Just a note to say Squaredesk is a shareware program for Macs, and SquareView is a similar program for PCs.
I have been using SquareDesk for several years without a problem, and although I seldom use a loop function, it is easy to set up a loop.
You can turn the loop off during play, but remaining time depends on how much time remains in, and then outside the loop.
There are plenty of dance length tracks available nowadays, but I do use the loop to call the "Deep in the Heart of Texas" square dance.
The Bluegrass Hoedown CD by Williams and Bray has several dance length tracks on it, and it is my favorite CD when calling squares.
NEDM (New England Dancing Masters) has some great dence length music available as well, and they are my favorites for traditional contra dances.

Rich Sbardella
Stafford Springs, CT

On Mon, Aug 7, 2023 at 11:45 AM Tony Parkes via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

Well, it’s not exactly what you asked for, but these programs have a looping feature:

http://www.digitalmusicmagician.com/

http://squaredesk.net/

They’re made for MWSD callers and have a lot of features you probably don’t need, but I’ve used both for contras and trad squares.

 

As for long(er) contra tracks: When bands record music for sale, one of their priorities is to make the tracks interesting for those who are just listening. Most bands’ idea of a good listening track seems to max out at around 5 minutes – unless it varies the tempo, e.g. from slow air to jig to reel.

 

In the past, many bands were reluctant to issue tracks longer than 3 or 4 minutes. Reasons may have included hopes of airplay and worries that people would use longer tracks for dancing and be less likely to hire the band ‘live.’ This has changed: Many bands now routinely issue tracks of 9x32 measures (typically 3 tunes played 3x each), lasting around 5 minutes. Here are some of my favorites:

 

Jigs (6/8)
Brisk Young Lads (Canterbury Country Dance Orchestra)
Debbie Keller’s (Old New England, ONE:IV)
Little Burnt Potato (Greenfield Dance Band)
Murray River Jig (Don Roy, Thanks for the Lift)

 

Reels and Marches (2/4 or 4/4)
Chickadee’s Polka (New England Chestnuts)
Combination Rag (Strings and Things, on Lloyd Shaw label)
Golden Slippers (Williams and Bray, Bluegrass Hoedown)
Liza Constable’s (Old New England, ONE:TWO)
Mount Cashel’s Brigade (The Rhythm Rollers, Grand Right and Left)
Ross’ Reel #4 (New England Chestnuts 2)
Silver Spire (Greenfield Dance Band)

 

Most of these are still available, many from Great Meadow Music.

 

Tony Parkes

Billerica, Mass.

www.hands4.com

New book! Square Dance Calling: An Old Art for a New Century

(available now)

 

 

From: Harrison Keely via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net>
Sent: Monday, August 7, 2023 11:00 AM
To: contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net
Subject: [Callers] Recorded contra music

 

Hey, folks! Another techy contra question.

 

I’m hunting for a music app where I can splice a track into intro, AABB, and outro parts.

After the intro plays, the AABB could loop indefinitely until a button on screen is pressed to signal that I’m ready for it to play the outro.

 

Bonus points if it's an iPhone app. Does such a thing exist yet?

 

On a related note, I've had difficulty finding longer recordings of dance music (e.g. over five minutes).

Most tracks I find on Apple Music are but three or four minutes.

Any suggestions?

 

Thanks!

 

Harrison

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