Hi Amy, OK, I'll wade in. Having sat in the fiddler's chair for almost 30 yrs, (and behind the caller's mic almost as long), I'd say your "rant" covers lots of thoughtful, and dance-technical ground, but for me is overly analytical. What I like to hear from a caller is not much more than "jigs works well for this one", or "reels, please" and modified with "smooth & flowing", "march-like", "brisk", "old-timey is good for this dance", etc. Or, "I'm going to call Petronella next." Beyond that, I don't much care for, or need, more detail. The caller's job is to clue the band as to style & feeling of tunes desired for a particular dance, and the band's job is to be observant of the dance, the appropriate tempo, the skill level of the dancers and to help denote where important phrases & pauses might be. I'm certainly not going to rearrange a set of tunes because there's a balance at the start of B1, or an allemande followed by a circle. Our sets are arranged to inspire the dancers through their progressions of key & chord changes, and thematic ideas. They are also chosen within genre's: old-time, standard New England, French-Canadian, Irish, flowing jigs, bouncy jigs, which will suit the flavor of the dance. Occasionally Heaven is inadvertently achieved when the perfect tune meets the perfect dance, but I'd say the vast majority of the time both the caller and band achieve consistenly solid results, if not Nirvana, by thoughtfully pursuing what I've thumbnailed above. All the best, George George Fowler Oakum Bay String Band Blue Hill, ME gfowler(a)hypernet.com