Tempo, tempo, tempo....oh, and did I mention tempo? I'll let the musicians respond with specific tune suggestions, because I have no idea which tunes are easier or harder to play, but as a caller and a dancer, one of the things that makes a tune or a medley work is being able to play it at the right speed for the dance that is being called and for the crowd that is dancing it. Part of it is also having a repertoire of tunes to match the mood of a specific dance - a very flowing to tune to match a flowing dance, or an accented tune to highlight balances and long line. A part of what makes a tune work well is how it fits that particular dance.
Great project! Bob On Tue, Oct 23, 2012 at 10:32 PM, Leslie Gotfrit <lgotf...@me.com> wrote: > My teen daughter plays in a performing fiddle group. I sometimes call > family dances using the group. The director asked me 1. to suggest some > tunes she could teach the group that would be ideal for contras 2. what > makes a tune or medley of tunes work well for contras. (There are lots in > their repertoire that seems to work for "Southern" squares or big circle > dances). Besides being square, 32 bar tunes with A parts distinguishable > from B, what makes a great contra tune? I like dancing to medleys where > the second tune picks up the energy: how is that accomplished? Can anyone > suggest a couple of tunes and (perhaps which recording of it) that are > essential to a contra music repertoire? > > Thanks very much to those who responded to my question about determining > space for contra dancing. It was incredibly helpful and I learned something > new from each response. > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > call...@sharedweight.net > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers >
