Bob mentioned tempo as an important element of making a tune and how it is played appropriate for contra. I started a discussion on this listserv on the topic of tempo back in March and from that I got the impression that 120 beats per minute is pretty ideal.
For more details from this discussion, follow this link and click on the "Next message" link at the bottom of the page to continue: http://www.sharedweight.net/pipermail/callers/2012-March/004507.html. People shared some really interesting information. -- Dugan Murphy Portland, Maine http://caller.duganmurphy.com List-Post: [email protected] Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2012 21:32:23 -0600 > From: Leslie Gotfrit <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Subject: [Callers] Ideal contra tunes > Message-ID: <[email protected]> > Content-Type: text/plain; CHARSET=US-ASCII > > My teen daughter plays in a performing fiddle group. I sometimes call > family dances using the group. The director asked me 1. to suggest some > tunes she could teach the group that would be ideal for contras 2. what > makes a tune or medley of tunes work well for contras. (There are lots in > their repertoire that seems to work for "Southern" squares or big circle > dances). Besides being square, 32 bar tunes with A parts distinguishable > from B, what makes a great contra tune? I like dancing to medleys where > the second tune picks up the energy: how is that accomplished? Can anyone > suggest a couple of tunes and (perhaps which recording of it) that are > essential to a contra music repertoire? > > Thanks very much to those who responded to my question about determining > space for contra dancing. It was incredibly helpful and I learned something > new from each response. >
