Musicians

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341 discussions

by mreddig＠theriver.com

I have two possible reasons for your success. 1) Open Bands can help build your community by bringing in new people (stakeholders) with enthusiasm. 2) Peter Barnes and Debby Knight are masters at creating dynamic music from an otherwise disconnected group of musicians. I suggest it is not the quality of musicians in the Open Band, but the quality of the band leaders that gives life to the band. Mike --- jeff(a)alum.swarthmore.edu wrote: From: Jeff Kaufman <jeff(a)alum.swarthmore.edu> To: A list for dance organizers <organizers(a)sharedweight.net> Subject: [Organizers] Open Bands Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:31:10 -0500 Open bands have a reputation for being less enjoyable to dance to. I've heard dancers say they avoid open band nights, or that while they understand the role of the open band in fostering musicians they wish they weren't needed. Now that I'm helping organize them with BIDA, however, I'm not seeing this. In fact our attendance is higher, people have a great time, and I don't hear complaints. Afterwards a dancer wrote that they had "never seen that much positive engagement between the band and the dancers." A video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MENiFoiMq5Y I see two explanations: (1) open bands are not actually unpopular and I was just listening to the small number of people who don't like them or (2) BIDA is doing something right. I don't know which it is, but I figured I would describe what BIDA has been doing in case it's (2). (BIDA has had four open band nights. I've only been involved with the most recent three, so what I have below is about these three.) In scheduling the open band we first find a band leader. We've had Peter Barnes twice and Debby Knight once, both have been great. They both primarily played piano, but also can play other instruments if someone else wants to take a turn on piano. This is the only paid role; everyone else playing pays admission on a $0-$10 sliding scale. We have two rows, sorting people by experience. We mic everyone in the front row and most of the people in the back, though there are often some who don't want to be mic'd or who need to take turns with limited mics. It's helpful that we have a large stage. Everyone plays at once. At our most recent dance we had: (front row) caller, piano, 6x fiddle (back row) double bass, whistle, recorder, fiddle, octave mandolin. Reading through this, nothing sounds very different from other open bands I've been to. Which makes me think it's not actually about how we run the band and instead about the musicians who decide to come. Maybe what's going on is that we're drawing from a different group? I wonder if there's an effect where when an open band has been around longer many of the best musicians move on and you have mostly people who aren't interested in or aren't able to get booked for other dances? If this were happening I would expect that in general open bands that were newer would be better; are they? Jeff ( Also a blog post: http://www.jefftk.com/news/2012-01-17.html ) _______________________________________________ Organizers mailing list Organizers(a)sharedweight.net http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/organizers

13 years, 2 months

[Organizers] Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend 2012

by Chris Weiler (SW)

Hello everyone! Once again, this weekend is the Ralph Page event at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, NH. Once again, many of us will be there. Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend this year, as I have for the past several years. I sincerely hope that all of you that are attending will continue the SharedWeight lunches on Saturday and Sunday during the festival. Would someone like to step up and volunteer to push tables together for everyone? Maybe this year someone would like to coordinate a potluck? I'll miss seeing everyone and all of the wonderful dancing and conversations that happen every year. Have a blast! Thanks, everyone, for your participation on these lists in 2011. You make these lists the valuable resources that they are. Looking forward to an even better 2012! Happy dancing! Chris Weiler Craftsbury, VT

