I too have concerns about the type of music that is played for contra
dances. It's not hard to not see a trend when looking at the last 50
year of contra dance music. What I think happens is that there's
competitiion between bands. If a band want gigs, especially gigs
playing for dance camps, their music has to stand out. So, over the
years the music tends to get wilder and wilder, and at the same time
straying from what the dancers really need.
I peronally know several fiddlers whose only concern is to wow the
dancers. They have absolutely no awareness of what's going on on the
dance floor. They are really not dancers themselves!!!! If there's
good phrasing and a good beat it's often the result of chance.
Likewise, the music at many of the dance camps I've called to often
don't seem to support the dancers which is a shame. I usually enjoy
calling to the 'lowly' workshop bands more than with the featured
act. But the bands that play wild and crazy stuff get the good
gigs. That sends a message to the others for sure.
It is possible to play exciting music and at the same time support
the dances. We all probably know of many musicians who can do this.
I've toyed with the idea of interviewing many of these fine musicians
and making an instructional video. But, would the other musicians
watch it?
The whole thing driving the contra dance revival is the dancers
themselves. Their tastes and inputs are a compass not only for the
music but the choreography as well. I'm thinking that those who
value good solid music are in a minority. The majority of the
dancers like what they hear but may not connect good solid music with
good dancing.
My experience is that folks who have called, played or danced for a
significant amount of time tend to come to this same conclusion about
what makes for good dance music. It's also my experience that some
of our dances and dance camps are run by relatively inexperienced
dancers. So the question is, how to spread some wisdom around?
Tom
On Jan 12, 2010, at 12:00 PM, [email protected] wrote:
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Today's Topics:
1. Re: Caller's opinions on non-contra music at dances
(Mark Hillegonds)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 2010 00:30:56 -0500
From: "Mark Hillegonds" <[email protected]>
To: "'Caller's discussion list'" <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [Callers] Caller's opinions on non-contra music at dances
Message-ID: <008e01ca9348$6b95d3b0$42c17b10$@net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Hi all,
As a dancer with a wide range of musical tastes, I enjoy dancing to
a wide
variety of music. As a few of the respondents said, as long as
there is
clear phrasing and an appropriate, steady tempo, I'm happy contra
dancing to
just about anything. I actually prefer really interesting music
instead of
the same tune played the same way at the same volume for the entire
dance.
As a musician who plays for contra dances, I also enjoy playing a wide
variety of music. My band ranges from celtic to classical to old-
timey to
Eastern European to jazz and blues and swing. We tend to stray
quite far
from the original melody. Having said that, as three of the
members of the
band are also callers and dancers, we are extremely aware that we
need to
clearly define the 8 bar and A1, A2, B1, B2 phrases for the
dancers. On the
occasion that we get feedback from dancers that they had to count
during one
of our tunes, we assume responsibility for adjusting our playing
such that
we restore any missing structure to our tunes.
On the other hand, we've had many dancers say they sometimes forget to
concentrate on dancing because they so enjoy the music we're
playing. Even
though it's a compliment, we try to reserve those moments for our
concert
performances and not in dances. People come to a dance to dance
and not
listen to us give a concert.
Great conversation.
Mark Hillegonds
Phone: 734-747-7148
Cell: 734-756-8441
Email: [email protected]
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Marian and
Parker
Mann
Sent: Sunday, January 10, 2010 10:54 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [Callers] Caller's opinions on non-contra music at dances
I'm looking for comments on a trend I've noticed in contra music,
specifically, bands playing music far removed from pieces
traditionally
associated with the form. The catalyst was a mid-December dance
in the
northwest where "as a special treat" the band shifted to rock music
during
the next-to-last contra. The caller had stopped and we were left
to our own
devices. The A/B parts and the beat were hard to pick out, and the
dance
began breaking down as people had to guess when one move ended and
another
began. I was there with a group of experienced dancers and our
opinions
were uniformly negative. This was not the only time the band's
selection of
tunes was hard to follow, just the most excessive.
Over the last few years I've seen bands play "unusual" music in
several
locations across the country and at both regular dance series and
dance
weekends. There are some good examples in Youtube (links provided
offline.) IMHO, contra music is an integral part of the dance,
cuing on a
nearly subconscious level the changes between figures. Having to
concentrate excessively on the timing takes emphasis off both the
flow of
the dance and the interaction with fellow dancers.
Part of me can sympathize with the bands. It must be incredibly
boring for
talented musicians to play, say, Jefferson Reel over and over. On
the other
hand, they are hired to play for dancers, not each other, and some
of the
extreme examples smack of self-indulgence.
I assume that essentially all of the members of this list are
dancers and
that a number of you are also musicians. I wondered what the group's
feeling was on this and whether anyone felt it was a positive
development.
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End of Callers Digest, Vol 65, Issue 8
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