[Callers] Calling techno?

[Maia McCormick]

I don't think you would ever play a random non-vetted techno track for
contra, though. The DJs who get booked for these events are specifically
techno contra DJs.

On Fri, Mar 29, 2019 at 11:59 AM jim saxe via Callers <
callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

> On Mar 28, 2019, at 2:39 PM, Bob via Callers <
> callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>
> > ...
> > Live or mixed recordings? If live then it should be perfectly square
> AABB. If mixed, the only thing you can count on is 8-beat phrases. ...
>
> Can you even count on 8-beat phrases if someone, such as a caller or a
> knowledgeable DJ, hasn't vetted the tracks?
>
> I know practically nothing about techno music, but recordings in other
> genres that aren't made for phrased dancing will not necessarily follow
> strict 8-beat phrasing.  For instance ...
>
> It's pretty common for a folk singers accompanying themselves to play a
> few bars of guitar strums--and not always the same number--while trying to
> remember the first line of the next verse.  While I haven't gone looking
> for examples, I'd be surprised if such variable inter-verse vamping didn't
> sometimes appear even on studio recordings.
>
> In some fiddle traditions, such as southern and Quebecois, besides
> straight tunes and wildly crooked tunes, there are also tunes that are
> mostly straight but have an occasional odd phrase.  Even medleys of
> straight tunes can sometimes have some extra beats at the transitions
> between tunes, as heard around 0:59 in this video:
>
>      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLUyg173n_M
>      Yo-Yo Ma - Fiddle Medley ft. Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer, Chris Thile
>
> Line dances are mostly choreographed to music that's in multiples of 8
> beats, but exceptions are hardly unusual.  Also, in order to fit recordings
> that were made for listening and not specifically for dance routines,
> line-dance step sheets may prescribe various irregularities in the
> routines.  Here are just a few of the examples a little searching turned up:
>
>
> https://www.learn2dance4fun.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Boot-Scootin-Boogie.pdf
>      Boot Scootin’ Boogie
>      38 count, 4 wall, beginner line dance
>
>
> https://www.copperknob.co.uk/stepsheets/every-little-honky-tonk-ID132260.aspx
>      Every Little Honky Tonk
>      32-count, 4 wall line dance with 12-count tag after wall 2
>
>      http://tinalinedancers.com/data/documents/Came-Here-To-Forget.pdf
>      Came Here To Forget
>      Description: Line Dance - 2 Wall (24ct.) - Intermediate 1 Restart, 2
> Tags
>      Sequence: 24, 24, Tag 1, 14cts- Restart, 24, 24, Tag 2 (6cts.), 24,
> 24...
>
> For some other examples of music that's largely, *but not entirely*, in
> chunks of 8 beats (or eight bars of triple meter), try listening to any of
> these while tapping your foot or fingers and counting along:
>
>      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fg0kfd7kow4
>      Paul McCartney - When I'm 64
>
>      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33o32C0ogVM
>      Julie Andrews - My Favorite Things
>
>      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbyAZQ45uww
>      Nancy Sinatra - These Boots Are Made for Walkin'
>
> So here's my question, for those of you who are more familiar with techno
> music than I am:  If you play a random track not already "vetted" for
> phrasing, if you find a place where there's sufficiently discernible
> phrasing to establish a starting point for your "mental metronome of 8
> counts" (to quote Donna Hunt), if you use that mental metronome to carry
> you through a part where phrasing is less evident, and if you then get to
> another part with findable phrasing, how reliably (or not) can you expect
> that the phrases will still line up with your mental eight-counts?
>
> --Jim
>
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