Ted Lange Nominated For Second Grammy

Ted Lange, Ridgeville Corners, has musical talent not many can claim. Lange, far left, plays accordion with the four-time Grammy nominated polka band, John Gora and Górale. From left, Lange and fellow band members Robbie Piatkowski, John Gora, Greg Winiarz, Jack Beachly, Johnny Winiarz, and Kyle Pacey, not pictured, work together to arrange their songs. The group's 2007 Grammy nomination is Lange's second.- courtesy photo

Ted Lange is one of the lucky ones.

The Ridgeville Corners resident was nominated for a 2005 Grammy award with the band John Gora and Górale of Ontario, Canada.

It seems like the Grammys would be the experience of a lifetime. Yet Lange is lucky enough that he'll be pluralizing that experience this February.

The band has just been nominated for its second Grammy.

"To even get the nomination- just to be able to go in and be able to partake in that experience is just phenomenal," Lange said.

"This is about as good as it gets."

Grammy Category 76

"Never in a million years would I have considered that I'd be walking down the red carpet at the Grammy awards," said the 1994 Archbold High School graduate.

"It's something that so few people get to experience- especially someone from small-town America."

The nomination is Lange's second and the band's fourth.

Granted, we're not Kanye West," said Lange. "But it's still such an extreme honor."

The Grammys designate the best of the best in the opinions of experienced musicians. The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences members who choose the winners must have contributed in at least six released musical tracks just to cast a vote.

"It's all industry professionals," Lange said.

He described his first Grammy experience as "surreal."

"It's just a 'who's who' of music," he said. "I see Ricky Martin walking in front of me. I see Sheryl Crow and Lance Armstrong walking behind me.

"And I'm thinking to myself, 'I'm walking down the red carpet because I play accordion in a polka band.'"

Grammy Award field 17, category 76. Not many people even know it exists. Yet it's the category helping Lange earn his claim to fame.

A Way of Life

"I was raised around polka music, so it's always been a way of life for me," said Lange.

As he grew up, his parents, Don and Betty Lange, Archbold, played polka at anniversaries, weddings, and dances with their Buckeye Polka Band.

"It was always something every weekend," Lange said. "I always went along."

By age five, he was drumming a few songs at each performance. While Lange exhibited a natural talent for music, piano lessons and the Archbold School music program helped shape him into a "fine-tuned" musician.

During his school years, he filled in for local bands on drums or keyboard, but it wasn't until his junior year of high school that he found his true calling.

"I picked up an accordion my mom had lying around the house," he said. After years of piano lessons, he only had to add in pumping the accordion bellows.

"After that, it's been kind of a whirlwind of playing with different bands," Lange said.

While touring extensively with Toledo Polka Motion band, Lange met John Goya and began playing for him. "These bands all know each other and play a lot of the same venues," said Lange. "One thing led to the next."

Now he's been playing for John Gora and Górale off and on for almost four years, performing in over 100 jobs each year.

Stereotypes

Lange was raised on polka, but he knows that it's not a popular notch on the "Top 40" music charts. However, he would argue that polka isn't bad music, just misunderstood music.

"I think a lot of people have some misguided perceptions of what polka is," he said. "Most people have no idea what a polka dance is."

Anything in regular two-four time with a lively, danceable beat qualifies as polka, Lange said. "Outside of that, it's pretty much fair game."

In fact, Lange said the best way to describe the sound of Gora's Polish-style polka band is to combine country-western, bluegrass, tejano, and mariachi styles and throw in a touch of rock and roll.

Under the polka genre, the group plays everything from current Polish pop songs to covers of popular American songs like "The Letter" by Joe Cocker.

Lange said people at his concerts who have never heard polka before will find themselves humming along and not understand why until hearing the song's chorus.

"They'll say, '"That doesn't sound like polka.' But by definition, it is," said Lange.

During concerts, his own band, Squeezebox, plays polka only one-third of the time. "We try to play a little more diverse music to help do away with the nasty stereotype."

The stereotype may be on its way out. Lange said polka music is coming back on the radar. Attendance at the Hamler Summerfest rose last year after event organizers returned to the all-polka format, and Lange said he's played polka for crowds as large as 1,200- 1,400 persons.

"It kind of grows on you," he said of polka. "The music has really evolved, just like rock and roll since Elvis Presley. You have to come out to experience it to grasp it."

Round Number Two

Lange's 2007 nomination is for Best Polka Album after recording "Bulletproof Polkas" with John Gora and Górale.

The band will fly out a few days prior to the Grammys, which are Feb. 10 in Los Angeles, Calif.

"It makes for a pretty full weekend," he said.

There's the nominees' party the day before the Grammys, the televized Grammy Awards, and the after-party.

Not to mention the separate ceremony of which most people aren't aware. The pre-Grammy afternoon ceremony is when the awards not covered in the televized ceremony, which form the majority of awards, are announced and distributed.

At the Grammys, Lange, who said he's busy "gigging" most weekends, will experience a concert from a different perspective- in the audience.

"There's a lot of music going on that weekend," he said. "You're just glued to your seat. It's all top groups."

The Grammy Award celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, so it's a good time to be nominated. "This should prove to be a phenomenal concert," said Lange.