Re: [Callers] slow down...

bands that play together regularly ought not to take too long to choose tunes. bands that don't (such as monday night at the scout house) need more time. everybody has good nights and bad nights. from my point of view as a teacher/caller, i know that dancers do much better (especially newer dancers) if the dance starts immediately after the walk-thru. the longer they stand around, the more they forget about the dance. before the dance, i usually try to talk to bands about my thoughts on timing, and they are almost universally cooperative when i explain my goals and reasons. it's my job as a caller to cooperate, too. one thing that i have found useful is to give the band a list of what i might ask for during the evening so they have time to think (at least a little) during sound check, etc. the list might be something like this: 1. well-phrased reel 2. smooth driving reels 3. happy/bouncy jigs 4. smooth/sleazy jigs 5. something for a square dance etc etc etc. if i can give them an idea of what order i might want these in (though it almost always changes!), that's useful, too. and it's not that the band doesn't know what i want (i mean, really - they know what's needed for the dance!), but having a list defines the caller's needs in a way that can be quickly and easily understood and dealt with by the band. if i just tell them verbally more than one dance ahead, they can forget what i said just as easily as the dancers who are standing around can forget the dance. heck, *i* can forget what i said! sometimes the dancers line up really fast and only want one walk-thru. sometimes a string breaks. sometimes the band really just can't decide on the perfect set. for these reasons and others, maintaining the pace of the dance at a tempo that works for everyone can be a challenge! it's been interesting hearing everyone's thought on this. barb ----Original Message Follows---- From: Chris Weiler <chris.weiler(a)weirdtable.org> Reply-To: Caller's discussion list <callers(a)sharedweight.net> To: Shared Weight <callers(a)sharedweight.net> Subject: [Callers] slow down... Date: Tue, 29 May 2007 06:57:01 -0400 ...Before we started the 2nd to last dance of the first half, and I was waiting for the band to be ready to start the music, the fiddler snaps at me that I'm teaching too fast and it's much to stressful for choosing tunes!... _________________________________________________________________ Like the way Microsoft Office Outlook works? You’ll love Windows Live Hotmail. http://imagine-windowslive.com/hotmail/?locale=en-us&ocid=TXT_TAGHM_mig…