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

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