Barnyard Polska
By Bennett Konesni
2009
Mia Friedman, Fiddle
Jeff Lewis, Mandolin
Bennett Konesni, Tenor Guitar
Recorded by Jeff Lewis at Sylvester Manor, Shelter Island, NY
This can be found on my album "In the Field, In the Dusk, In the Summer"
The Story
I wrote this tune. It's a polska, which means it draws on a traditional Scandinavian dance rhythm. An early recording has it played pretty driving, almost like a reel, but I've learned more about the polska since then and I'd play it with a little more lilt now.
The name comes from the image I had in mind when I wrote it: ducks and geese and pigs and cows and horses poking around the barnyard on a spring day, cavorting and having fun. That cavorting energy is what the tune is really about. You could dance polska to it, which would be a lot of fun, or it works just as well as a stage tune. Either way, the barnyard is always in there somewhere.