Hi Emily (and others!),

In my band we've created sets ahead of time with "feelings" or "rhythmic" descriptors, which mostly came from terms we have heard callers and band leaders use, alongside genre descriptors. We're not aiming for perfect categorization, but a tool for quickly narrowing in on a small set of options and to help ensure that we're varying our tune choices. Once the caller tells us about the dance, we pick an appropriate category and see if any sets in it might work particularly well with the specific figures and their placement. Sometimes the caller will name a category without getting into the figures ("bouncy jigs," "Quebecois reels," etc.) which works fine for me, though I appreciate it when callers point out figures. Here are some categories we use and thoughts about them:

Marchy things (actual marches, or "marchy reels")
Good for dances with lots of walking figures, up/down the hall, more stately dances.
"Straight ahead" reels
I feel like we often use at the beginning of the evening when the caller is gauging the skill level of the dancers; reels with very clear phrasing that can work for almost any dance, especially easier ones.
Smooth (could also be "flowy" or "groovy") reels
I think of "flowy" as lighter than "groovy" in terms of how they feel and "groovy" as more syncopated. I think of these as good for walking figures / hays / stars / right shoulder round / etc. Although there is maybe a subset of these that are smooth mostly because they are notey, and those seem more flexible.
Swingy (or syncopated) reels
Tunes with less straightforward rhythms; can be groovy but doesn't have to be; we have tunes that are syncopated but not what I would call "groovy." Depending on the tunes and where the figures land, these can be great for balances or long lines or anything that involves stomping or clapping in the right spots.
Bouncy reels
Kind of the opposite of smooth reels. Good potential for balances.
Driving (or "high energy") reels
Usually "driving" reels are a specific subset of "high energy" reels that also feel like they have a lot of forward momentum ("high energy" reels can also be bouncy, which feels different than driving, to me). Some ambiguous subset of these we think of as "screamers." Often work well as the last set before the break, the first set after the break, or the last set of the evening.
"Generic" jigs
I'm not sure we have a good definition for this; basically if a jig isn't especially smooth, bouncy, or pretty, we put it in this category. We get enough callers that just ask for "jigs" that it seems to work OK.
"Pretty" jigs
Jigs that feel particularly melodic/sweet; might have a lot of notes compared to jigs in the other categories.
"Dorky" jigs
I think of these as happy, simple, and often repetitive...but make you smile. Often overlap with bouncy jigs.
Smooth jigs
Self-explanatory?
Bouncy jigs
The opposite of smooth jigs.

I'm noticing that I have fewer thoughts about jigs and I think that's because those tend to be the ones where callers will specifically say "smooth jigs" or "bouncy jigs" and focus less on the figures. I think there is a lot of subjectivity involved in this process, not to mention the fact that you can modify how you play a tune to give it a different feel in different settings. Tune selection is an aspect of playing for contras that was mystifying to me when I first started so I'm always interested to hear how others approach this process; it's getting easier/more intuitive as I get better at running the dance in my head alongside the tunes.

Thanks for starting this discussion!

Gianna

On Wed, Apr 24, 2024 at 3:52 PM Carina Ravely via Musicians <musicians@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

Here is the way the Tucson Open Band does it:

BAB means balance in the A and B part
BB means balance only in the B part.
Then categories Swing, Groove, Smooth, Waltz

On 4/24/2024 12:17 PM, Emily Addison via Musicians wrote:
Hi fellow contra musicians :)

I'm reaching out with a question both wearing my contra musician and my contra caller hat.

How do you label/categorize your sets?

And what descriptors do you like to hear from callers in order to decide what set to play?

As a musician, I've played with many different ways of describing my various bands' sets. As a caller, I've tried various descriptors.

I've tried to capture these in a google document. The * items are the descriptors I'm likely to rely on if I'm calling. You can see I often go for describing the movement that the tunes might invoke and sometimes go to the feelings too.

I'd love to get your input!

You could fill out your own column or two in the table or write back here.

Any and all thoughts welcome.

I'd love to hear your favourite descriptors.

Thanks :)

Emily in Ottawa
_______________________________________________
Musicians mailing list -- musicians@lists.sharedweight.net
To unsubscribe send an email to musicians-leave@lists.sharedweight.net
_______________________________________________
Musicians mailing list -- musicians@lists.sharedweight.net
To unsubscribe send an email to musicians-leave@lists.sharedweight.net