On Mon, Sep 30, 2013, Greg McKenzie wrote: > Aahz wrote: >> >> You may in fact be one of the rarer contra callers with excellent >> enunciation and a killer sound engineer (because it's a lot harder to get >> good speech over live music), but I think it's really inappropriate for >> you to encourage no-walkthrough as a general practice. > > Thank you Aahz. You are absolutely correct. I was trying to restrict my > post length by focusing only on programming. My comments should have been > prefaced with a stipulation that this programming will not work if you do > not know and apply some of the core contra calling skills of; clear > enunciation, concise word choices, projection, using the most effective > word order, and impeccable timing. To that I would also add; knowing how > to earn and hold the attention of the crowd, clear transitions between > social and instruction times, and an effective strategy for integrating the > hall. (I mentioned in my post that integrating the hall was the primary > reason for the programming style I use. The caller's style, messaging, and > programming have to work together without "mixed" messages.)
Part of my point is the necessary emphasis on the "and": most sound engineers from what I've seen focus on getting the sound of the band into shape and spend only minimal time balancing the caller's voice just above the band. Despite your admonition that the caller is responsible for everything (which certainly is worthwhile as general advice), I think that placing the onus for the sound system also on the caller is probably going a bit too far. > It is true that the vast majority of contra dance callers do not do some, > or many of these things. Our dances "work" largely with the help of the > regulars who take responsibility. The dancers, largely, provide cover for > callers who lack these skills. I am a strong advocate of work on the > basic, core skills of calling. I would rather see all callers focus on the > basics rather than on complex dances or fancy calling "gimmicks." The > basics are where I try to put my own efforts at developing my calling > skills. The basics always need work. Only experienced callers will potentially be able to master all the foundation arts -- which is part of why describing calling techniques that only work for people who have mastered the foundations is IMO a Bad Idea unless carefully labeled. -- Hugs and backrubs -- I break Rule 6 http://rule6.info/ <*> <*> <*> Help a hearing-impaired person: http://rule6.info/hearing.html
