I'm wrapping up the next booking cycle at the VFW in Cambridge, and
as a result have thought of some more music to recommend for practice
calling. Again note that most of these are New England-style, which means
they will have clear phrasing:
Moving Violations
Latter Day Lizards
Groovemongers
And most of the CDs being produced by Great Meadow Music,
a production company (actually 2 dancers from NH/Greenfield)
who are passionate about well-phrased New England dance music.
Lisa
I have a question about music that an aspiring caller could practice
to? What is something that would be a good beginner band to listen to
while practicing at home?
What signifies a "crooked tune"?
Jenna
Hello everyone,
It's a little early for me to be thinking of this, but I'm curious about
how to practice calling squares. Is it similar to practicing for a
contra (write out the words, find some recorded music to practice
calling with)? How do you make the leap from calling contras?
Thanks!
Chris
Hi all,
Regarding Seth's question about dance collection organization, here's my
method. I guess on a grand scale, I organize my dances into mixers,
improper/proper dances, beckets, double progressions and triplets/triple
minors/other unusual formations. Within those grand categories, I organize
dances by first figure, as I try not to have two dances in a row that start
with the same figure. Within each first figure category, I roughly organize
them from easy to hard. I have some double progression and mixer beckets,
but I file them under beckets.
One other thing I do, which I've found helpful, is to note on the back of
the card the date I called the dance. I found that in the beginning, I was
calling the same dances over and over again for a while. Now I try to
include dances I haven't called yet or called less frequently in my
programs. I also write any teaching notes to myself on the back of the
card.
Hope that helps,
Bev
(p.s. I'm getting the digest version of the list. I notice that when I
reply, I don't get a copy of the original post. That's fine with me, as I
just copied the subject line into this email. Hopefully, It's not a problem
for anyone else.)
*****************************************
The Witful Turnip wturnip(a)sympatico.ca
"If you're gonna eat shit, don't nibble."
- said by Tom Hinds re: calling square dances
*****************************************
As a new caller, I'm starting to put my small (but growing) collection
of dances together. I'm trying to figure out how to best organize
them. I'd love hear from other callers about how they organize their
dance cards.
Thanks!
Seth
Just in case folks are not aware of another very active list of about 150 subscribers,
the "traditional dance callers" list at yahoo groups may be of interest. In includes contra, and modern western squares callers, as well as a few people who call english, and a few who are not-yet-calling, like me.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The Traditional Dance Callers List: For participatory dance callers, teachers, leaders
and interested friends. Subscribe by sending a blank e-mail message (no subject,
no message) to: trad-dance-callers-subscribe(a)yahoogroups.com
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/trad-dance-callers/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
trad-dance-callers-unsubscribe(a)yahoogroups.com
- - end - -
I just wanted to send a quick note welcoming you all to the list! Both
Seth and I are excited by the response. Around half of the people we
invited have signed up so far. We have a good mix of experienced callers
and beginners. I hope everyone finds this a useful tool.
Once again, welcome!
Chris Weiler
Hey everyone,
I just joined the list and I was wondering if anyone could tell me about
any dances not too far from Boston where a beginning caller could call, or
any more experienced callers who would let a beginner call one dance at
one of their events.
Thanks,
~Nathaniel
--
============
Nathaniel A. B. Jack