13 years, 2 months

Re: [Organizers] cancellation policy

by Donna Calhoun

Like other communities we use Facebook and phone calls to notify the community that a dance is cancelled. The determination is made by our board, it is typically based on other area closings, particularly the cancellation of classes at the nearby University of Tennessee. If we have scheduled out-of-town talent for the evening, they will be paid, however our local talent is not paid for a cancellation; since we dance on Monday evening it is unlikely that we have knocked the out of another gig. Sent from my iPad On Jan 4, 2012, at 12:00 PM, organizers-request(a)sharedweight.net wrote: > Send Organizers mailing list submissions to > organizers(a)sharedweight.net > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/organizers > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > organizers-request(a)sharedweight.net > > You can reach the person managing the list at > organizers-owner(a)sharedweight.net > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Organizers digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: cancellation policy (Chrissy Fowler) > 2. Re: cancellation policy (Donald Perley) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Wed, 4 Jan 2012 10:47:57 -0500 > From: Chrissy Fowler <ktaadn_me(a)hotmail.com> > To: "organizers(a)sharedweight.net" <organizers(a)sharedweight.net> > Subject: Re: [Organizers] cancellation policy > Message-ID: <COL113-W66A7DDD80C3CCAE54F0FF8D970(a)phx.gbl> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > > Suggestions for objective qualification(s) to cancel the dance that's in a non-urban area (wherein town doesn't declare states of emergency, no public transport to shut down, etc.)??? > > And by objective qualification I mean one that entails no in-the-moment discussion for coming to consensus among committee members, whose individual senses of safe/unsafe may vary widely. > > By the way I'm loving this thought-provoking exchange on this list. Thanks all for weighing in and opining/sharing. Look fwd to more. > > Chrissy Fowler > Belfast ME > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Wed, 4 Jan 2012 10:58:03 -0500 > From: Donald Perley <donperley(a)gmail.com> > To: A list for dance organizers <organizers(a)sharedweight.net> > Subject: Re: [Organizers] cancellation policy > Message-ID: > <CAMKNU+_RGHDj56MgVF4iHJn_XYo80D4qzb_Wz5Nh+qsK4kkA-Q(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 > > Sometimes it's a problem with venue availability rather than weather. > In one case there was some event the next day that needed setting up > and we ended up agreeing to take care of that which kept us there a > while at the end. > > Other times locally there's been a short notice change of venue but > the dance went on. Good to have some alternates up your sleeve (with > contact numbers) in case the need arises. > > > ------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > Organizers mailing list > Organizers(a)sharedweight.net > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/organizers > > > End of Organizers Digest, Vol 34, Issue 4 > *****************************************

13 years, 2 months

[Organizers] House Parties - Seattle Subversive Square Dance Society: A documentary

by Mark R Dobyns Jones

Another angle on growing your local dance community. House parties to make it possible for people who would never have anything to do with music or dance or dance halls, to become interested in participating, and bringing their friends along. Seattle Subversive Square Dance Society - A documentary by Doug Plummer http://www.nwfolklifefestival.org/folklife/northwest-stories-seattle-subver… A short documentary Doug Plummer produced for the Northwest Folklife Festival about the resurgence of square dancing and old time music in Seattle, and the rise of the Seattle Subversive Square Dance Society. Will Mentor has been doing squares house parties for the last couple of years in Vermont. Doug Plummer's Blog: http://dougplummer.blogs.com/ Old Time Seattle - Seattle Subversive Squaredance Society http://www.oldtimeseattle.com/ssss.html Puttin' on the Dance http://www.puttinonthedance.org

13 years, 2 months

Re: [Organizers] cancellation policy

by Chrissy Fowler

Suggestions for objective qualification(s) to cancel the dance that's in a non-urban area (wherein town doesn't declare states of emergency, no public transport to shut down, etc.)??? And by objective qualification I mean one that entails no in-the-moment discussion for coming to consensus among committee members, whose individual senses of safe/unsafe may vary widely. By the way I'm loving this thought-provoking exchange on this list. Thanks all for weighing in and opining/sharing. Look fwd to more. Chrissy Fowler Belfast ME

13 years, 3 months

Re: [Organizers] cancellation policy

by Chrissy Fowler

Merle, your point is very well taken. Policy now = peace later. > In years past our board spent quite a bit of time discussing what to do > when we had to cancel a dance. I really think it is important to have a > policy on this. It is likely to happen to dance groups at some time or > other, and it is really nice not to have to sit around and discussing it at > the time. Chrissy Belfast, ME

