[Callers] Re: Resources to turn musicians into dance musicians? - length of a typical dance?

Hi John (and everyone), just catching up on the listserv and went to your "Callers and Music" page-- very helpful info there! I wish I had found it last year when I was looking for resources for this caller-and-musician workshop that we did. In particular, I had searched all over the internet last year for some clue as to how many times through a typical improper duple contra dance would run, and had a real hard time finding that info. I had concluded that with 5 duples in a set (our usual), we might dance through up to 17 times, which would take about 9 minutes at 117bpm..... so that those who started at the top would get back to the top. Do you think that's too long? I was under the impression that in the US the lines are often longer than 5 duples, and that the convention was to dance long enough to let everyone travel up and down the line the whole way....so I was thinking that in a seasoned contra dance group the dance might go on 15 minutes or more? Very curious about this now! Kat Kitching in Halifax NS Sep 4, 2024 3:16:24 PM John Sweeney via Contra Callers <contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>et>: > Hi Seth, >               Linda Game (English Contra Dance Band) ran > a session for the Irish musicians who were going to play for the > first contra dance that we ran in Paris.  I have put a copy of her > notes at > https://contrafusion.co.uk/documents/LindaGameMusicianWorkshop.jpg - > I hope Linda won’t mind. >               One interesting exercise that she did was > to get four dancers to do some Rory O’Mores to a Reel, then the > same sequence to a Jig so that the band could see the effect on the > dancers. >               This is meant for callers: > https://contrafusion.co.uk/CallersandMusic.html but you might find > some useful points there. >               I have danced (ceilidh, but same > challenge) to a band who seemed to think that they were playing for a > concert.  They put in extra beats and ran improvisations across >  the phrases.  They went so wild that you couldn’t hear the > phrasing.  It was fantastic to listen to, but a nightmare to try to > dance to! >               It is crucial that the band understand > that the dancers are listening to the beat and the phrasing.  They > especially want to hear the beginning of A1 and B1 clearly and > unambiguously. >               Good luck! >             Happy dancing, >                    > John                       >                                     > John Sweeney, Dancer, England   john(a)modernjive.com 01233 625 362 & > 07802 940 574 > http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in > Kent            

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