Calling travels - roanoke, va
Camped out in a coffee shop for a bit before I meet friends for dinner in Roanoke before the dance this evening. Tonight, I'll be working with an unfamiliar band that is also relatively new to playing together, but friends have assured me that they're quite good. As usual, I've picked out the first couple of dances, but otherwise, will wait to see what the group is like and then go with the flow...
Tuesday in Winston Salem with the Big Home Band went really well. I'm not always as comfortable with old-time bands as I am with New England style bands, but we had a great time. It helps that they play for contras on a regular basis, and that Steve is really good at matching tunes to dances. That's usually the hardest thing for me with old time bands. I asked a much more experienced caller about what she did when she was working with old time bands, and she said that she didn't even try to ask for specific type tunes -- she just took what they played and worked with it. Hearing that from someone like Louie really took a load off my mind as far as working with old time bands go. It's a wonderful plus to have an old time band that takes the time to match the tunes, tho.
We had a great bunch of dancers, though, and I was able to call a nice variety of dances with few, if any, hiccoughs.
I am looking forward to playing with the two new dances that Dean gave me during the dance. I may even call one of them tonight.
Tuesday in Winston Salem with the Big Home Band went really well. I'm not always as comfortable with old-time bands as I am with New England style bands, but we had a great time. It helps that they play for contras on a regular basis, and that Steve is really good at matching tunes to dances. That's usually the hardest thing for me with old time bands. I asked a much more experienced caller about what she did when she was working with old time bands, and she said that she didn't even try to ask for specific type tunes -- she just took what they played and worked with it. Hearing that from someone like Louie really took a load off my mind as far as working with old time bands go. It's a wonderful plus to have an old time band that takes the time to match the tunes, tho.
We had a great bunch of dancers, though, and I was able to call a nice variety of dances with few, if any, hiccoughs.
I am looking forward to playing with the two new dances that Dean gave me during the dance. I may even call one of them tonight.