Les Poules Huppées ("Crested Hens") + Far Away ~ Waltz

Here are two really pretty tunes: A French tune called Les Poules Huppées / Crested Hens (written by Gilles Chabenat), and an American waltz called “Far Away” (written by Pete Jung). Both of these tunes seem to pop up a lot in sessions near where I live, so I thought I’d play them together! =)

I’ve heard Les Poules Huppées , or “Crested Hens” in English, played all sorts of different ways – from upbeat and fast jig-like tune, to a slow waltz. I thought I’d try a slow version for this video. Initially I was going to play it like a slow jig, but once I got to work composing the backing track, the waltz vibe took over. ^_^ There’s something about the D# that pops in the B part that sounds so cool as a waltz! The waltz timing also helped blend the tune with Far Away.

Far Away is a really pretty waltz. It starts off very minor and dark. Then it becomes a little bit major for the B part, only to turn minor again. It is a really pretty and flowing tune. It makes me think of “leaving something behind” that you may or may not be able to see again. It also sort of makes me think of driving down a long winding road.

At first, I wanted to wait until summer was in full swing to film this (the weeping willow footage was from last summer…), but once I saw how melancholy the setting looked with the green grass but barren tree branches, I thought it fit the minor key of the tunes much better than flowers and pretty green trees could.

My family used to have chickens, so I added a clip of them pecking at the grass in the backyard of one of the houses I grew up in. The first song is named after chickens, so I thought it would be a good video to put a little memory of them in. ^_^ The chickens have long since passed, and I miss them. We never ate the chickens – we considered them as little pets that laid fresh eggs (we did eat the eggs...). I used to spend a rather large amount of time with them when I could. They had big personalities for such little chickens, and the “pecking order” is a real thing! They were always pecking at each other and reminding themselves about who was the boss… They also often tried to peck at my toes if I painted my toenails a red or pink color. I think the chickens thought the painted toenails were berries. lol! Now I’m reminiscing about the chickens who took up only a few seconds of the video…this is becoming a really random video description. :o

I hope I spelled the French title right! I definitely don’t know how to speak French, so I’m hoping Google and Google Translate spelled it right for me. =S

Thank you for watching, and I hope you have a good rest of the week! =)

~ Katy

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Software and equipment used:

Software used (for Macintosh):
Garageband for attempted sound mixing

Final Cut Pro for video editing
PicMonkey.com for the ending cards

Plugins for sound effects (I have A LOT to learn in this department!):
East West plugins – Goliath Virtual Instrument, Stormdrum II
Best Service Forest Kingdom II by Eduardo Tarilonte (See: bestservice.de)

Camera:
Canon 70D
The Chicken clip was filmed by my parents, but I'm not sure what camera they used at the time. The clip was filmed nearly a decade ago.

Microphone for audio recording:
Blue Woodpecker