20 Feb
2025
20 Feb
'25
10:05 p.m.
Musician and educator John Krumm has made his book "Tune Sets for Contra
Dances," previously ~$20, now available as a free download. I had
previously bought a multi-copy license for our new dance's open band.
I highly recommend the book for note-reading musicians who are interested
in learning to play for dances. Krumm, a formally trained musician,
dancer, caller as well as a career childhood educator, clearly and
knowledgeably explains how to play for dances. He then provides a
musically tasteful choice of tunes and chord arrangements to do the job.
Selections range from easy to challenging. Among the gems are some
Quebecoise tune sets, an area of music where he's collected and published a
separate volume.
Tune Sets for Contra Dances
100 Dance tunes arranged as medlies for note readers who want to play for
Contra Dancing.
Adobe Acrobat Document 9.8 MB
https://www.johnkrumm.com/
As a point of self-correction, this is a far easier route than asking
musicians to absorb what's happening in Earth Wind and Fire's
"September"
-- or Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" or asking them to travel to N.
Carolina and take David Kaynor's class.
I hope this helps.
Rob
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Robert Matson
Innovation Media Corp.
The Innovation Works, Inc.
Cell: (917) 626-2675
On Thu, Feb 20, 2025 at 2:42 PM Russell Owen via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Very nice document. Thank you for sharing it!
As a nit pick, I am a bit surprised that you list Arkansas Traveler as a
good tune. Unless it is played with very clear phrasing, it can be
difficult to tell where the tune begins (is that first measure a pickup or
the start of the tune?).
I appreciate your emphasis on steady, danceable tempo. I have found that
experienced musicians may not really internalize that until they actually
play for a dance.
Regards,
Russell
On Feb 19, 2025, at 5:46 AM, Tepfer, Seth via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Joseph
I recently did a community dance with a group of experienced musicians who
had never played for a contra dance. Here is a document I sent them:
Musician Suggestions
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WPOntWOMeEfueDpRgMdAI6G1rkbE3ir9a1XGZfFCXyQ/edit>
docs.google.com
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WPOntWOMeEfueDpRgMdAI6G1rkbE3ir9a1XGZfFCXyQ/edit>
<kix-favicon-2023q4.ico>
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WPOntWOMeEfueDpRgMdAI6G1rkbE3ir9a1XGZfFCXyQ/edit>
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WPOntWOMeEfueDpRgMdAI6G1rkbE3ir9a1XGZfFCXyQ/edit>
Good luck!
Sent from my iPhone
On Feb 19, 2025, at 2:46 AM, Joseph Erhard-Hudson via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Hi all,
I live in a relatively isolated community in the contra dance world. To
the extent we have a house caller it's me. We are trying to foster and
develop new callers, but you gotta have bands too. So,
I'd welcome your thoughts on working with new bands.
My motive for asking is, a couple of times in the last year we have had
new bands come play for our monthly dance. One was a blue-grassey country
band. Another was a family group playing predominantly Irish tunes. Their
musical skills were fine and their repertoire was serviceable, and they did
okay, but there were definitely some rough spots.
New musical talent is a valuable commodity for us, and I want to set them
up for success. So, how would you approach this? I'd especially love to
hear from folks who have done this sort of thing before, but all thoughts
are welcome.
Joseph Erhard-Hudson
Moscow, Idaho, USA
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