Re: [Callers] Planned vs. "on-the-fly" call wording (was Re: Circle & pass through as the last move of a dance)

Jonathan Sivier wrote: and then offered various reasons. I think he makes some good points. But except for the brief remark he doesn't say just what he does about the kind of situation I was describing, namely calling (or preparing to call) a dance that includes a sequence of short moves for which it may be difficult to blurt out well-timed calls "on the fly". Greg's recommendation, as I understand it, is to have calls written out verbatim (including timing) on the dance card. I think there are other things a caller can do besides, on the one hand, reading calls verbatim from a card or, on the other hand, just coming up with words on the fly. In the days leading up to a dance event, you could pick out those dances in your program (including back-up dances) that you think may be hard for you to call "on the fly." Then you could play some recordings of contra dance music and practice calling them, either while seated or while dancing one person's part and imagining the other dancers, until you're confident that you've come up with good words and timing and that you can do so again at the event. As you practice, you might try using different wordings, aiming to get to a point where you're confident that, if you wished, you could vary the wording at the event without messing up your timing. If you do write down exact call words and timing, then instead of reading them at the event, you could memorize them during the time before the event. Or you could use them as the starting point for a practice session where you practice not only with the words you've written but also with variant wordings. And after having practiced to the point where you think you can deliver clear and accurately timed calls without relying on a card, you might nonetheless keep the card at hand in case you have a momentary mind lapse while you're calling. Conversely, even someone who is an unabashed card reader might find that if they're planning to call a dance with challenging or unusual call timing, some practice to music beforehand may help them deliver the calls more comfortably and with more natural prosody than if they were to just read the calls cold from the card on the night of the dance. The range of things that any particular caller can call without some advance rehearsal/brush-up (and without reading from a card) may vary with experience. Before I called my very first contra, "Scout House Reel", I played an album of contra music and practiced calling the dance all the way through each of several tracks, until I could do it without ever feeling tongue-tied and I reliably had my imaginary dancers finishing the B2 as each track ended. Nowadays I wouldn't need that sort of preparation for "Scout House Reel" or even for dances with somewhat more difficult timing issues (the sequence "circle left 3/4 (6); pass through (2)" that started this thread being just one of many examples). But there certainly are still dances for which I'd be well advised to put in some prep time before calling. --Jim On Feb 13, 2014, at 11:03 AM, Jonathan Sivier wrote: