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. Open Bands (Jeff Kaufman) 2. Re: Open Bands (mreddig(a)theriver.com) 3. Re: Open Bands (barb kirchner) 4. Re: Open Bands (Merle Mceldowney) 5. Re: Open Bands (Jeff Kaufman) 6. Re: Open Bands (Michael Barraclough) 7. Re: Open Bands (Michael Barraclough) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:31:10 -0500 From: Jeff Kaufman &lt;jeff(a)alum.swarthmore.edu&gt; To: A list for dance organizers &lt;organizers(a)sharedweight.net&gt; Subject: [Organizers] Open Bands Message-ID: &lt;20120117173110.GA9908(a)melfpelt.swarpa.net&gt; Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii 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 ) ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2012 09:40:41 -0800 From: &lt;mreddig(a)theriver.com&gt; To: "A list for dance organizers" &lt;organizers(a)sharedweight.net&gt; Cc: &lt;organizers(a)sharedweight.net&gt; Subject: Re: [Organizers] Open Bands Message-ID: &lt;20120117094041.D4903DF9(a)resin03.mta.everyone.net&gt; Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" 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 &lt;jeff(a)alum.swarthmore.edu&gt; To: A list for dance organizers &lt;organizers(a)sharedweight.net&gt; 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 ------------------------------ Message: 3 Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:08:32 +0000 From: barb kirchner &lt;barbkirchner(a)hotmail.com&gt; To: &lt;organizers(a)sharedweight.net&gt; Subject: Re: [Organizers] Open Bands Message-ID: &lt;SNT134-W159A37EF753CDC992AEADDE800(a)phx.gbl&gt; Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" i think the point about strong leaders is the key. peter and debbie are great. sue songer does a great job with portland megaband. open band night at glen echo is amazing fun. somebody who not only knows HOW to play for a dance, but can TEACH a group, is a valuable resource. (stakeholders) with enthusiasm. 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. ------------------------------ Message: 4 Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2012 13:12:55 -0500 From: Merle Mceldowney &lt;merle.mceldowney(a)gmail.com&gt; To: A list for dance organizers &lt;organizers(a)sharedweight.net&gt; Subject: Re: [Organizers] Open Bands Message-ID: &lt;CAK4w+gprKxrSx5B3bw5YYLs3TySwrvx_XnKNrJ85rtTg=mMw4Q(a)mail.gmail.com Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 I am a very basic recorder player. I did a band workshop with Peter at pinewoods. It was an amazing experience. I believe we sounded really good. Beyond the basics that Peter taught us he was able to provide an inspiration that was really amazing. I had a great time, people loved listeneing to us, and wanted us to do it again. Peter is an extraordinary and unusual talent. He has a combination of musicianship, leadership and inspiration that wil make others sound good. The challenge to community bands is to be able to get it done with people of lesser talents. Can I ask the icky question. Is Peter paid to do this? M On Tue, Jan 17, 2012 at 12:40 PM, &lt;mreddig(a)theriver.com&gt; wrote: > 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 leaders > that gives life to the band. > Mike > --- jeff(a)alum.swarthmore.edu wrote: > From: Jeff Kaufman &lt;jeff(a)alum.swarthmore.edu&gt; > To: A list for dance organizers &lt;organizers(a)sharedweight.net&gt; > 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 > _______________________________________________ > Organizers mailing list > Organizers(a)sharedweight.net > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/organizers -- *Merle McEldowney* *212-933-0290* ------------------------------ Message: 5 Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2012 13:17:04 -0500 From: Jeff Kaufman &lt;jeff(a)alum.swarthmore.edu&gt; To: A list for dance organizers &lt;organizers(a)sharedweight.net&gt; Subject: Re: [Organizers] Open Bands Message-ID: &lt;20120117181704.GA11986(a)melfpelt.swarpa.net&gt; Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Merle Mceldowney wrote: > Can I ask the icky question. Is Peter paid to do this? As I wrote before, the band leader (twice Peter, once Debby) is the only paid role. They get $75 base plus $25 mentoring. Peter got another $25 travel. Then there's profit sharing, and because there are so few paid performers to split profits that tends to be more than usual. Jeff ------------------------------ Message: 6 Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:13:16 -0500 From: Michael Barraclough &lt;michael(a)michaelbarraclough.com&gt; To: organizers(a)sharedweight.net Subject: Re: [Organizers] Open Bands Message-ID: <1326827596.3329.35.camel@The-Beast> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" This is what we say on the (Glen Echo) Friday Night Dancers web-site about our Open Band, which plays every month on the 2nd Friday in the month. Band attendance is usually between 30-60 people. Dancer attendance is usually a little smaller than usual (say 25o instead of 275) on Open Band nights, in part because some of the dancers are in the band. My personal view is that the band sounds better (tighter?) when it is smaller, but it is always dance-able. Michael Barraclough Open Band On the second Friday of each month, the "Fabulous Glen Echo Open Band" provides the music for the dance. Both amateur and professional musicians are welcome to sit in and are admitted free. One of our Open Band members, penny-whistler Jim Stahler, has compiled an 18-year list of tunes played by the Glen Echo Open Band and how many times they were played. Newer members are encouraged to download the shorter list of recently played tunes so they can practice the most frequently played tunes. Both lists are Word .doc files. Here is a podcast that offers the sets of songs along with the page info in some of the popular books such as the Portland Collection and Fiddlers Fakebook. For more information regarding the open band, check out the Open Band FAQ or send email to Jim Stahler: jstahler at earthlink dot net. If you would like to play or call for a Friday Night Dance, send email to FND Booking at: fndgigs(a)petml.com ------------------------------ Message: 7 Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:25:12 -0500 From: Michael Barraclough &lt;michael(a)michaelbarraclough.com&gt; To: A list for dance organizers &lt;organizers(a)sharedweight.net&gt; Subject: Re: [Organizers] Open Bands Message-ID: <1326828312.3329.39.camel@The-Beast> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Ok - so the 'net police' turned my post into plain text and lost the links! The18-year list of tunes played by the Glen Echo Open Band is at http://www.fridaynightdance.org/OPEN_BAND_EIGHTEEN_YEAR_LIST_1993-2011.doc The posdcast is at http://www.openbandonline.com/Open_Band/Open_Band_Podcast/Open_Band_Podcast… The Open Band FAQ is at http://www.fridaynightdance.org/openbandfaq.html Michael Barraclough On Tue, 2012-01-17 at 14:13 -0500, Michael Barraclough wrote: > This is what we say on the (Glen Echo) Friday Night Dancers web-site > about our Open Band, which plays every month on the 2nd Friday in the > month. Band attendance is usually between 30-60 people. Dancer > attendance is usually a little smaller than usual (say 25o instead of > 275) on Open Band nights, in part because some of the dancers are in the > band. My personal view is that the band sounds better (tighter?) when > it is smaller, but it is always dance-able. > Michael Barraclough > Open Band > On the second Friday of each month, the "Fabulous Glen Echo Open Band" > provides the music for the dance. Both amateur and professional > musicians are welcome to sit in and are admitted free. One of our Open > Band members, penny-whistler Jim Stahler, has compiled an 18-year list > of tunes played by the Glen Echo Open Band and how many times they were > played. Newer members are encouraged to download the shorter list of > recently played tunes so they can practice the most frequently played > tunes. Both lists are Word .doc files. Here is a podcast that offers the > sets of songs along with the page info in some of the popular books such > as the Portland Collection and Fiddlers Fakebook. For more information > regarding the open band, check out the Open Band FAQ or send email to > Jim Stahler: jstahler at earthlink dot net. If you would like to play or > call for a Friday Night Dance, send email to FND Booking at: > fndgigs(a)petml.com > _______________________________________________ > Organizers mailing list > Organizers(a)sharedweight.net > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/organizers ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Organizers mailing list Organizers(a)sharedweight.net http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/organizers End of Organizers Digest, Vol 34, Issue 8 *****************************************