... but wondered how much liberty he has taken with the melody to make it fit his narrative. It sounds feasible to my ears, but they are not that well educated.

Could a more knowlegeable musician comment, please ?

https://laughingsquid.com/star-spangled-banner-in-minor-key-sounds-russian/

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Phill

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Not all that much. I might have done some things differently, but yer man was making a point for the sake of comedy, so he had some leeway in how he got there. It's true, though, that when you change a melody from major to minor and vice-versa, sometimes you have to do some tweaking to get the new thing to make sense to the ear.

For a while there I was doing this myself with tunes, just for amusement's sake. On whistle or simple-system flute it's most easily done by simply shifting the tune up or down a step; sometimes it works right out of the box, sometimes you have to tweak it, and sometimes it won't work no matter what you do. It depends on the melodic structure.

Case in point: The Rakes of Kildare. Just shift it down a step to G major and finger it as usual; works a treat, and no tweaking needed. As a farce I called it The Lawnmowers of Kildare (yes, YES, I know what is meant by "rakes" here) until I found out one day that The Lawnmowers of Kildare already existed before me; I heard a piper playing "my" tune - there was no way he could have gotten it from me - and not long after that found out there was a song with the same melody called Thank God We're Surrounded by Water. So I was not the mad genius after all. It was proof positive that this sort of reworking is not a new idea, at least within the Irish tradition. Besides, even though I'd never heard it before I came up with it, I was pretty sure from the beginning that I couldn't possibly have been the only one ever to have gone there with the very same tune; it wasn't that revolutionary an idea. But which came first? The Rakes, or TGWSBW? Who knows. And there are others, too. Anyway, pleased with my discovery and feeling mischievous, I trotted it out at a session on a hunch, and sure enough, everybody played along very well indeed, looking bewildered at each other and wondering how on Earth they even knew the mystery tune at all. Then the source was revealed, and they slapped their heads. It was a very interesting demonstration of muscle memory. The icing on the cake was when they heard what I'd named it: Even though they knew full well I wasn't born yesterday, they still sputtered and lectured me on what "rakes" meant, as expected. Good times.

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"Time is the wisest counselor of all." - Pericles

"I remain not entirely convinced of it." - Nano

Thanks Nano (I can call you that can't I?). I was amused by the skit but did not want to be taken in by his pitch if he was cheating.... I am not sufficiently well ear-trained to know how much massaging he had done so I could easily have been suckered.

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Phill

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Everyone else does, so be my guest.


No, it was close enough to the original melodic contour. You can trust your ears on that.

As to sounding "Russian", well...depends on how picky you are. I would have voted not so much, but it's for a laugh, and probably a wry commentary on the times more than anything else.

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"Time is the wisest counselor of all." - Pericles

"I remain not entirely convinced of it." - Nano

Yes topicality adds a certain frission. I was trying hard not to pass comment on the POTUS.

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Phill

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And C&F being the politics-free sanctuary it is, let us continue not to do so, no matter how our tongues may bleed.

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"Time is the wisest counselor of all." - Pericles

"I remain not entirely convinced of it." - Nano

And any superiority on the subject expressed from this side of the pond would reap justified derision from the other.

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Phill

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True. It's why we've renounced political talk. Makes the atmosphere unpleasant.

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"Time is the wisest counselor of all." - Pericles

"I remain not entirely convinced of it." - Nano

'Nuff said.

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Phill

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By the way, I've always liked your verminous avatar.

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"Time is the wisest counselor of all." - Pericles

"I remain not entirely convinced of it." - Nano

Thanks but I can take no credit for the creation of it. Only the liberating of it from the 'creative commons'.
Yes, amusing, but only works where animated gifs are actually animated. It looks rather sad on stack overflow .

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Phill

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I had to look that up. Being most lame, I assume you mean the website of that name and not Wikipedia's technical explanation.

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"Time is the wisest counselor of all." - Pericles

"I remain not entirely convinced of it." - Nano

Indeed, I was rushing to do some stuff before bedtime, and did not consider carefully enough the clarity of that statement.
StackOverflow avatars do not animate, so mine is currently a dirty speck.

It amuses me to imagine someone trying to clean my avatar off their screen..... little things, little minds .

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Phill

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I've always found it simultaneously irritating and amusing. I imagine that you're quite happy with that response.

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"Only connect!"

https://youtu.be/ezbWVysJAOY
https://tapm.bandcamp.com/

As long as the amusement outweighs the irritation, then yes. If the pendulum swings too far the other way I will need to get a new avatar.

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Phill

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