30 May
2017
30 May
'17
9:16 p.m.
So, a while back I was working with a band and they played a tune that was sort of new for
them, and the A part was fine, but the B part was unusual anyway, and hard to know where
the count was, in particular because they were unfamiliar with it, and I tried to count
and call so the dancers could keep going, and it kept coming back together in the A, but
falling apart in the B, until things snowballed and the dance completely fell apart. What
is the best thing to do or say in a situation like that so that the band doesn’t feel too
much as if it is their fault, and the dancers don’t feel it’s their fault? And yes, it’s
always the caller’s fault, since I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what the heck
was going on with that tune, but the dancers couldn’t find their way in it either. Anyway,
back to what to do to make everyone feel a little better after that.
Martha
30 May
30 May
9:38 p.m.
In the moment, move right along. Next dance needs to be rock-solid, next
tune needs to be rock solid. Drop the difficulty through the floor and get
your dancers dancing again as quickly as possible. Don't dwell and let the
dancers forget it ever happened.
Afterwards either ask the band to play it for you again if you have time
and see if you can work it out collectively or just say something on the
lines of "It's a shame I just couldn't seem to get the hang of tune X, is
there something unusual about it?" Ideally of course the band will have
been paying attention and be suitably annoyed at themselves that they
didn't get it right (the absolute optimal response of course would have
been for the band to have changed tune).
Bob
On Tue, May 30, 2017 at 10:16 PM, Martha Wild via Callers <
callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
So, a while back I was working with a band and they
played a tune that was
sort of new for them, and the A part was fine, but the B part was unusual
anyway, and hard to know where the count was, in particular because they
were unfamiliar with it, and I tried to count and call so the dancers could
keep going, and it kept coming back together in the A, but falling apart in
the B, until things snowballed and the dance completely fell apart. What is
the best thing to do or say in a situation like that so that the band
doesn’t feel too much as if it is their fault, and the dancers don’t feel
it’s their fault? And yes, it’s always the caller’s fault, since I couldn’t
for the life of me figure out what the heck was going on with that tune,
but the dancers couldn’t find their way in it either. Anyway, back to what
to do to make everyone feel a little better after that.
Martha
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9:45 p.m.
On 5/30/2017 2:16 PM, Martha Wild via Callers wrote:
So, a while back I was working with a band and they
played a tune that was sort of new for them, and the A part was fine, but the B part was
unusual anyway, and hard to know where the count was, in particular because they were
unfamiliar with it, and I tried to count and call so the dancers could keep going, and it
kept coming back together in the A, but falling apart in the B, until things snowballed
and the dance completely fell apart. What is the best thing to do or say in a situation
like that so that the band doesn’t feel too much as if it is their fault, and the dancers
don’t feel it’s their fault? And yes, it’s always the caller’s fault, since I couldn’t for
the life of me figure out what the heck was going on with that tune, but the dancers
couldn’t find their way in it either. Anyway, back to what to do to make everyone feel a
little better after that.
Martha
Much depends on your band. I was once able to rescue a situation like
that by saying to the band "I need stronger phrasing," but not every
band can respond to that mid-tune. I've had some cases where the tunes
were just weird or wrong in some way and unfixable, and the bands were
unwilling or unable to change tunes. Usually I've just gritted my
teeth, kept calling and calling and ended the dance as quickly as I
could. I was able once, when the problem with the tune was evident
right away, to stop the dance as we were heading into the second time
through. I said something on mic like "Sorry about that folks. I need
to pick a different tune," which kind of deflected it from the band to
me. The musicians were cool about it and since the dancers hadn't
really gotten into the groove yet it worked ok. But when you're well
and truly into the dance and it's a dysfunctional slog, it's hard to
pull the plug.
It helps to have a bulletproof fun dance that you can switch to after
something like that, a quick teach with a strong tune, where you can
shake off the ickies and get everyone back into a good mood.
Kalia
31 May
31 May
4:29 p.m.
Hi Martha,
If the band was playing a medley of tunes, was this tune 1st, 2nd, or
3rd? If there was still another tune in medley after this one, then I
would probably ask the band to switch to the next tune ASAP. And hope
for the best that the next tune was better than the current tune. If the
problem tune was the last tune in the medley, then I would just end the
dance early and as gracefully as possible. Thank the band profusely for
an "interesting" tune, everyone laughing. Then I would pull out a
rock-solid fun dance -- maybe even an easy no-walk-through -- for the
next dance and move on.
Woody
On 5/30/2017 2:16 PM, Martha Wild via Callers wrote:
So, a while back I was working with a band and they
played a tune that was sort of new for them, and the A part was fine, but the B part was
unusual anyway, and hard to know where the count was, in particular because they were
unfamiliar with it, and I tried to count and call so the dancers could keep going, and it
kept coming back together in the A, but falling apart in the B, until things snowballed
and the dance completely fell apart. What is the best thing to do or say in a situation
like that so that the band doesn’t feel too much as if it is their fault, and the dancers
don’t feel it’s their fault? And yes, it’s always the caller’s fault, since I couldn’t for
the life of me figure out what the heck was going on with that tune, but the dancers
couldn’t find their way in it either. Anyway, back to what to do to make everyone feel a
little better after that.
Martha
2761
days inactive
2762
days old
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3 comments
4 participants
participants (4)
-
Bob Morgan via Callers -
Kalia Kliban via Callers
-
Martha Wild via Callers
-
Woody Lane via Callers