7 Jun
2016
7 Jun
'16
5:19 p.m.
Bands are always happier and sound better when they play their own music. Tell them you
need 32 bars, no vocals, repeat until you signal them. Get a list of ten, focus in on the
three or four you'll recognize, give them a listen on YouTube. Then call community
dances as previously suggested. Simple circles and stuff like the Virginia Reel don't
depend on the dancers sticking to the phrase. If they fall off, keep calling until
it's time to stop and if the band ends after you finish calling, clap hands, stomp
feet, whoop it up and celebrate. I love it when three or four lines of Virginia Reel turn
into a competition :-)
Dances like this are all about fun and energy not about doing the dances correctly or what
tunes the band plays. Play the role of Funmeister for this one and it will be a roaring
success.
Cindy
==========
On Jun 6, 2016, at 20:19, Kalia Kliban
kalia.kliban(a)gmail.com [trad-dance-callers] <trad-dance-callers(a)yahoogroups.com>
wrote:
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
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Posted by: Kalia Kliban <kalia.kliban(a)gmail.com>
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