First, a friendly reminder please to sign your last name to your posts (and some would like your city/state, too, but I’ll settle for a full name :-)

CDSS had a webinar on open bands that you may find useful:

Creating a Thriving Open Band - Country Dance & Song Society cdss.org

Lisa Greenleaf

On Sep 4, 2024, at 1:16 PM, Joseph Erhard-Hudson via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

Another learning opportunity I’ve run into with new-to-our-world players is mechanics like potatoes, tune changes if there are any, and signaling for last times through. If they have played sessions the latter two may be okay, but in any case I’d suggest practicing starts and stops during setup, just to be sure. 

Sheet music is a good idea because it can also be vetted. I had an old time band cross over once … they had a couple of veteran contra dancers, yet they still put Cherokee Shuffle in a medley. By luck the extra measure coincided with a swing and was easy to adjust to. 

-Joseph 

Sent from my phone, which has odd ideas about formatting sometimes.

On Wed, Sep 4, 2024 at 9:07 AM Amy Larkin via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

Let them know it's all about the rhythm.  Rock steady & relentless.  Subtle emphasis on the upbeat can lift people up for dancing. Musicality is luscious, as long as no one's taking liberties with the beat.  

Also to be prepared to take cues from the caller to gradually(!) slow down or speed up, just in case.  And keep a third eye on the caller for when to stop.

Individual notes not as important as beat.

Well phrased straight ahead tunes with short (4 bar) phrases tend to be easy for new dancers to latch onto.  Easily recognizable tunes such as Irish Washerwoman, Turkey in the Straw, & Arkansas Traveller are good choices.

I generally prefer major keys for ONS.  

Sounds like a fun challenge!  You gotta corral the orchestra as well as the dancers.  😵‍💫

Amy

On Wed, Sep 4, 2024, 11:36 AM Tep fer, Seth via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

Hello hive mind

I have an upcoming ONS gig with a group of people who are all professional musicians, but have never played together nor played for a dance. What resources are out there to help give these musicians an understanding of what is coming for them? Any web videos or PDFs of hints so they know what to expect? They are asking for sheet music and videos, which will help but I know there is much more to it than that.

Seth

Seth Tepfer, MBA, CSM, PMP (he, him, his)

Senior IT Manager, Emory Primate Center

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Book time to meet with me

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