Well I never, !! Like Dave Hunt I find Leenia's Description of the Dances she plays at, Bizzare in the extreme !!, ....Secret Meetings with 5 callers,... dances planned 3 weeks in advance, Dances inextricably linked to one tune, dances they want to "Teach". I have played for Barn Dances Ceilids, country dances, call 'em what you like, ..we do not play from music, we have learnt a repertoire of suitable tunes for most of the popular dances that any caller is likely to use, and he/she will ask for, for example, a 32 bar polka or a 48 bar jig or whatever, and the band picks a suitable tune from our repertoire and away we go. Some times a caller will ask for a particular tune, if we know it we play, if not we use an alternative, ...Ive never met a caller who was fazed by this, its perfectly normal practice as far as I,m aware.
I cannot see how you can decide what your going to play 3 weeks before you get to the gig, I cant envisage how you could arrive to play at say, someone wedding with a ready made programme, it all depends on the mood, competency, and requirements of the clients as to how the caller runs the evening Surely ??