11 Jan
2010
11 Jan
'10
4:03 p.m.
Marian and Parker Mann wrote:
I'm looking for comments on ... bands playing music far removed from
pieces traditionally associated with the form. The catalyst was a
mid-December dance in the northwest where "as a special treat" the
band shifted to rock music during the next-to-last contra. The
caller had stopped and we were left to our own devices. The A/B
parts and the beat were hard to pick out, and the dance began
breaking down as people had to guess when one move ended and another
began.
There's a long tradition of bands playing some popular music in with
more traditional dance music. As long as the songs they choose to use
are phrased or at least played in a way as to make the phrasing clear,
it usually works. For example, at the scout house this saturday the
band stunt double switched into the star wars cantina theme [1] from
dedicado a jos during one dance. The tune is AABB and they emphasized
the phrasing well. The dancers could hear the A and B parts and tell
when to start figures.
It sounds to me like in your case the band didn't really do a good
job: they chose a tune that didn't have good phrasing and then they
didn't compensate by inserting their own. Bands need to be careful
when they depart from the standard repertoire, but I don't see this as
a reason never to do so.
Jeff
[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dj7TNNb_W3U