Hi, Claire, I've done only a tiny amount of calling for the family dance crowd, but from what I've seen of the New England Dance Masters material and Marion Rose's material, and from seeing the authors in action either live or on video, I'd second both of Rich's recommendations. Another resource worth looking at is Dudley Laufman's _Traditional Barn Dances and Calling_, which comes packaged with two CD's of music (called and uncalled) and a DVD showing some of the dances. See http://www.humankinetics.com/products/all-products/traditional-barn-dances-… SF Bay area caller Erik Hoffman has a book called "Old-Time Dance Calling for Weddings, Parties, and One-Night Stands" http://www.erikhoffman.com/otdancebk.html If you get in touch with him and tell more about the group you're expecting to call for (What age-range of home-schoolers? Will a bunch of their younger siblings be there?), he might advise you as to how much of the material in it would be suitable for you. Cheers, --Jim

Thanks Rich, Jim, Ben and all! What I’m asking for is Kid-friendly information about music/dance. I’m sure someone has already taught a folk class or found resources online? I’m preparing for infants in carriers to teens dancing with parents and I’ll invite local contra dancers to help me hold the group and coordinate. I’m hoping to do a Grand March near the end if the group is able, and know I will want helpers to get lines to split at the top and join at the bottom. Yes I’ve been attending barn dances for a few months, dancing and learning from a great barn dance caller. I’ve got the Laufman book/CDs, as well as Peel the Banana. And I consulted with Frannie Marr who gave me a lot of great ideas for working with kids. Thanks so much for your time and help! Claire On Feb 2, 2016, at 1:18 PM, Rich Sbardella &lt;richsbardella(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote: My apologies to Dudley and Jacqueline. Their Traditional Barn Dances book, with DVD and CD are also on my shelf. Together they were an early inspiration, as I added community dance to my calling skills. I remember driving to Scout House to observe Dudley's unique calling/teaching style one Sunday afternoon, after purchasing his book, and before I tried to call any such dance programs myself. His simple dances were so effective with the families on hand. Additionally, I stress attending the types of dances that you want to call, as often as you can. Dancing a particular dance, is a great way to learn it, and to place it appropriately in your repertoire. I have many dance cards in my collection that I have not called, but I frequently call the ones that brought me joy as a dancer. Rich Stafford, CT On Tue, Feb 2, 2016 at 3:33 PM, James Saxe via Callers &lt;callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net <mailto:callers@lists.sharedweight.net>> wrote: Hi, Claire, I've done only a tiny amount of calling for the family dance crowd, but from what I've seen of the New England Dance Masters material and Marion Rose's material, and from seeing the authors in action either live or on video, I'd second both of Rich's recommendations. Another resource worth looking at is Dudley Laufman's _Traditional Barn Dances and Calling_, which comes packaged with two CD's of music (called and uncalled) and a DVD showing some of the dances. See http://www.humankinetics.com/products/all-products/traditional-barn-dances-… <http://www.humankinetics.com/products/all-products/traditional-barn-dances-with-calls--fiddling?isbn=9780736076128> SF Bay area caller Erik Hoffman has a book called "Old-Time Dance Calling for Weddings, Parties, and One-Night Stands" http://www.erikhoffman.com/otdancebk.html <http://www.erikhoffman.com/otdancebk.html> If you get in touch with him and tell more about the group you're expecting to call for (What age-range of home-schoolers? Will a bunch of their younger siblings be there?), he might advise you as to how much of the material in it would be suitable for you. Cheers, --Jim _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net <mailto:Callers@lists.sharedweight.net> http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net <http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net>

Claire, Are you looking for stuff like this? http://makingmusicfun.net/htm/f_mmf_music_library/hey-kids-its-a-violin.htm Or this (but maybe with more pictures and fewer words)? http://www.kidzsearch.com/wiki/Dance Or the kind of stuff that might be here http://kidzsearch.com/wiki/Country_Dance but isn't? Or super-easy crossword puzzles with answers like "fiddle", "banjo", "circle", "dosido", etc? Pictures of dancers from different times in history (colonial period, 19-century west, ...)? ...? --Jim

Claire, A while back, you wrote: Here are a few items that may be fun, educational, or both: 1. This web page http://www.voyagerrecords.com/LN358.htm has some interesting (to me, and perhaps also to some of the older kids in the group you'll be calling for) information about the role of music and dance in the Lewis and Clark expedition. These are notes to accompany a CD of tunes from that era. If you look at the note on the individual tunes, you'll learn (from the notes for track 18) that the Virginian Reel, also known as "Sir Roger de Coverley", was a favorite dance of George Washington. (Washington died in 1799, just a few years before the start of the Lewisand Clark expedition [1804-1806]). 2. In this video http://squaredancehistory.org/items/show/71 dance caller, musician, and historian Phil Jamison talks about the role of African American musicians i(mostly slaves, some free) in the development of dance calling. 3. Here's a Paramount newsreel (I wonder how many kids today know what newsreels were) about the world's biggest square dance, held as part of the Sant Monica Diamond Jubilee in 1950: http://squaredancehistory.org/items/show/1311 This page http://squaredancehistory.org/items/browse?tag=Santa+Monica has links to various other items about the event. You can read about some of the amazing organizational work that went into putting it on. (Chartered buses bringing in dancers from square dance clubs in surrounding cities, where they'd been practicing dances from the Diamond Jubilee program at their regular dance nights; local boy scouts with flags [pieces of colored cardboard on long sticks] signaling places where squares needed another couple so that they'd be more easily spotted in the huge crowd; all sorts of special preparations by the city Well, we’ll repave the street – we’ll put up this band stand – we’ll get the local anti-aircraft battery still stationed here to furnish the lighting – we’ll go to the studios – we’ll get them to set up the speakers – ... etc.) 4. Speaking of studios, did you know that Chuck Jones, one of the animators of Bugs Bunny and other Warner Brothers cartoon characters, was an avid square dancer? He sometimes contributed artwork and articles to _Sets in Order_ square dance magazine. Here are covers from all the issues of the magazine http://newsquaremusic.com/sioindex.html Can you some covers featuring Bugs and friends? Scroll down for a list of the ones I've found. | | V | | V | | V | | V | | V Keep going. | | V | | V | | V | | V | | V Just a little more. | V | | V | | V | | V | | V I see Bugs Bunny on the covers for March, 1951; April 1954; and June, 1956. The cover for June, 1962, shows Pepé Le Pew on his way from Paris to the National Square Dance convention in Miami. Cheers, --Jim

Claire, Let me add my voice to those recommending that you get hold of and study the books by the Laufmans, New England Dancing Masters, and Marion Rose BEFORE your family dance gig. As a new Family Dance caller, you need to learn a completely different repertoire than what you've been trying to learn as a new contra dance caller. Also, some of the skills are different. (As a contra dance caller you've been trying to keep your phrasing rock solid, but for a family dance you need to judge when to ignore the phrase and sight call - and what to do when you have two sets that are at different places in the dance.) Jacob Arlington, MA On Tue, Feb 2, 2016 at 4:18 PM, Rich Sbardella via Callers < callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; wrote: