12 Jan
2010
12 Jan
'10
1:37 p.m.
I think the people who like the "new" bands are often reacting to those
bands sounding more like what they're used to. It's not so much the newness
of the musical sound as the familiarity - really the oldness - of the sound.
("Hey, isn't that the tune from (insert name of current favorite tv show or
rock band?")
When we dance to hip-hop or blues or klezmer or whatever, it triggers a
"hey, I know this!" reaction, and the sudden recognition of an old friend in
a new context is basically fun. If I'm right about this, a band could even
insert familiar classical music or the theme from Wired or Deep Six Under
and start getting hired around the circuit.
So if we (as dancers) want to keep having this kind of fun, we need to get
rock-and-rollers to start dancing, or else we need to get our
dancer/musicians to learn some rock-and-roll licks (I use rock-and-roll here
generically - substitute your favorite "other" music).
But I would certainly agree that a band with too many non-dancers in it is a
pain. Heck, (don't tell anyone this) I have a band or two where I'm the only
dancer, and I have a constant struggle to explain why we have to do things a
certain way for the dancers. Twice I stepped out of the band to call a dance
and got totally sideswiped -- by my very own band.
M
E
On Tue, Jan 12, 2010 at 12:03 PM, Tom Hinds <twhinds(a)earthlink.net> wrote:
I too have concerns about the type of music that is
played for contra
dances. It's not hard to not see a trend when looking at the last 50 year
of contra dance music. What I think happens is that there's competitiion
between bands. If a band want gigs, especially gigs playing for dance
camps, their music has to stand out. So, over the years the music tends to
get wilder and wilder, and at the same time straying from what the dancers
really need.
I peronally know several fiddlers whose only concern is to wow the dancers.
They have absolutely no awareness of what's going on on the dance floor.
They are really not dancers themselves!!!! If there's good phrasing and a
good beat it's often the result of chance. Likewise, the music at many of
the dance camps I've called to often don't seem to support the dancers which
is a shame. I usually enjoy calling to the 'lowly' workshop bands more than
with the featured act. But the bands that play wild and crazy stuff get the
good gigs. That sends a message to the others for sure.
It is possible to play exciting music and at the same time support the
dances. We all probably know of many musicians who can do this. I've toyed
with the idea of interviewing many of these fine musicians and making an
instructional video. But, would the other musicians watch it?
The whole thing driving the contra dance revival is the dancers themselves.
Their tastes and inputs are a compass not only for the music but the
choreography as well. I'm thinking that those who value good solid music
are in a minority. The majority of the dancers like what they hear but may
not connect good solid music with good dancing.
My experience is that folks who have called, played or danced for a
significant amount of time tend to come to this same conclusion about what
makes for good dance music. It's also my experience that some of our dances
and dance camps are run by relatively inexperienced dancers. So the
question is, how to spread some wisdom around?
Tom
On Jan 12, 2010, at 12:00 PM, callers-request(a)sharedweight.net wrote:
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Today's Topics:
1. Re: Caller's opinions on non-contra music at dances
(Mark Hillegonds)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 2010 00:30:56 -0500
From: "Mark Hillegonds" <mhillegonds(a)comcast.net>
To: "'Caller's discussion list'" <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
Subject: Re: [Callers] Caller's opinions on non-contra music at dances
Message-ID: <008e01ca9348$6b95d3b0$42c17b10$@net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Hi all,
As a dancer with a wide range of musical tastes, I enjoy dancing to a wide
variety of music. As a few of the respondents said, as long as there is
clear phrasing and an appropriate, steady tempo, I'm happy contra dancing
to
just about anything. I actually prefer really interesting music instead
of
the same tune played the same way at the same volume for the entire dance.
As a musician who plays for contra dances, I also enjoy playing a wide
variety of music. My band ranges from celtic to classical to old-timey to
Eastern European to jazz and blues and swing. We tend to stray quite far
from the original melody. Having said that, as three of the members of
the
band are also callers and dancers, we are extremely aware that we need to
clearly define the 8 bar and A1, A2, B1, B2 phrases for the dancers. On
the
occasion that we get feedback from dancers that they had to count during
one
of our tunes, we assume responsibility for adjusting our playing such that
we restore any missing structure to our tunes.
On the other hand, we've had many dancers say they sometimes forget to
concentrate on dancing because they so enjoy the music we're playing.
Even
though it's a compliment, we try to reserve those moments for our concert
performances and not in dances. People come to a dance to dance and not
listen to us give a concert.
Great conversation.
Mark Hillegonds
Phone: 734-747-7148
Cell: 734-756-8441
Email: mhillegonds(a)comcast.net
-----Original Message-----
From: callers-bounces(a)sharedweight.net
[mailto:callers-bounces@sharedweight.net] On Behalf Of Marian and Parker
Mann
Sent: Sunday, January 10, 2010 10:54 PM
To: callers(a)sharedweight.net
Subject: [Callers] Caller's opinions on non-contra music at dances
I'm looking for comments on a trend I've noticed in contra music,
specifically, bands playing music far removed from pieces traditionally
associated with the form. The catalyst was a mid-December dance in the
northwest where "as a special treat" the band shifted to rock music during
the next-to-last contra. The caller had stopped and we were left to our
own
devices. The A/B parts and the beat were hard to pick out, and the dance
began breaking down as people had to guess when one move ended and another
began. I was there with a group of experienced dancers and our opinions
were uniformly negative. This was not the only time the band's selection
of
tunes was hard to follow, just the most excessive.
Over the last few years I've seen bands play "unusual" music in several
locations across the country and at both regular dance series and dance
weekends. There are some good examples in Youtube (links provided
offline.) IMHO, contra music is an integral part of the dance, cuing on a
nearly subconscious level the changes between figures. Having to
concentrate excessively on the timing takes emphasis off both the flow of
the dance and the interaction with fellow dancers.
Part of me can sympathize with the bands. It must be incredibly boring
for
talented musicians to play, say, Jefferson Reel over and over. On the
other
hand, they are hired to play for dancers, not each other, and some of the
extreme examples smack of self-indulgence.
I assume that essentially all of the members of this list are dancers and
that a number of you are also musicians. I wondered what the group's
feeling was on this and whether anyone felt it was a positive development.
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End of Callers Digest, Vol 65, Issue 8
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