Here's a "how-to" that I wrote several years ago that covers putting together dance medleys and mixing music, including what to do with "non-square" phrases.
*Crossover contras: music and dance medleys:* *Creating a fun and danceable contra dance medley to alternative music* Erik B. Erhardt, Albuqerque, NM, https://statacumen.com/dance/ https://statacumen.com/pub/fun/ErikBErhardt_CrossoverContras_MusicAndDanceMedleys.pdf Erik Erhardt (505)480-4462 StatAcumen.com On Fri, Mar 29, 2019 at 11:50 AM Bob via Callers < [email protected]> wrote: > I mix lots of genres of music for contras. The only track I’ve ever called > without mixing was the first release of Mika’s “Big Girl (You Are > Beautiful)” on Cartoon Motion. It goes 7x through so it was a real short > dance but a nice filler with a no-walkthrough dance. > > Everything else needs work. I only pick tracks that have clear 8-beat > phrasing most of the time. If I can I move the parts with indistinguishable > phrases towards the end of the mix once the dancers know the dance well. > Alternatively I add a beat track to enhance the beats and phrasing. I > rarely mix by simple copy and paste, which allows me to do creative stuff > to ensure phrases are spot on. (“This is Halloween” from The Nightmare > Before Christmas was true to its name, a nightmare with a few slipped > phrases of 9 or 7 beats, but I *made* it to work.) > > So it’s being selective, doing often heavy editing, and many other bits n > bobs that are in my secret sauce. I rarely try for AABB squaring since that > can wreck the original music too much. One still must count (I cheat: I > perform from my mixing app which has the phrase markings for me.) > > \Bob > > > On Mar 29, 2019, at 11:58, jim saxe via Callers < > [email protected]> wrote: > > > >> On Mar 28, 2019, at 2:39 PM, Bob via Callers < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> > >> ... > >> Live or mixed recordings? If live then it should be perfectly square > AABB. If mixed, the only thing you can count on is 8-beat phrases. ... > > > > Can you even count on 8-beat phrases if someone, such as a caller or a > knowledgeable DJ, hasn't vetted the tracks? > > > > I know practically nothing about techno music, but recordings in other > genres that aren't made for phrased dancing will not necessarily follow > strict 8-beat phrasing. For instance ... > > > > It's pretty common for a folk singers accompanying themselves to play a > few bars of guitar strums--and not always the same number--while trying to > remember the first line of the next verse. While I haven't gone looking > for examples, I'd be surprised if such variable inter-verse vamping didn't > sometimes appear even on studio recordings. > > > > In some fiddle traditions, such as southern and Quebecois, besides > straight tunes and wildly crooked tunes, there are also tunes that are > mostly straight but have an occasional odd phrase. Even medleys of > straight tunes can sometimes have some extra beats at the transitions > between tunes, as heard around 0:59 in this video: > > > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLUyg173n_M > > Yo-Yo Ma - Fiddle Medley ft. Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer, Chris Thile > > > > Line dances are mostly choreographed to music that's in multiples of 8 > beats, but exceptions are hardly unusual. Also, in order to fit recordings > that were made for listening and not specifically for dance routines, > line-dance step sheets may prescribe various irregularities in the > routines. Here are just a few of the examples a little searching turned up: > > > > > https://www.learn2dance4fun.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Boot-Scootin-Boogie.pdf > > Boot Scootin’ Boogie > > 38 count, 4 wall, beginner line dance > > > > > https://www.copperknob.co.uk/stepsheets/every-little-honky-tonk-ID132260.aspx > > Every Little Honky Tonk > > 32-count, 4 wall line dance with 12-count tag after wall 2 > > > > http://tinalinedancers.com/data/documents/Came-Here-To-Forget.pdf > > Came Here To Forget > > Description: Line Dance - 2 Wall (24ct.) - Intermediate 1 Restart, 2 > Tags > > Sequence: 24, 24, Tag 1, 14cts- Restart, 24, 24, Tag 2 (6cts.), 24, > 24... > > > > For some other examples of music that's largely, *but not entirely*, in > chunks of 8 beats (or eight bars of triple meter), try listening to any of > these while tapping your foot or fingers and counting along: > > > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fg0kfd7kow4 > > Paul McCartney - When I'm 64 > > > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33o32C0ogVM > > Julie Andrews - My Favorite Things > > > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbyAZQ45uww > > Nancy Sinatra - These Boots Are Made for Walkin' > > > > So here's my question, for those of you who are more familiar with > techno music than I am: If you play a random track not already "vetted" > for phrasing, if you find a place where there's sufficiently discernible > phrasing to establish a starting point for your "mental metronome of 8 > counts" (to quote Donna Hunt), if you use that mental metronome to carry > you through a part where phrasing is less evident, and if you then get to > another part with findable phrasing, how reliably (or not) can you expect > that the phrases will still line up with your mental eight-counts? > > > > --Jim > > > > _______________________________________________ > > List Name: Callers mailing list > > List Address: [email protected] > > Archives: https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > > _______________________________________________ > List Name: Callers mailing list > List Address: [email protected] > Archives: https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ >
_______________________________________________ List Name: Callers mailing list List Address: [email protected] Archives: https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
