I once called a single dance slot to my own bodhran playing. But
that was only because the band was late.
I was first smitten by contra dancing in part because it is a great
way to support live musicians. I wouldn't consider calling to
recorded music. It's against my religion,...or tradition. (I always
get those two confused.)
I urge you to hold out for enough money to pay at least a
fiddler. To present a "barn dance" using recorded music sounds
pretty shabby. If we hold to our standards I think the dance form
will benefit from that.
Just a thought.
Greg
************
At 09:20 AM 7/30/2010, you wrote:
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
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