drunk for at least one or two weeks on "the Wiesen" during the oktoberfest. And after that - if you are lucky🍺- you might perhaps come a bit closer to the awful brassnoises which torture everyone in munich in early october who is not yet drunken enough to simply ignore it. 😉
Hi fahl15,
Thanks for your feedback!
My band is more wine drinkers. 🍸
The title is misleading. You being German and me Canadian, I certanly won't debate Oktoberfest with you and I know exactly what you mean and I agree, and early on was disappointed this was not going to be the typical bavarian Oktoberfest band sound. However, I already knew I was distancing myself from the genre, especially as soon as I realize I didn't have a VSL accordian in hand. The accordian is really 3/4 of the band sound and gives that typical bavarian style, at least from the dozens of videos I've heard on Oktoberfest music. Without the accordian, when I kept it super simple it was too bland, and mainly it wouldn't of been an interesting demo for VSL having that same simplistic sound for nearly 6 min, (good for the drunken beer drinkers but less for the VSL music listeners) so I decided to compromise and do something simply inspired from Oktoberfest adding some movment to individual instruments, and it got closer to joyful military marches, a bit of dixiland but with a flavor of Oktoberfest. If one day VSL makes an accordian library, I'd love to do a new one.
You mentioned: "you might perhaps come a bit closer to the awful brassnoises which torture everyone in munich in early october who is not yet drunken enough to simply ignore it. 
"
That might be interesting and fun to do for 1 or 2 of the pieces in the demo I can give this a try, although the recordings I've heard are very clean while keeping that crazy bavarian Oktoberfest spirit. You are probably referring to the live music during the festival. Accordeon....
I appreciated your feedback.
Happy Oktoberfest! 🍺🍺🍺
Hi Guy,
While listening I had a constant smile. This persiflage is so humoresque and grotesque that one can't but smile at it. I had a long tradition in folk music and its classical variants and these pieces undoubtedly refer to it in an inimitable way. It's more like a lesson in how not to deal with popular music. Otherwise the result will be like this: nothing serious, full of witticism like a good joke.
Nevertheless, smartly build and it depicts in a very clear way what you've tried to tell us...
Thank God (and Guy Bacos) that not all music must be serious!
Jos (Max) 🍺🍺💡
Ok to be short:
- The accordion must not be that much the problem take the Harmonium with some careful selction of the more likely sounds and usage I think you can come quite close to an accordion.
- However You are right this is no bajuvarian Octoberfest music, perhaps when they do something like an Oktoberfest in Singapur, Arizona, Pittsburg or the Australian Outback it might perhaps sound like that.
- Still I personally know there are alot awful things associated with Germans and perhaps hopefully at least some nice things to. But for me the bajuvarian drinking bouts does not even belong in any ironical or humorous sense to them at all. It's as if I would feel an "american" kind of inspirartion from the attempt to imagine how it will sound if Donald Trump would sing anything.
However imho really good jokes are those who are as serious as funny they are 😉.
...but I know that would be too much. you can't go too far with a demo... anyway it is awesome as always with your work.
Right, that's the other thing, it's a bit delicate, I wouldn't want to give a wrong impression of VSL sounds with sloppy and grotesque sounds.
Thanks William, glad you enjoyed it!
Awesome work! Guy, you constantly amaze me with your creativity and breadth of skill. Is there any genre you can not handle? Great job. And terrific mix. Crystal clear and very believable.
Hi Guy
Very interesting thread. Here is some more information about how Blaskapellen usually sounds mixwise...
I had to record 2 real "Blasmusik-Kapellen" this year. They wanted to have an audio-CD. When such a band is going to record a CD they want to sound how all the other Blaskapellen in the field. So for reaching this aim I boght some CDs of the most famous Blaskapellen and tried to find out how they are mixed in general and in the averrage. And yes, one can say that modern "Octoberfest-Kapellen" all are mixed the same way - more or less. Here are my observations:
About reverb: In general on can say reverb means tail but no room or depth... One can observe tail lengths from 1,5-5! seconds... Soloist is the one who plays forte all the others are playing p.
Also: The Blaskapellen-Music is often very compressed and loud mixed, so that all the instruments are sounding with the same volume. As I mentioned, these are the facts how the music style normally is mixed and people are used to listen to at the radio, on CD or where ever.
Of course I also tried to reach the sound with VSL as well
BK-Polka (unfortunately not a composition of your "size". It only shall show the mixing matters)
Have fun and I hope it is a help for further Octoberfest-approaches.
Beat
Hi Guy, Beat,
Very interesting approach. Although I'm not into 'Blaskapellenmusik", I like it a lot (I'm a great folk music lover, because it's always so direct and honest).
What I'm specially interested in is the accordion. I've written a small accordion concerto a while ago, but it's so hard to find a decent sampled accordion. (For now I have the Best Service Gola accordion, the bayan by Efimov and the Efimov accordion). My concerto was designed for a bayan or convertible accordion, not for an ordinary discant-bass accordion. It's such a pity that VLS didn't come up with a good instrument, despite many requests. I would certainly welcome the Vienna quality!
Thanks for the advice and the recording,
Jos
Thanks Paul, it was different doing this one, the hardest part was to never go beyong I-IV-V.
Beat, interesting post, thanks for that.
I seem to fail to express my intention here, just to reiterate what I had said earlier, at some point I decided to streer away from the typical Oktoberfest style, one reason was not having the accordeon, and I thought it might be more interesting to have a more movement in some parts which is closer to military lines and whatever other styles, but I thought is was fun, especially for a 6 min demo. So it's really just inspired from Oktoberfest.
I just remebered your approach for a brassband inspired by Blaskapellen-Music:
Just listen the first piece of Alban Bergs Wozzek-Fragments beginning from ca. 1'50 there is a brilliant very ironic parody on blaskapellen-music perhaps it might inspire you for more attempts with virtual Blaskapellen. 😉
I do not glue to anything at all. It was just my fist spontaneous reaction, which I tried to make understanable. And
Yes I confess I do not like the Oktoberfest and the horrible cliché that this would have any meaning for what is german or even a german "Leitkultur" and this personal antipathy against drinking bouts may have limited my enthousiasm for inspiration from that side.
However Alban Berg reminded me to be not to rigid in this sense. So I just indicated that even I am able to consider way to be inspired from that side. However I would still prefer Bergs Wozzek Blaskapelle over any Terrorattack at the Oktoberfest, since Berg is definitly much more enjoyable.
OK to be correct. Beside my spontanoues reaction on the music I was trying to explain, and my antipathy I thought given that you want just do what you want it might help you to consider, that when imitating any less complex kind of music very much of the effect is based on the recognition of the specific genre, And even if my personal relation to the oktoberfest is completly irrelevant for anyone (what is absolutly the case) it seem to me still helpful to consider the consistence of a certain style to be recognized. But even that was just my personal thought about.
But of course the music is absolutly ok when you feel it is, and I do have no problem with it.
Ok I am honest. But I have never written here any posting with any personal attac against any other participant which was necessary to be deleted at all.
Could you say the same thing about your postings here William?
Who are you that you believe you are in the position to allow other to participate or not?
