ChucKsylvania Polka

James Yasha Cunningham

Final assignment for the ChucK programming class. A non-octave scale is used: 7EDT, seven equal divisions of the tritave (3/1 – an octave and a fifth). There is lots of random variation when performed on the computer.

Although it’s instrumental, I wrote some dorky lyrics for this polka, in part referring to a rant by Giles Bowkett who wrote: “ChucK is for smart but lazy people who coast on their intelligence and don’t care if they never make a difference in the world.”

// If you’re smart and lazy simply take your brains and coast
// to a land that takes its name from marmots or a roast.
// ChucKsylvania’s polka beats are always strongly timed.
// It doesn’t even matter that the lyrics seldom scan.

// Chuck your unit generator to dac or to blackhole.
// Chuck your floating value to a filter with two poles.
// If you’ve got an @ sign you can even chuck arrays.
// Chuck to now durations lasting thirty-seven days.