It's All About the Music

Let's face it. Callers get a lot of attention. And yes, we do a lot a work.

But, I'd like to propose an idea - maybe the band members do the same amount of work or more!

For instance, I may call the walkthrough and a couple of times through once the music starts, but if a dance is going well I can relax a bit*. Meanwhile, the band moves continuously and thinks continuously of such things as tempo, style, cool riffs, what section they're on, whether or not they nailed that one chord, which instrument to choose - the banjo or the accordion (BEST dilemma ever!!), and whatever ridiculously awesome stuff is going through their heads.

Before calling, I never really thought much about the music while dancing (even though I'm a musician myself!), until another caller said something that really made me think about things - "Dancing is really about the music!"

That may be partly true! I do think dancing is about a lot of things besides music (e.g. community), but what does a well-picked and well-played tune do for a dance? It energizes the dancers and sets up the entire tone of the dance! That's a lot of pressure!!!

So, if you haven't thought of this before, thank a band member next time you're on the dance floor. They're pretty much all awesome anyway, and I'm sure they'd appreciate knowing that you're listening!

*The only exception would be calling dances for a room full of beginners - these are some of the hardest gigs I've ever had, and callers usually call a lot longer for a dance than during a dance made up of mostly experience dancers.