i think the point about strong leaders is the key. peter and debbie are great. sue songer does a great job with portland megaband. open band night at glen echo is amazing fun. somebody who not only knows HOW to play for a dance, but can TEACH a group, is a valuable resource.
> Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2012 09:40:41 -0800 > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > CC: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [Organizers] Open Bands > > I have two possible reasons for your success. > > 1) Open Bands can help build your community by bringing in new people > (stakeholders) with enthusiasm. > > 2) Peter Barnes and Debby Knight are masters at creating dynamic music from > an otherwise disconnected group of musicians. I suggest it is not the quality > of musicians in the Open Band, but the quality of the band leaders that gives > life to the band. > > Mike > > --- [email protected] wrote: > > From: Jeff Kaufman <[email protected]> > To: A list for dance organizers <[email protected]> > Subject: [Organizers] Open Bands > Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:31:10 -0500 > > Open bands have a reputation for being less enjoyable to dance to. > I've heard dancers say they avoid open band nights, or that while they > understand the role of the open band in fostering musicians they wish > they weren't needed. Now that I'm helping organize them with BIDA, > however, I'm not seeing this. In fact our attendance is higher, people > have a great time, and I don't hear complaints. Afterwards a dancer > wrote that they had "never seen that much positive engagement between > the band and the dancers." > > A video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MENiFoiMq5Y > > I see two explanations: (1) open bands are not actually unpopular and > I was just listening to the small number of people who don't like them > or (2) BIDA is doing something right. I don't know which it is, but I > figured I would describe what BIDA has been doing in case it's (2). > > (BIDA has had four open band nights. I've only been involved with the > most recent three, so what I have below is about these three.) > > In scheduling the open band we first find a band leader. We've had > Peter Barnes twice and Debby Knight once, both have been great. They > both primarily played piano, but also can play other instruments if > someone else wants to take a turn on piano. This is the only paid > role; everyone else playing pays admission on a $0-$10 sliding scale. > > We have two rows, sorting people by experience. We mic everyone in the > front row and most of the people in the back, though there are often > some who don't want to be mic'd or who need to take turns with limited > mics. It's helpful that we have a large stage. Everyone plays at > once. At our most recent dance we had: (front row) caller, piano, 6x > fiddle (back row) double bass, whistle, recorder, fiddle, octave > mandolin. > > Reading through this, nothing sounds very different from other open > bands I've been to. Which makes me think it's not actually about how > we run the band and instead about the musicians who decide to > come. Maybe what's going on is that we're drawing from a different > group? I wonder if there's an effect where when an open band has been > around longer many of the best musicians move on and you have mostly > people who aren't interested in or aren't able to get booked for other > dances? If this were happening I would expect that in general open > bands that were newer would be better; are they? > > Jeff > > ( Also a blog post: http://www.jefftk.com/news/2012-01-17.html ) > _______________________________________________ > Organizers mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/organizers > > > _______________________________________________ > Organizers mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/organizers
