[Callers] Blues for contra dancing

Erik Hoffman via Callers callers at lists.sharedweight.net
Sun Oct 18 18:57:24 PDT 2015


Blues for Contras:

There are several contras made up for the blues. Fred Park made up one 
of them, and I've made up three-for various occasions. I don't know that 
I'd recommend them for a beginner dance, but they're posted below.

Understanding the structure of the blues, and how it fits into the 
normal structure of contra music is important. Richard, below, is 
incorrect in saying "24 beats," because we think of bars as being 
2-beats each, and the blues uses bars that are 4-beats each. Thus, 
talking beats:
     32 2-beat bars = 64 beats, divided into four 16-beat sections (AABB)
     12 4-beat bars = 48 beats, which can be divided into three 16-beat 
sections

Using The Walking Blues (Paul Butterfield -- 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9dkse6R3Tg) and Roman numerals for 
chords (ask a musician) as our basic 12-bar blues, your common blues 
follows this structure or variants thereof:

A:
|I           |I          |I         |I         |
Woke up this moring, I, looked around for my shoes

B:
|VI        |VI        |I         |I         |
Woke up this morning, I, looked around for my shoes

C:
|V         |VI        |I         |V       |
Girl I had those, Whoa, mean old Walkin' Blues

OK, in this tune they don't play that V chord in the last measure, 
except in the instrumental part, but it's common.

One thing you need to watch out for is tempo. The Walkin' Blues is good. 
This is on the slow side:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D93PBlwBp8s

The first tune in this video of the fablulous Elmore James is a great 
speed, and has the basic "Blues Shuffle" backup (which is similar to a jig)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BgRO81Y5fU

The first tune of this great Muddy Waters video,/Rock Me Baby/, is a bit 
slow, but could be speeded up a bit easily. The second tune Hoochie 
Cootchie Man (3:13) is too slow. The third tune, /Trouble No More/ 
(6:04), is too fast.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40-oo1S2WEw

Remember, at a barn dance, many of the dances we do, like the Virginia 
Reel, or Strip the Willow, or other sort of "unphrased" dances don't 
need the strict 32-bar structure.


Those Blues Contras:

Blues Too
Improper—Blues
Erik Hoffman
A    Circle Left 1/2, Balance the Ring;  Swing Neighbor
B    Women Do Si Do 1-1/2;  Swing Partner
C    Circle Left ¾;  Balance the Ring, CA Twirl

Swinging Into Marriage
Becket—Blues
Erik Hoffman
A    Men Allemande Left 1/2 to a wave (4) Balance (4);  Swing Neighbor (8)
B    on Right diagonal: Women Allemande Right 1/2 (to a wave with Shadow 
on the diagonal (4), Balance (4);  Those same four Half Hey, Shadow 
start Left shoulder
C    Partner Balance & Swing

Christmas Blues
Becket (right progressing)
A    Petronella Balance, Neighbor Swing
B    Men Allemande Left  1-1/2; Partner Swing
C    Long Lines Forward & Back; Partner Promenade 1/2, with a big loop 
to next couple
 >>>>
Around 25 years ago we started doing a Christmas Night dance in Santa 
Barbara. Maybe 20 years ago Bayou Seco started playing for it, and we've 
been doing it for a long time! I love singing Elvis Presley's /Santa 
Claus is Back in Town/, so we've been doing a blues dance and using that 
song for about as long. Thus, we vary it a bit:/Fred Park's Ministry of 
Truth/, my /Blues Too/, and now /Christmas Blues/.

And finally:
     What does it say on the blue's player's tombstone?
         -- "I didn't wake up this morning..."

