Hi Homeless,

I have been a contra dancer since 1993, and have had occassion to play for a few dances, and even to call once during a showcase night. First of all, all of these skills feed into each other. Being a musician makes me a better dancer and caller, being a dancer makes me a better musician, etc. Before I started playing for dancers, I made a conscious decision to pay more attention to the musicians and caller when dancing. I even would sit out and watch the muscicians and how they interacted with each other, and with the caller. I made note of tune choices (i.e. both what tunes were being played and what types of tunes were being played, as well as how they were strung together); I listened for how long each tune was played before moving on, as well as how long one particular dance would go on. I listened to tempo. Basically I watched and listened and tried to incorporate what I noticed into my playing.

First of all, God is in the downbeat. As someone has already said, contradancers are very forgiving folk. They don't mind the occassional musical gaff, as long as you maintain a steady, and audible tempo. Thus, the very real need for a piano, bass, or a good percussionist. When the tempos goes, dancers begin to lose focus and get frustrated. BTW, a tempo of between 120 and 130 beats per minute is the usual choice in my community. And that shouldn't change whether you are playing jigs or reels. By beats, we usually mean foot taps. With reels, each foot tap holds four notes. With jigs each pulse has three notes. Therefore the perception is that they are easier for the beginner; they feel slower. In some ways though, they are harder because of the down-up-down, up-down-up kind of rhythm they need. My advise don't pick one type of tune and stick to it. A good evening of dances, as well as a good set of tunes has variety. Have a good mixture of medleys to chose from and work with your caller. Some types of dances work well with the driving flow of a set of reels, while others need more of a skippy rhythm that jigs provide.

In our community, 99.9% of our musicians construct medleys. I for one can only take so much of one tune, as a musician or as a dancer. I crave variety. I have found that one contra dance can easily sustain between 3 and 5 tunes. There are a coupl of schools of thought on medleys. One choose tunes that are similar and flow nicely into each other. This is helpful when you need a particular kind of phrase for say a balance and swing at the same time in each tune. On the other hand, it is musically exciting when there is contrast between the tunes. Good choices here are: moving from jigs to reels (one of my favorites); moving from major to minor, or minor to major; a combination of both of those.

I need to stop now. If I think of more I will post it.

Good luck

BeauD