13 years, 3 months

[Organizers] Organizer Responsibilities

by Chrissy Fowler

Don's point speaks to me of how it affects others when dance organizers abdicate their responsibilities. One time I arrived 25 min prior to the dance start time to find the hall locked. After I sat in my car for a bit, I was approached by a departing employee, who kindly happened to ask if I was there for the dance, and unlocked the back door to let me in. As dancers arrived, several came to me and asked if I knew that the front door was locked. One of them went downstairs to prop it open. Not until the dance had been underway for over an hour did the primary organizer arrive (the person who was supposed to have the key, at least according to the woman who let me into the building.) Some other folks who may have been associated with the dance arrived before that, but no one sat at the door taking admission (and I saw from the stage more than one person holding money and looking confused and then walking away with the money still in hand.) And then, at the break, the organizer came up to me with the money they had taken in, and told me my share was less than the amt I'd expected ("but what could they do, because that's all they took in?"). As a caller, I felt irritated by the whole thing, and it didn't inspire me to want to call that dance again. But as an organizer, I was reminded of the deep and tangible effects that we have on our callers/musicians/dancers. If we are fulfilling our basic responsibilities (such as being there early, welcoming everyone into the hall) it sets a certain tone. If we aren't fulfilling our responsibilities, and folks have to actually overcome obstacles to call/play/dance at our series, then that sets a certain tone too. I can't help but think the latter is a sure-fire way to send a dance into decline. Chrissy > > As a caller, the only one that's been cancelled on me was the day > Irene came to town. I'd emailed to ask if it was cancelled since the > news was full of various things being cancelled and closed, but didn't > hear back. I was halfway there and got a phone call, but not from the > organizers.

13 years, 3 months

Re: [Organizers] cancellation policy

by Dan Pearl

Responding for NEFFA's Thursday Night Contra Dance in Concord Massachusetts 1. Do any of you have specific cancellation policies? Yes 2. Under what circumstances would you cancel a dance? How do you go about deciding whether or not to cancel? When our dance was in Cambridge, our policy was that we would cancel if there was a snow emergency declared by the city. This was objective, but a little ambiguous, as the city sometimes declared an emergency starting at "11pm" or "9pm". In many cases, conditions were awful, but the city was slow to declare. Now, our policy is to cancel if the committee feels that traveling to the dance would be unusually hazardous. If the talent can't make it due to lousy weather out of town, we may run the dance with local performers (we have a wealth of excellent local talent to draw from in this circumstance). 3. What happens if you cancel a dance? (Do you still pay the band/caller/sound provider the guarantee, if you have one?) If we cancel, we pay the guarantee to the performers. We figure that the performers tend to need the money, and they are not responsible for the cancellation. As I often do the sound, I would not take pay for a cancellation. Yes, this could be a financial hit, but maintenance of goodwill with performers is important to us. The hall doesn't charge us if we cancel. 4. How do you get out the word to dancers? Webpage. Facebook page. Facebook message to "attendees". Email list. Outgoing telephone message. Basically, everything we can. If we can swing it, we'll get a local to put a poster on the door.

13 years, 3 months

Re: [Organizers] cancellation policy

by John W Gintell

> Date: Mon, 2 Jan 2012 10:37:24 -0500 > From: Chrissy Fowler <ktaadn_me(a)hotmail.com> > To: "organizers(a)sharedweight.net" <organizers(a)sharedweight.net> > Subject: [Organizers] cancellation policy > > 1. Do any of you have specific cancellation policies? > Good question. Neither our JP gender free contra dance nor English country dance have one, and we should. > 2. Under what circumstances would you cancel a dance? How do you go about deciding whether or not to cancel? The one time we cancelled the contra dance it was for an evening dance when we had an afternoon dance. We were at the church when we decided. It had started to snow and there was a huge storm that evening and night - 2 feet I believe. > 3. What happens if you cancel a dance? (Do you still pay the band/caller/sound provider the guarantee, if you have one?) We don't have a policy. For English, our musicians and callers are gratis, and for both we do the sound. > 4. How do you get out the word to dancers? email and Facebook. We should publicize this better because it would be extra incentive for people to get on the list or friend us. We do try to get a sign on the church. We had an emergency cancellation of an English because an oil tank had leaked and they didn't want anyone in the church. I was informed about 4 hours before the dance. I sent email. Someone was supposed to put up a sign but they didn't so a couple of people showed up and wondered what was going on.

13 years, 3 months

Re: [Organizers] cancellation policy

by Chrissy Fowler

Merle wrote: > If we cancel, we pay band and > caller for the gig. If the band can not make the dance we do not. How much do you pay them if you do pay them? For us this year, paying guarantees for a 3 person band and caller would mean we're out $600, which is no small change, and would take a very long time to recoup given our small percentage of series income per dance. I do get the 'professional' angle though (and laughed at the anecdote about your musician friend racing out the door before the cancellation call... maybe I'll try that sometime.) Chrissy

13 years, 3 months

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Musicians