Re: [Callers] Head Mikes and Mike Heads

I completely agree with Greg McKenzie about volume control. It's sometimes tempting to raise the volume of your calling when you see a couple or small group on the floor that are totally not getting it. The temptation is to raise your voice in hopes that they will hear you, which usually doesn't seem to help very much. Ultimately what it takes is for the clueless couple to migrate farther down the line to a section where there are more experienced dancers who can help them out. My problems with volume control usually arise when I'm working in a venue with an inadequate sound system, and I'm forced to raise my voice to be heard. I end up feeling pretty hoarse and gulping water by the end of a single dance. By contrast, I had the pleasant experience a few weeks ago of calling at a dance with an excellent sound system, which allowed me to speak into the mike at a conversational level. After a few minutes I could reduce my calling almost to a whisper as the dancers started getting the hang of things. Nevertheless, it's hard for me to imagine operating without a mike during the newcomers instruction. Where I usually call, the band is warming up, tuning up, and doing sound check while I'm instructing the novices. If I have a *very* small group (2 or 3 couples) I will take them aside and instruct without a mike. But it's more common for me to have over a dozen couples who have *never* danced before, and I simply can't communicate with them without electronic assistance. On those occasions when I've tried (because the sound system wasn't set up yet) I will invariably see newcomers at the end of the line cupping their hands around their ears, trying to hear my instruction. I always enjoy reading Greg McKenzie's input about calling issues, especially knowing that he's a speech communications professional. That said, I have to ask, what's the point of newcomers instruction if you're not going to teach a few basic dance figures to the novices? I can testify from much personal experience that some of those newcomers would end up standing frozen, terrified, and immobile after the music starts if they haven't had adequate instruction about the most common dance figures. I can only assume that Greg calls to a much more experienced crowd, where there are more seasoned dancers who can assist the novices. Lewis Land