~erik hoffman
   oakland, ca


On 10/18/2015 3:13 PM, Richard via Callers wrote:
> The structure of a classic blues song is 12 bars long (24 beats). Modern blues bands do play a lot of tunes that are not in this structure.  In any case it might be interesting to think about contras that are or could be made to be 48 or 72 beats long, rather than 64.
>
> R
>
> Richard Hopkins
> 850-544-7614
> Hopkinsrs at comcast.net
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>
>> On Oct 18, 2015, at 4:01 PM, via Callers <callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>>
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>> Today's Topics:
>>
>>    1. Re: Dances For Short Line (Louie.cromartie via Callers)
>>    2. Re: Dances For Short Line (Linda Leslie via Callers)
>>    3. Musical styles for a Barn Dance question
>>       (Leslie Gotfrit via Callers)
>>    4. Re: Musical styles for a Barn Dance question
>>       (John Rogers via Callers)
>>    5. Re: Musical styles for a Barn Dance question
>>       (JD Erskine iDance via Callers)
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 1
>> Date: Sat, 17 Oct 2015 16:32:15 -0400
>> From: "Louie.cromartie via Callers" <callers at lists.sharedweight.net>
>> To: Martha Wild <mawild at sbcglobal.net>
>> Cc: sharedweight <callers at sharedweight.net>
>> Subject: Re: [Callers] Dances For Short Line
>> Message-ID: <C99FE837-4B91-4DDB-8469-645083D7DAB5 at gmail.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain;    charset=us-ascii
>>
>> Just curious. Robert doesn't recall writing (or calling) a dance called Saint Louis Cruise. Perhaps it was created by someone else.
>> -Louie (not a saint)
>> Send Callers mailing list submissions to
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>> Today's Topics:
>>
>>    1. Re: Dances For Short Line (Louie.cromartie via Callers)
>>    2. Re: Dances For Short Line (Linda Leslie via Callers)
>>    3. Musical styles for a Barn Dance question
>>       (Leslie Gotfrit via Callers)
>>    4. Re: Musical styles for a Barn Dance question
>>       (John Rogers via Callers)
>>    5. Re: Musical styles for a Barn Dance question
>>       (JD Erskine iDance via Callers)
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 1
>> Date: Sat, 17 Oct 2015 16:32:15 -0400
>> From: "Louie.cromartie via Callers" <callers at lists.sharedweight.net>
>> To: Martha Wild <mawild at sbcglobal.net>
>> Cc: sharedweight <callers at sharedweight.net>
>> Subject: Re: [Callers] Dances For Short Line
>> Message-ID: <C99FE837-4B91-4DDB-8469-645083D7DAB5 at gmail.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain;    charset=us-ascii
>>
>> Just curious. Robert doesn't recall writing (or calling) a dance called Saint Louis Cruise. Perhaps it was created by someone else.
>> -Louie (not a saint)
>>
>>> On Oct 16, 2015, at 12:56 AM, Martha Wild via Callers <callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>>>
>>> It's a good time to call dances that might need extra space along the line - for example, there are some dances with a ladies chain up and down as opposed to across the set such as Saint Louis Cruise by Robert Cromartie.
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 2
>> Date: Sat, 17 Oct 2015 17:12:51 -0400
>> From: Linda Leslie via Callers <callers at lists.sharedweight.net>
>> To: "Louie.cromartie" <louie.cromartie at gmail.com>
>> Cc: sharedweight <callers at sharedweight.net>
>> Subject: Re: [Callers] Dances For Short Line
>> Message-ID: <F564544E-28C1-4939-8285-71308A7036B1 at comcast.net>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252
>>
>> I believe it was written by Roger Diggle?.
>> Linda
>>
>>> On Oct 17, 2015, at 4:32 PM, Louie.cromartie via Callers <callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>>>
>>> Just curious. Robert doesn't recall writing (or calling) a dance called Saint Louis Cruise. Perhaps it was created by someone else.
>>> -Louie (not a saint)
>>>
>>>> On Oct 16, 2015, at 12:56 AM, Martha Wild via Callers <callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> It's a good time to call dances that might need extra space along the line - for example, there are some dances with a ladies chain up and down as opposed to across the set such as Saint Louis Cruise by Robert Cromartie.
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Callers mailing list
>>> Callers at lists.sharedweight.net
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>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 3
>> Date: Sat, 17 Oct 2015 21:02:33 -0600
>> From: Leslie Gotfrit via Callers <callers at lists.sharedweight.net>
>> To: callers at sharedweight.net
>> Subject: [Callers] Musical styles for a Barn Dance question
>> Message-ID: <00563DE5-85B3-4272-810C-6A2CC08B86F8 at me.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252
>>
>> I?ve been asked to call a one hour set in a rural heritage hall for a party for about 130 folks. There will be two sets at the end of the evening with a Blues Band. Yep, its a bit odd, but the organizer wants to bring all his various friends together and thought, rightly, that having someone organize some dancing would help that along. Has anyone ever called a community dance (circle mixers, scatter sets, longways, maybe a square) to a blues band? The band seems willing to work with me. Any suggestions about what to say to them so that I could call La Bastringue or Galopede, for example, and it would work?
>>
>> Any suggestions for youtube links for a caller calling to something other than the usual trad tune? I could bring in a fiddler and ask the band to back the fiddler up. Any advice on doing it that way?
>>
>> Is this so ridiculous that you?re all doubled over laughing? People will be there not because they are blues lovers so much as their buddy is throwing a party.
>>
>> In any case, I?d be grateful for advice
>> Leslie Gotfrit
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 4
>> Date: Sun, 18 Oct 2015 00:24:52 -0700
>> From: John Rogers via Callers <callers at lists.sharedweight.net>
>> To: Leslie Gotfrit <lgotfrit at me.com>
>> Cc: "callers at sharedweight.net" <callers at sharedweight.net>
>> Subject: Re: [Callers] Musical styles for a Barn Dance question
>> Message-ID: <65CF175B-3ADF-4823-9D15-A42D75F21167 at icloud.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
>>
>> With the right cooperation from the band it could work out just fine.  I've called contras to all sorts of music, including Romanian folksongs.  But, you do need to talk with them about the fact that every tune needs to be 32 bars and of uniform tempo.  (And the tempo should be an appropriate one.)  The AABB structure that we are used to is nice, but you can probably cope with ABCD if that is what they will play.   It will help if you can get a recording of them playing, so you can get used to timing your calls.
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>>> On Oct 17, 2015, at 8:02 PM, Leslie Gotfrit via Callers <callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>>>
>>> I?ve been asked to call a one hour set in a rural heritage hall for a party for about 130 folks. There will be two sets at the end of the evening with a Blues Band. Yep, its a bit odd, but the organizer wants to bring all his various friends together and thought, rightly, that having someone organize some dancing would help that along. Has anyone ever called a community dance (circle mixers, scatter sets, longways, maybe a square) to a blues band? The band seems willing to work with me. Any suggestions about what to say to them so that I could call La Bastringue or Galopede, for example, and it would work?
>>>
>>> Any suggestions for youtube links for a caller calling to something other than the usual trad tune? I could bring in a fiddler and ask the band to back the fiddler up. Any advice on doing it that way?
>>>
>>> Is this so ridiculous that you?re all doubled over laughing? People will be there not because they are blues lovers so much as their buddy is throwing a party.
>>>
>>> In any case, I?d be grateful for advice
>>> Leslie Gotfrit
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Callers mailing list
>>> Callers at lists.sharedweight.net
>>> http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 5
>> Date: Sun, 18 Oct 2015 01:12:55 -0700
>> From: JD Erskine iDance via Callers <callers at lists.sharedweight.net>
>> To: callers at lists.sharedweight.net
>> Subject: Re: [Callers] Musical styles for a Barn Dance question
>> Message-ID: <56235487.2060704 at shaw.ca>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed
>>
>> On 2015-10-17 2002, Leslie Gotfrit via Callers wrote:
>> snip
>>
>>> In any case, I?d be grateful for advice
>>> Leslie Gotfrit
>> Try it. Maybe. <grin>
>>
>> I worked a Contra series dance with my first (advertised as such) old
>> time band tonight. The No Jigs thing initially felt a bit unsettling,
>> however the musicianship and music was great. No medleys, which I'm fine
>> with, and a bit of joint effort looking for variety had it work out
>> well. I'd mentioned all the basic parameters and communications points
>> prior to the event and tonight we went over them before the intro
>> session this series hosts.
>>
>> This past summer I worked with my first Bluegrass band. I'd been
>> concerned a bit with that as well. A "Contra", really a barn dance/ONS
>> on "grass" (beaten down by the sheep for a few years), worked out well.
>>
>> I covered off the points John Rogers made about tempo, length with both
>> of them. Also starts and endings, who to talk to about what, how to
>> speed up/slow down (if possible.) All the usual things.
>>
>> A few weeks ago I attended a free, intro night of MWSD. The point I took
>> away from that was that someone could really use any music if it met the
>> basic criteria. There were Beatles tunes/songs, pop "standards" and
>> such. Not much in the way of tune as many of us might generally expect
>> or appreciate.
>>
>> A number of callers I've experienced have offered the old saw that a
>> dancers need for rhythm might just as easily be met by a drum stick
>> attached to a car wiper as a band.
>>
>> If the band is not an established one, or don't have a recording, some
>> practises/time with several of them playing prior to the event might
>> prove useful. It might also be a chance to introduce some of the key points.
>>
>> A friend was working with a "Celtic" band a winter ago and had to work
>> mostly on -- endurance, even tempo, how to start and end. Doing so
>> seemed to suck up quite a bit of energy and take several sessions.
>>
>> So, it appears it is also good to know when to bail on an idea in some
>> fashion if it appears bleak. For any of these one may require more lead
>> time/contact time that might be expected.
>>
>> Cheers, John
>> -- 
>> J.D. Erskine
>> Victoria, BC
>>
>> Island Dance - Folk & Country
>> Vancouver Island & BC islands
>> dance info - site & mail list
>> http://members.shaw.ca/island.dance/
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
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