Leslie, What skill level is the group? Can they play notey reels up to tempo? I would be happy to suggest a dozen or so tunes if I know what they'd be able to handle.
As far as medleys go, that's an entire other can of worms. There are lots of ways to pick up energy between one tune and the next in a medley. Some possibilities: - Have the first tune be less notey, and the second more complex; marches to reels work well for this. For instance, try something like Coleman's March into the Merry Blacksmith - Have the second tune be in a higher key; going from G to A, for instance, can sound like an energy boost - Go from a minor tune to a major one (like A minor to A major), particularly if the minor tune is groovier and the major tune is driving. For instance, try Brenda Stubbert's into Road to Errogie Other than just the tunes, there are way too many ways to list for bands to raise the energy when changing tunes regardless of which tunes they're using. The band can end one tune very abruptly, with a break, then start the next all together. Or they could end one tune with just melody playing, and at the start of the next tune, have the whole band come in. Or many other possibilities. -Dave On Tue, Oct 23, 2012 at 11:32 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 > -- David Casserly (cell) 781 258-2761
