Tune Req: Kornog - Varbishka ratchenitza

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Kornog - Varbishka ratchenitza
From: GUEST,Si
Date: 26 May 05 - 03:22 AM

Gee thanks to glasgow, leenia and others who've replied. yes I do know what a ratchenitza is, and do play Bulgarian music. Glas, I play it on wooden flute mate ( no, not kaval).

To the people who've suggested i try the mp3 downloads, these all seem to be the Kornog version which i have already.

M Ted, if you can dig out the dots AND FWD THEM that'd be grand. I'll try to repay the favour with a nice recording. If you have luck let me know at [e-mail] .

Glas I think I've got parts a,b,c, down. I get lost somewhere in parts d-g. Don't know which one exactly cos I can't find my bloody cassette right now !!

Thanks folks

SI

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Kornog - Varbishka ratchenitza
From: Glasgow
Date: 25 May 05 - 06:20 PM

Si,
Which parts are bothering you? The Kornog version goes:
a,a,b,b,c,d,e,f,g,b, repeated.
You play this on which instrument?
I've listened to the samples on the web (.wma), and they are very confusing (phantom double late bouzouki) compared to the original recording which is very precise. I can understand anyone having difficulty, though this doesn't seem to be your case.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Kornog - Varbishka ratchenitza
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 24 May 05 - 09:37 AM

A dance is 7 is likely to be made up of a pattern of 3 and then of 4 (or 4 and then 3) one after another.

The thing to do is to write it out, have a computer play it, and see if it sounds like the original.

It looks like Si isn't coming back.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Kornog - Varbishka ratchenitza
From: M.Ted
Date: 23 May 05 - 10:07 AM

The rechinetza is in 7--a lot of Balkan, and particularly Bulgarian, tunes are in odd meters--5, 7. 9,11, etc. I know this from personal, Balkan Dance Band experience--if you haven't had experience with Balkan dancing, you should try it--it's fun--

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Kornog - Varbishka ratchenitza
From: GUEST,crazy little woman
Date: 23 May 05 - 09:03 AM

M. Ted is right about the instruments doing variations. When a hammer dulcimer does a variation, I give up. They move those hammers so quickly, I can't figure out what they did. Sounds good, though.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Kornog - Varbishka ratchenitza
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 22 May 05 - 09:49 AM

I was intrigued by your request, Si, so I found an mp3 sample of this tune being played by Kornog. (Too bad the sample started in the middle of the piece.)

I've done some line dancing, and I've never heard of a piece where you took longer to move one foot than you did another. So I am going to assume that in Varbishka ratchenitza each measure has seven notes, all right, but that the set of 3 takes up the same time (as measured by a stopwatch) as a set of 4. This way, each measure is divided into two equal halves, just as the body is divided into right and left sides.

Try this: start a new song, called "Try." Pick a key and make the time 2/2. Enter 3 quarter notes, highlight them, and put a triplet sign over them. Then enter three eighth notes. (This makes one measure.) Once this done,you have three beats followed by four beats, each set taking the same amount of time. If it's too slow, change the tempo.

On the mp3 sample, it seemed that they were making the third beat of the triplet staccato. My software, Noteworthy, seemed to have a hard time dealing with a triplet with a staccato in it. If you have the same problem, put the dot for staccato in with a Universal Graphic I/O device (fine-point marker). The staccato is important - it lets the musicians know where they are in a measure.

Once that basic pattern is set, the musicians have fun by twittering their flutes and dashing up and down the scale, still listening for the beats so that they keep together. If they are like me, they are saying words to the piece in their heads.

I leave to you the fun of figuring out what the notes actually are. There were a lot of A's, I think.

As for the bouzouki in the sample, I don't even think he was keeping the beat. I thought of his sound as "white noise" which enriches the overall effect of the piece. Maybe if I could hear the entire recording there would be a place where the bouzoukin does more. But if I were you, I'd ignore the bouzouki.

Good luck with your endeavor, and please let me know if this helps. I find that noting timings can be a real challenge, and it's a skill I'm trying to improve.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Kornog - Varbishka ratchenitza
From: M.Ted
Date: 21 May 05 - 02:56 PM

Oh, and another thing that may help--Balkan dance numbers a series of melody variations(a lot like instrumental solos) that work for the particular rhythm, alternated with the original melody--you can call the B, C, D, etc melodies if you want--some bands play some of the variants, others play different ones. If you have trouble with some of them, just leave them out--often, they are really instrumental solos that have ornaments that don't really tranfer to other instruments anyway--

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Kornog - Varbishka ratchenitza
From: GUEST
Date: 20 May 05 - 02:41 PM

there are several mp3's available for download that show up in a google search.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Kornog - Varbishka ratchenitza
From: GUEST,MTed
Date: 20 May 05 - 02:32 PM

There are a number of folks around who know and play this tune--as it has been part of the International Folkdance repertoire for a long time, but as far as I can find, no one has put it up on line(check variant spellings, because it is a Bulgarian word with no official Latin letter spelling)--only thing is, I am not familiar with the Kornog recording(for that matter, it's been a long time since I've heard the tune, and can't quite bring it to mind) so I am not sure how much like the Bulgarian recordings it is--at any rate, I doubt that it has been commercially published, but there are undoubtably lots of scratch sheets of it around--I may even have it, though I have to look for some long neglected music folders--as I said, even still, it might not give you what you want.

I can tell you how to play a rechinitza--it has a pulse that is "quick quick slow" counted 1-2 1-2-1-2-3--on a plectrum instrument, "down up down up down up down"--the helpful thing to know is that the melody tends to simply be sixteenth notes that run in phrases that match the pulse--well, it ain't the same as a lesson, but it might help--

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Kornog - Varbishka ratchenitza
From: GUEST,Si
Date: 20 May 05 - 06:11 AM

yes brucie - I know what it is. Did you mean to insert a link for me and just forgot ?

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Kornog - Varbishka ratchenitza
From: Peace
Date: 19 May 05 - 10:19 PM

Varbishka ratchenitza

""Varbishka Ratchenitza," a wicked Bulgarian dance number in the odd time signature of 7/16, which calls for careful stepping."

Subject: Tune Req: Kornog - Varbishka ratchenitza
From: GUEST,Si
Date: 19 May 05 - 10:01 PM

Anyone got the dots to this bulgarian piece from Kornog's 2nd album. I can work out a lot of it. Just some sections are hard, because of the bouzouki sound. Ta