Re: [Callers] Calling to the tune Sheepskin and Beeswax

Delia, Your band member is very observant, and your bands should respect your request to not use tunes that don't work well for the dances. My experience is, if I'm getting messed up by the music as a caller, the dancers are as well, which affects the enjoyment of the dance. When this happens on the fly, I often see if the band can change tunes in midstream, which many good bands can do. There are many French-Canadian and old-time tunes that are either crooked (have extra or missing beats or measures), have extra or short parts, or are highly syncopated. While many of these tunes are really fun to dance to if you don't need a square tune (32 bars), for example for a square dance, they obviously won't work for a contra dance. In addition, I have had some old-time players insist that a tune is 32 bars, but it sure doesn't feel that way. I have counted these tunes, and they either have a melody that crosses a phrase, making it syncopated, starts on an upbeat, or just doesn't work, for whatever reason. At least the bands that I ask to not play a particular tune are willing to refrain from doing so. It helps if you can go to their practice and hear what they are planning to play. When I listen to "Sheepskin and Beeswax" (an excellent tune that's fun to play) what I hear is that the 2 A phrases are almost identical, in that they have 4-bar phrases repeated twice for each A part, and the same is true for the B part. Because there is so much repetition in the phrases, I can imagine that it might be difficult to differentiate where you are in the part. Because I am a musician as well as a caller and dancer, I have a fairly innate sense of 4- and 8-bar phrases, but if you are not used to listening to such phrases, it can be a challenge. I don't know your background, but if there is a tune that gives you trouble, perhaps listening to a recording of it until you are familiar with it could help. Just a side story: I was dancing to a well-known Scottish-style fiddler who had a rock-n-roll style guitarist and a jazz bassist (who had never played for a dance before). Even I was having trouble figuring out where we were in the music and so was having trouble with the dance. I asked the inimitable Warren Argo, who was doing sound, if he had noticed this problem. He said that the band actually mentioned that even they hadn't known where they were in the music. (This was due mostly to a lot of improvisation on the band's part.) Hopefully that never happens to any of us! Suzanne Girardot Seattle, WA -----Original Message----- a couple of sets that they play in which I consistently mess up. In the middle of an evening of everything going well, I suddenly find that I am lost and have a hard time finding my way back, even with extreme focus. This, needless to say, is not good! pay really close attention before they start. I have also begun to wonder, though, whether some jigs/reels are just not as good for dancing as others. I have been discussing this with the band, raising the idea that maybe they could save these tunes that challenge me for some of their non-dance gigs (fairs, bandstand, background music, etc). Some of them are receptive, others not. difficult to call to, and how you have handled it. what one of the band members wrote to me about it: "Rhythmically, it's a challenging tune for the band. There's a lot of syncopation going on between instruments and because it's French Canadian to play it properly means lots of upbeat emphasis. It's a challenging tune to play well. Even if we played it very well and fast enough (and that's been a problem for dancers and caller) I think it would still be challenging to call to and dance to because of how the rhythm and notes don't go well together."