What Makes a Polka?

[BvBPL]

What makes a polka a polka?

The following has the right time signature, a squeezebox, and such, but is it a polka? If not, why not?


Link to video.


Initially, I thought it was the lack of brass that made that piece not a polka, but that apparently isn't necessary either.


Link to video.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Neither of these are polkas. I can't imagine anyone dancing to them, let alone the people from my grandparents' old farming community (that's where I learned to do that kind of dancing).

The second video's melody is one I know as "Una Paloma Blanca," and it is not a piece of frenetic noise. A quick Youtube search turns up either a lot of videos of disco singers and dancers, in various languages... or Bobby Vinton, whose rendition is closest to the version I learned. Unfortunately, I can't find that one, which was on a country & western record my dad owned. So it's the country version I learned - which means I played it so my family and their friends could dance to it if they wanted (polka steps, not disco!). They never did, but my dad would always whistle along with the chorus.


Link to video.


So in short, a polka is not a polka unless you can actually dance to it, as a couple.

 

[cybrxkhan]

When I think of polkas I think of some late nineteenth century Strauss-esque compositions for the orchestra. Not sure whether some of those you can dance to properly, but I'd like to try someday.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

You can dance to them, but they're generally considered more "elite" than the dance-hall or folk styles of polka.

I learned a number of polkas from listening to the Mom & Dads records we had, but the Heel & Toe Polka is the first one I ever learned to dance, when my grandparents and I went to a dance back in the farming community where they used to live.

It's hard to find music comparable to that played by the band that was there; turns out that there are different versions of this polka, depending on whether you're in Canada or the U.S. I'm familiar with both versions, as I learned the Jenny Lind Polka (the American one) after I started taking music lessons. The Canadian version of the polka is the one I learned from listening to the band at the dance.


Link to video.



And here's a video of people being taught one version of the steps (along with abominable music, in my opinion):


Link to video.


Here's another version of the steps, which is the one I learned:


Link to video.