NOT FOLK: looking for a (synth?) tune

Subject: NOT FOLK: looking for a (synth?) tune
From: clueless don
Date: 24 Feb 04 - 04:30 PM

I know I'm upsetting some Mudcatters by asking about a non-folk or blues tune, but I'm hoping that the big "NOT FOLK" header will keep them from wasting their time.

I am looking for a tune/recording. I am guessing that it is played entirely on synthesizers. It seems to be in 6/8 time (or some similar compound meter.) It starts off with a pulsing 6/8 background beat, and then the main melody comes in on what sounds like a harp (though, as I have said, it is probably a synthesized harp.) The first few bars of the melody, in abc notation, go something like this:

X:1
T: unknown
C: unknown
K: C
M: 6/8
L:1/16
G2 | .c4 .d4 ^d2 f2- | .f2 g6 .f4 | ^d2 .=d4 d6- | d3 d2 ^d3/2 =d2 .c7/2

I have arbitrarily put it in the key of C (or some relative minor or modal variant thereof), though I do not remember what the actual key is of the recording.

This piece has something of the same feel as a synthesized pop recording called "Popcorn", though I don't have any indication (one way or the other) that it is by the same artist/composer.

Does it ring any bells with anyone?

Don

---

To play or display ABC tunes, try concertina.net

Subject: RE: NOT FOLK: looking for a (synth?) tune
From: katlaughing
Date: 25 Feb 04 - 01:29 AM

Don't worry about it, Don, we've had plenty of non-folk requests before. :-)

Can you tell us where and when you heard it and maybe in what context? On a program, the radio, in a movie? Approximate year? That might help.

Good luck,

kat

Subject: RE: NOT FOLK: looking for a (synth?) tune
From: clueless don
Date: 25 Feb 04 - 09:07 AM

Well, kat, I heard it most recently on the soundtrack for a puppet show! The company Applause Unlimited (based in Richmond VA) were performing "The Velveteen Rabbit" at the Puppet Company Playhouse in Glen Echo Park, MD. This piece occurs in the soundtrack, around the middle of the show.

However, I am sure that I have heard it in the past, so I don't think it was composed especially for this show.

I have sent an e-mail to Applause Unlimited, but I thought I would ask here too.

Don

Subject: RE: NOT FOLK: looking for a (synth?) tune
From: clueless don
Date: 22 Jun 04 - 12:12 PM

Well, I didn't hear anything back from Applause Unlimited, so I thought I would refresh the thread to see if anyone else might recognize the tune.

For those not familiar with abc notation, the abc code I included in the opening posting above may be copied and pasted into the window located at:

http://www.concertina.net/tunes_convert.html

It may then be played, if your computer has a sound card.

Don

Subject: RE: NOT FOLK: looking for a (synth?) tune
From: Helen
Date: 23 Jun 04 - 03:28 AM

Don,

It reminds me of a really famous heavy rock riff. Someone like Deep Purple or Iron Butterfly or Black Sabbath or... or.. hubby says Metallica, but I think it's older than that.

The synth stuff might be just to put you off the scent. Playing a heavy metal riff like a Popcorn tune.

Helen

Subject: RE: NOT FOLK: looking for a (synth?) tune
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 23 Jun 04 - 08:32 AM

Had a listen - doesn't ring any bells though!
Quack!
Geoff the Duck.

Subject: RE: NOT FOLK: looking for a (synth?) tune
From: Helen
Date: 23 Jun 04 - 07:19 PM

Don, can you give us some more of the melody?

Helen

Subject: RE: NOT FOLK: looking for a (synth?) tune
From: Helen
Date: 23 Jun 04 - 07:37 PM

The other tune it reminds me of is one of those dramatic/comic tunes like scary music. When something big & ugly is sneaking up behind the clown in the circus act.

It could be circus music and there was a thread on this recently.

Helen

Subject: RE: NOT FOLK: looking for a (synth?) tune
From: NightWing
Date: 23 Jun 04 - 07:52 PM

It definitely is one of those "I've heard that before" sort of tunes. Helen's comment that it sounds like a rock riff feels right to me, but I might be wrong there.

