The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #76097   Message #1344697
Posted By: GUEST,Peter from Essex
01-Dec-04 - 03:55 PM
Thread Name: Barn Dances - Country Dances
Subject: RE: Barn Dances - Country Dances
A high proportion of dances seem to be modern compositions. With the introduction of calling after WW2 audiences have developed a taste for variety while the tradition was for a far smaller repertoire. I have actually heard people complain that Hugh Rippon only calls "standards", no thought that they are standards because any caller worth his or her salt has learned from Hugh in the first place.

Trad or modern tunes - depends on the band. There is a good repertoire collected from musicians who played for social dance before the war such as Walter Bulwer.

Rural / urban - too much rural bias in early collecting to be sure.

Dying out? yes but not as rapidly as was thought by early collectors.

Institutionalised - up to a point.