Youth Recording Workshop
Polka Fireworks festival 2016, Seven Springs Mountain Resort, Champion PA
Eddie Blazonczyk Jr. wanted to continue a tradition of including a youth-oriented event at the Polka Fireworks festival. He contacted Randy Koslosky (IPA Polka Hall of Fame) to discuss the options for a youth event. Randy’s idea? To allow inspired young polka musicians, 21 years old and under, to have the opportunity to experience a recording session. He contacted John Zelasko, pitched the idea and asked if he would be interested in engineering the project. John agreed without hesitation. He asked Randy if he had a song in mind for the kids to record, and John thought it would be a great opportunity to write something especially for them. Randy was one step ahead of John and had already penned a song entitled “As Long As I’m Livin’”, a song about keeping the polka music tradition alive. The more they discussed the project, the more the ideas flowed. John suggested that, in addition to recording the audio, they video each young musician contributing their talent to the project. This would allow a polka video to be produced to capture the excitement and preserve the memories of the workshop.
Randy contacted Eddie Jr. and the discussed the logistics of hosting the event. After a few phone calls, the project was on!
Day 1
Throughout the day on Friday, July 1st, the recording of the various instrumental tracks began in The Alpine Room at Seven Springs. First, the drums were recorded to a midi click track (for timing). Bass and accordion were added shortly after. Randy and his brother Bernie coached the young rhythm section and were available to answer any questions.
Meanwhile, Kevin Adams (IPA Polka Hall of Fame) had the 9-piece trumpet section warming up in The Matterhorn Lounge. The trumpets recorded next, followed by the saxophones. A group of about 40 young and excited vocalists made their way into the Alpine Room and recorded the background group vocal. Afterwards, everyone listened to the recording and celebrated the event with a pizza party.
Day 2
On Saturday morning, the clarinets recorded their tracks, followed by the violin section, so they could all attend Big Dan’s Party in the afternoon. After all of the instrumental performances were recorded, the six lead vocalists made their way in and began to record each vocal separately. Ted Lange stopped by and helped coach some of the vocalists and put them at ease. The vocalists finished up, but there was still one thing left to do. Randy suggested that one of the girls do a piano gliss during the key change towards the end of the song. The only problem was that all of the girls were covered in shaving cream after Big Dan’s Party. Needless to say, one of the girls volunteered and, as they say, the rest is history.
Special Thanks
This special event couldn’t have happened without the efforts and dedication of so many people starting with the parents and families of the youth who participated.
Special thanks to the Blazonczyk family for their devotion to passing on polka music to the younger generation and for hosting the event.
Also, thanks to others who made special contributions to this event including:
Gene Swick, Frank Stetar, Kevin Adams, Bernie Koslosky, Ted Lange, Lisa Koslosky
Credits
Lead Vocal
Victoria Koslosky
Alli Lange
Matt Martin
Emily Olszewski
Rebecca Olszewski
Zach Piatkowski
Trumpet
Anthony Blazonczyk
Matt Kapka
Luke Martin
Matt Martin
Nate Meyer
Matthew Olszewski
Phillip Olszewski
Sarah Pigza
Jenna Zelasko
Violin
Sandra Koslosky
Victoria Koslosky
Emily Olszewski
Veronica Prytko
Clarinet
Emma Bogdon
Ally Kapka
Emily Olszewski
Alto Sax
Thomas Martin
Rebecca Olszewski
Tenor Sax
Zach Piatkowski
Keyboard
Rebecca Olszewski
Accordion
Garrett Tatano
Bass
Stanley Koslosky
Drums
Stush Stetar
Alex Woods
Group Vocals/Crowd
Anthony Blazonczyk, Andrew Bogdon, Emma Bogdon, Julia Gianandrea, Claire Hite, Ally Kapka, Matt Kapka, Ava Kepple, Scotty Kepple, Sandra Koslosky, Victoria Koslosky, Matt Martin, Thomas Martin, Liliana Matala, Joey Matala, Nate Meyer, Ivan Ognissanti, Joel Ognissanti, Paul Ognissanti, Sofia Rose Ognissanti, Jen Oleski, Joe Oleski, Emily Olszewski, Jake Olszewski, Matthew Olszewski, Phillip Olszewski, Rebecca Olszewski, Maddie Pelaum, Zach Piatkowski, Aubrey Post, Maryja Prytko, Veronica Prytko, Wanda Prytko, Maryrose Rovatti, Micah Smith, Garrett Tatano, Bella Tavoletti, Ania Toboy, Zosia Toboy, Chloe Volek, Ethan Volek, Grant Volek, Noah Volek, Vivienne Volek, Morgan Wilson, Jared Winiarz, Alex Woods
Music
“As Long As I’m Livin’” Written and arranged by Randy Koslosky Koz B Koz Publishing, BMI. © Mungry Records
Executive Producer: Randy Koslosky
Audio Recording Engineer: John Zelasko
Audio Mix: John Zelasko and Randy Koslosky
Video Production: Recorded, edited and produced by John Zelasko
Recorded in The Alpine Room at Seven Springs Mountain Resort, Champion PA