Again, can you give us any more of the tune?

BB,

NightWing

Subject: RE: NOT FOLK: looking for a (synth?) tune
From: clueless don
Date: 25 Jun 04 - 10:30 AM

First, I want to thank all of those who have given the tune a look/listen. I appreciate your efforts and attention!

I have attempted to transcribe the entire melody, as I remember it. I am not an expert in abc notation, nor in staff notation, so I may have violated any number of conventions in this attempt. I may not be remembering the melody entirely correctly. And finally, the staff notation, in spite of my best efforts, does not fully convey the "swing" of the tune.

Anyway, here it is:

X:1
T: unknown
C: unknown
K: C
M: 6/8
L:1/16
G2 | .c4 .d4 ^d2 f2- | .f2 g6 .f4 | ^d2 .=d4 d6- | d3 d2 ^d3/2 =d2 .c7/2 |
z2 z4 z2 z4 | G2 .c4 z4 z2 | z4 G2 | .c4 .d4 ^d2 f2- | .f2 g6 .f4 | ^d2 .=d4 d6- |
d3 d2 ^d3/2 =d2 .c7/2 | z2 z4 z2 z4 | G2 c4 z4 z2 ^d2 f2 g4- g4 |
g- g3/2 f3/2 ^d2 .f4 =d2- | .d2 _B2>^d2 f2 g4- | g4 g- g3/2 f3/2 ^d2 f2- |
.f2 .=d4 _B2>c2|d2 ^d4- d4 d2- | ^d/2 =d3/2 c2 .d4 ._B4 | G4 _B2 d2 c2- .c2 |

as noted above, this abc code may be copied and pasted into the window at

http://www.concertina.net/tunes_convert.html

and played (if your computer has a sound card.)

In the actual piece, the "dead air" in this transcribed version is taken up with the pulsing background beat.

Any additional help greatly appreciated!

Don

Subject: RE: NOT FOLK: looking for a (synth?) tune
From: mooman
Date: 25 Jun 04 - 10:43 AM

Don,

I've heard this somewhere before and, now I have it in my head, will search the neural storage banks.

Peace

moo

Subject: RE: NOT FOLK: looking for a (synth?) tune
From: mooman
Date: 25 Jun 04 - 10:55 AM

Having had a first pass, it reminds me somewhat of part of Shadow of the Moon by Richie Blackmore (Blackmore's Night) but I could be spectacularly wrong!

Peace

moo

Subject: RE: NOT FOLK: looking for a (synth?) tune
From: Helen
Date: 26 Jun 04 - 06:04 PM

I'm leaning more and more to the feeling that it is one of those scary music mood pieces used in movies. Similar to Saint Saens' Danse Macabre.

I hate this: knowing it but not knowing it. :-)

Helen

Subject: RE: NOT FOLK: looking for a (synth?) tune
From: GUEST,Helen, using IE bec Netscape chucking a wobb
Date: 30 Jun 04 - 02:18 AM

Okay, we need help here. Earworm alert. What is this tune??

Helen

Subject: RE: NOT FOLK: looking for a (synth?) tune
From: GUEST,that was: chucking a wobbly
Date: 30 Jun 04 - 02:21 AM

"chucking a wobbly" is a classic Oz phrase for someone (or something, in this case) having a hissy fit (hysteria fit), not doing what it is told.

My Netscape is chucking a wobbly and won't load any pages. Aaaargggh!

Helen

Subject: RE: NOT FOLK: looking for a (synth?) tune
From: clueless don
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 09:44 AM

Well, it's been awhile, and I still haven't found it. Moo, I gave a listen to "Shadow of the Moon", and while I think I hear the similarity, that isn't it. But I appreciate the suggestion!

I finally was able to speak to Christopher Huddert, the puppeteer with Applause Unlimited, after a performance of the Velveteen Rabbit. He didn't know anything about the tune.

