Irish Tune Category: Clipped Polkas

A 7/8 polka in homage to pizza! I call this kind of polka a Clipped polka because part of the usual polka rhythm is clipped off.

This home demo recording was made with a nylon string guitar and a kettle played with conductor’s batons.

A polka in 7/4 time. I call this a clipped polka because if you add up all the beats and compare it to a normal polka, you get one less beat every seven beats! This tune is dedicated to Jane, a friend of my wife and I. The day I composed the tune she told us she was having a wrestling match with the rhubarb in her garden!

Cormac’s Clip (Clipped Polka)

In January 2021 I came up with the idea of composing a Polka with a missing beat, a tune form I’m calling a Clipped Polka. This changes the rhythm from 2/4 to 5/4. I imagined how a tune in this rhythm might sound in Dingle, Co. Kerry and out came this tune quite quickly. It is dedicated to the great concertina player Cormac Begley. The tune should be played loudly with a powerful, undulating rhythm. No compromise!