"Well, my usual fee is X, but calling to CD's is not the way real dances work, so hmm, I'm happy to buy CD's, go through them to find dance-length tunes, compile them, practice calling to them, bring a CD player, set it up, run it while I call, and learn a whole new skill of working with recordings -- which I figure is about four times the amount of work a gig usually takes, plus the expense of buying the CD's -- but I know your budget's small so let's say I give you a discount and charge you 2X.
Or I could bring my friend the fiddler along with me, and the two of us together will have more fun than just me working alone, so instead of 2X we'll give you a break and only charge 1.5X " ;) (ps -- to the folks who are lone-voices-in-the-wilderness, calling to CD's because there's no other choice, trying mightily to plant the seeds of a dance community where none heretofore existed? Your dances are very very "real" . Pardon my use of a loaded word. People who ask for too much of a compromise make me crabby.) (pps if this is a 45-60 minute session of dances following a potluck/ceremony/meeting, is supposed to be more of an "hors d'oeurvre" or "dessert" of dance rather than a full evening's meal, and is for less than fifty people, I retract my snarky comment. Get a copy of Any Jig or Reel here http://www.dancingmasters.com/store/CD_any_jig.html and go to town.) Caller's discussion list <[email protected]> writes: >Hi all - > >Have any of you called for a dance without a band? I've gotten a query >about >calling a barn dance, but their budget is teeny tiny, so they asked if I >could >call to CDs. I know this is quite possible; my dad used to call square >dances to >records, but those records were specifically made for dancing to. Most >contra >music tracks I have only last at most ~3 minutes. I could theoretically >splice >the tracks together to make a repeating loop, but this is a lot of time >investment and also, how would you know when the music would stop, in >order to >go out? Would you try to guess, or just unceremoniously turn the thing >off, or >do the "mood fade?" (And no, sadly, I'm not like Alan Furth or Erik >Hoffmann, >folks who can call and play guitar/fiddle/banjo//etc. well at the same >time.) > > >Do you have any strategic ideas? Thanks! >Tina >_______________________________________________ >Callers mailing list >[email protected] >http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