I know that this is - as I indicated in the title of the thread - not folk, so some (e.g. Bill D) would object to my asking about it on the Mudcat Forum. I would be happy to ask about it on a more appropriate forum, but I don't know of any! Can anyone point me to a "music-in-general" forum?

Thanks again to all who have listened and given it a try!

Don

Subject: RE: NOT FOLK: looking for a (synth?) tune
From: Jeri
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 10:09 AM

HA! Got it!

'Call Me' by Blondie. Gotta get through the intro, but I'm sure just naming it will have some people thinking, "Oh yeah, that's what I was thinking of!"

Subject: RE: NOT FOLK: looking for a (synth?) tune
From: clueless don
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 01:34 PM

Well gosh, Jeri, I see the similarity! That's definitely not it, but thanks for giving it a try.

The piece I am looking for is an instrumental - I suspect that it is purely an instrumental, rather than an instrumental version of a song that originally had words.

Don

Subject: RE: NOT FOLK: looking for a (synth?) tune
From: Peace
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 01:51 PM

It has shades of two things:

One was by Fleetwood Mac and the other is a smidgen of Greensleeves.

However, I've never heard the whole thing--as is--before.

Subject: RE: NOT FOLK: looking for a (synth?) tune
From: Becca72
Date: 08 Sep 07 - 01:27 PM

I definitely know it from somewhere but I can't place it. Would be easier to make out I I could hear it in its full glory.

Subject: RE: NOT FOLK: looking for a (synth?) tune
From: M.Ted
Date: 08 Sep 07 - 02:53 PM

Peace has it right. It has pieces of Rhiannon and Greensleeves in it. That's why it's familar. A bit like "Hawaii Five-O" , "When Johnny Comes Marching Home", etc. All of which have similar phrases--

Subject: RE: NOT FOLK: looking for a (synth?) tune
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 08 Sep 07 - 03:53 PM

There was a thread a while back discussing systems which can be used to identify tunes using a sequence of notes and whether the next note in the sequence is higher, lower or the same as the preceding note.
I seem to recall mention of databases on the web based on this idea. You might be able to track down the tune using one of these.
Quack!
GtD.

Subject: RE: NOT FOLK: looking for a (synth?) tune
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 08 Sep 07 - 04:12 PM

I think this may have been the thread

Quack!
Geoff the Duck

Subject: RE: NOT FOLK: looking for a (synth?) tune
From: Helen
Date: 08 Sep 07 - 04:48 PM

Hi again,

I listened again to the tune, and I still think it has lyrics and that it is a rock song. I don't know where to start looking for it, except that my sister and bro-in-law might recognise it. I'm sending the midi to them and hopefully they might have an idea.

Alternatively, they might get the earworm virus as well, and won't be able to get it out of their heads. In which case, thanks in advance, clueless don. From all of us! :-)

Helen

Subject: RE: NOT FOLK: looking for a (synth?) tune
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 09 Sep 07 - 07:55 AM

Here Also
Quack!
GtD.

Subject: RE: NOT FOLK: looking for a (synth?) tune
From: Helen
Date: 10 Sep 07 - 04:35 AM

How about Alice Cooper: Dead Babies? Just the chorus. I don't think the second part of the midi file fits. But..?

Subject: RE: NOT FOLK: looking for a (synth?) tune
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 10 Sep 07 - 11:47 AM

And another new thread has appeared today BLICKY. New thread gives another web site where you hum a tune and it tries to match it to a database.
Give it a go, you might be lucky.
Quack!
GtD.

Subject: RE: NOT FOLK: looking for a (synth?) tune
From: clueless don
Date: 10 Sep 07 - 04:13 PM

The problem with all of these helpful and well-intentioned suggestions is that I don't have, and won't have, a microphone on my computer at work, which is the only computer I have for accessing the internet.

I tried one of the sites mentioned in the links given above, which enabled you to enter a melody at the keyboard and then search their database for a match. The problem is, it produced more matches than stars be in heaven, none that I looked at being useful.

But, once again, I appreciate all of the suggestions!

Don