The LIveBPM phone app is handy for checking band speed on the go - our band uses it sometimes if we want to doublecheck our feeling that we're playing too fast or slow. Meg (Chicago area)
On Thu, Sep 5, 2024 at 8:19 AM Mary Collins via Contra Callers < [email protected]> wrote: > Thanks Kat for this bpm mention. I try to notated all my cards (as I > call/practice) with the type of tune and the practice tune (sometimes I > call to recorded so this helps) and the best bpm. Sometimes I note a start > at and increase to as well. > > I attended a workshop once where I was instructed to stomp out the bpm > instead of telling the band. Very difficult for me for a variety of reasons > but I was told bands don't know bpm which I (on behalf of musicians > everywhere) took exception to. My response was, "well, the bands I work > with, do." > > Good information re: beats vs measures too. I have tried for years to > explain to a dancer that more notes does not = more beats and more steps. > > Loving all the comments! > Mary Collins > > On Thu, Sep 5, 2024, 8:17 AM Katherine Kitching via Contra Callers < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> >> I'm loving this discussion too! >> >> It took me a while when I started calling, to realize how the dancers and >> the musicians count differently-- >> In our group we always listen to a full added-on A1 as an intro- ie 16 >> beats of music-- and that's what I tell our beginner dancers: "We're going >> to listen to 16 beats of music and then start dancing" . >> >> But what the musicians seem to need to hear, if they are new to our >> group, is "We need you to play 8 *bars* of extra music as an intro" . >> Until I figured this out, I was asking the musicians for 16 beats, and >> they were playing 16 bars, and everything got messy! >> >> But Rich's comment below has got me interested in hearing from more >> people about their typical range of tempos- it's something I've recently >> started thinking more deeply about-- >> >> Now when I do my dance outline, I set a target tempo in bpm for each >> dance, to help our musicians select an appropriate tune for each (I went to >> a great workshop last summer where I learned that some tunes, like irish >> reels, sound fast but actually tend to be among the slower-tempo'd tunes -- >> and most of our musicians struggle to play them faster than 110bpm- making >> them a poor choice for a lot of the simple, high-energy dances that our >> group does.) >> >> Rich Goss wrote: >> "The sweet spot for most dances is 116bpm (beats per minute). The range >> is generally 108-120. For a one night stand, I would shoot for the low >> end." >> >> So I've been keeping track over the last year, -- asking my bands to >> report to me after each dance, whether we danced at the target tempo I had >> set, or something faster or slower than it... >> >> I would say in our group, our typical easy dances run with a tempo of >> 112-120 - even for total beginners.. >> >> and some dances in the middle of the evening get up to 125+, with all the >> high energy in the hall. >> >> It's actually our more challenging dances towards the end of the evening, >> (which are not very challenging for most of y'all, but we are a basic-level >> group!) that end up going slower- when we put in heys and other flowy >> moves, then we get into more groovy-feeling tunes in the 105-110bpm range. >> >> Would love to hear about other groups' tempo ranges! >> >> Kat K in Halifax, NS, Canada >> _______________________________________________ >> Contra Callers mailing list -- [email protected] >> To unsubscribe send an email to >> [email protected] >> > _______________________________________________ > Contra Callers mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >
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