3 May
2014
3 May
'14
11:21 p.m.
Booking-related:
How do you manage the (sometimes) delicate task of matching callers and bands?
For example, what if you book a caller, but then find out the already-booked band
doesn't want to work with that person?
Besides the strategy of first booking a caller (or band) then asking for confidential
suggestions on what bands (or callers) they'd like to work with (or not), how does an
organizer handle this sort of "I won't play in the same sandbox as Susie"
syndrome?
What special or particular circumstances would affect your response and/or would guide you
to a particular solution?
- 2014 NEFFA session
** Please RETAIN SUBJECT LINE in all replies! Especially IF YOU GET THE DIGEST! ***
3 May
3 May
11:28 p.m.
In the ten years that I booked dances that happened. I later found out
that there was a pretty bitter divorce going on between a caller and a
musician. Whoever was booked last was re booked for another night.
If someone told me that they did not want to do it after it was booked, I
would then offer that person another date, or tell them I would put them
off for another year. I would not have had too much patience with much of
it.
The one place I had to pay attention to it was with some pretty hot
southern callers who did not want to call with northern style bands (one
of the hot southern callers I am thinking of lives in New England) I
needed to oblige that.
With the above exception I rarely tried to do matching. I thought if I
did that I would be falling down a rabbit hole to a place I did not want to
be.
Merle
On Sat, May 3, 2014 at 6:21 PM, Chrissy Fowler <ktaadn_me(a)hotmail.com>wrote;wrote:
Booking-related:
How do you manage the (sometimes) delicate task of matching callers and
bands?
For example, what if you book a caller, but then find out the
already-booked band doesn't want to work with that person?
Besides the strategy of first booking a caller (or band) then asking for
confidential suggestions on what bands (or callers) they'd like to work
with (or not), how does an organizer handle this sort of "I won't play in
the same sandbox as Susie"
syndrome?
What special or particular circumstances would affect your response and/or
would guide you to a particular solution?
- 2014 NEFFA session
** Please RETAIN SUBJECT LINE in all replies! Especially IF YOU GET THE
DIGEST! ***
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*Merle McEldowney*
*212-933-0290*
4 May
4 May
12:53 a.m.
On May 3, 2014, at 3:28 PM, Merle Mceldowney wrote:
...
With the above exception I rarely tried to do matching. I thought
if I
did that I would be falling down a rabbit hole to a place I did not
want to
be.
Merle, could you clarify how you avoided doing "matching"?
Here are some possible interpretations I can think of:
* you booked bands and callers independently (or you booked
the bands [or callers] and someone else booked the callers
[resp. bands] independently) and let the chips fall where
they may. I would consider this to be a kind of "matching",
but done at random rather than based on anyone's opinions
(yours, the callers', or the musicians') about which bands
and callers would or wouldn't work well together.
* You booked the bands [or the callers] and then someone else
matched them up with callers [resp., bands].
* you encouraged performers to offer their availability as
band+caller packages (just as musicians commonly offer
their availability as bands rather than getting booked as
individuals and leaving it to organizers to match fiddlers
with pianists, etc.). This would leave it up to the bands
and callers to "court" each other.
* You booked the callers [or the bands] first and then asked
the bands [resp. callers] about their availability once
you could supply them with info about which callers [bands]
had already been booked for which dates.
* You did something else (and perhaps what I have written
in the bullet items above shows that I have seriously
misunderstood something about the nature of your booking
process and/or about what you mean by "matching").
There are obvious problems with some of the options in my list,
at least in their purest forms, but I hope it gives you some idea
why I'm seeking clarification of what you meant by "... I rarely
tried to do matching."
Thanks.
--Jim
On May 3, 2014, at 3:28 PM, Merle Mceldowney wrote:
In the ten years that I booked dances that happened.
I later found
out
that there was a pretty bitter divorce going on between a caller and a
musician. Whoever was booked last was re booked for another night.
If someone told me that they did not want to do it after it was
booked, I
would then offer that person another date, or tell them I would put
them
off for another year. I would not have had too much patience with
much of
it.
The one place I had to pay attention to it was with some pretty hot
southern callers who did not want to call with northern style bands
(one
of the hot southern callers I am thinking of lives in New England) I
needed to oblige that.
With the above exception I rarely tried to do matching. I thought
if I
did that I would be falling down a rabbit hole to a place I did not
want to
be.
Merle
<Chrissy's original query snipped>
1:25 a.m.
As a caller, I've had to make decisions about whether to accept gigs when the band is
already booked and I'd prefer not to work with them. Because the contradance community
is so interconnected, I prefer not to be too public with my opinions about bands and other
callers and such.
If offered a gig with a band with which I don't want to work, I'll usually tell
the organizer that I have other plans and work to try to find an alternative date. I would
not tell the organizer that I don't like or otherwise don't want to work with a
particular band. If I'm booked first and the band is booked second, I'll just view
the dance as an opportunity to hone my skills for more challenging circumstances.
For example, there is a local band comprised of very nice people, but several times over
the course the evening, they will have tempo problems or will skip or add entire phrases
of music. As annoying as that is, it causes me to really pay attention to the band and
allows me to practice techniques for re-synchronizing the music and the dance.
Yes, the evening is more challenging. But I always leave it as a stronger caller.
Mark Hillegonds
Email: mark.hillegonds(a)gmail.com
Cell: 734-756-8441
2:26 a.m.
On May 3, 2014, at 3:21 PM, Chrissy Fowler <ktaadn_me(a)hotmail.com> wrote:
How do you manage the (sometimes) delicate task of
matching callers and bands?
I would never book a band and a caller independently at random, with no eye toward how
they work together, any more than I would put together a band by choosing fiddle, guitar,
and piano players out of a hat. I might be boxed into making a suboptimal pairing, but it
certainly would be part of the planning/booking process and decision. There are some
nights that everyone wants to play and some nights that no one wants to. The juggling act
can force less desirable choices.
Musical style, calling style, instrumentation, voice register (frequency range), onstage
persona, all play a part in making the evening a success. And that’s assuming that
everyone is adult and acts like one.
We need to nurture new bands and musicians, because that’s where next year’s Hot New Band
comes from. New and relatively inexperienced bands need a strong caller who can keep the
tempos in check, can exert stronger influence over tune selection, and help teach the band
to become a better dance band. Yet strong callers also like to be booked with the Hot Band
of the Moment.
If you have a strong and experienced dance band with wide repertoire and range of styles,
almost anyone can call successfully.
I think that personal issues, like the divorcing couple or the “won’t play in the same
sandbox” complaint, are easier to deal with than matching style and stage personality. If
Bob and Sue can’t be onstage at the same time, don’t do it. If they don’t tell you ahead
of time, but they misbehave once, then never put them into that situation again. And
dance organizers should feel free to share that kind of information with other
organizers.
If bands and callers get together themselves and present a package, that makes the booking
job easier and harder at the same time. Less flexibility. It might be assumed that they
play well together, but that pairing might not fit the vision of the series.
-Eric
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4 comments
5 participants
participants (5)
-
Chrissy Fowler -
Eric Black -
James Saxe -
Mark Hillegonds -
Merle Mceldowney