Re: [Callers] Need musical advice

Two days away? Give them the tempo, and call unphrased dances, or at least don't worry if the phrases of the dance don't match the phrases of the tune. Let them choose something they know & can have fun with at the right speed. Maybe you can choose something from their tune list - Jambalaya is great, and only 2 chords. Johnny B. Goode can work. They might know Turkey In The Straw or Cotton-Eyed Joe, but there's no guarantee anything will be 32-bars. I'd request NO vocals, though, or it's too hard for the dancers to focus on the calls. Let them know approximately how long a dance will go, and make sure you agree on an Ending signal. Really. Focus on the fun! good luck - - masha ------------------------------ *From:* Kalia Kliban via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> *To:* Caller's discussion list <callers(a)sharedweight.net>et>; trad-dance-callers(a)yahoogroups.com; English Country Dance and related forms <ECD(a)bacds.org> *Sent:* Monday, June 6, 2016 5:19 PM *Subject:* [Callers] Need musical advice Hi all I'm posting this to several different callers' lists (ECD, trad-dance-callers and shared weight) in hopes of some speedy advice. I'm heading off shortly (Weds. evening, 6/8) for an event that is not a dance event, but at which I've been asked to lead a short community dance session on "honky tonk night." The band for this is _not_ a traditional dance band. They're more of a garage band with bar-band aspirations. I wrote to them several weeks ago to check in about music, and when I didn't hear back, wrote again about a week ago. Then again, and finally heard back right as I was getting ready to leave for the airport for a weekend gig, from which I've just returned. Their contact person tells me that sheet music would be useful, which puts me in the position of trying to figure out a very small assortment of tunes to send them. We're doing about 1/2 hour of dancing, so at the most it'll be 3 dances. With 2 jigs and 2 reels I can make this work. The question is "which ones?" And that's where you all come in. I'm looking for recommendations for a small assortment of simple, enjoyable tunes for community dancing. As a non-musican, I have no idea which tunes are easy to pick up quickly and which aren't, so I'm hoping some of you can help me out. Kalia Kliban _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net