...yet another calling gig.
kent4str was scheduled to be on stage in Baltimore for the Chesapeake Squares club night. Instead, he e-mailed me this afternoon, asking me to take it so he could work late. We typically alternate club night calling gigs so each of us gets some alone time at home --and away from each other; not tonight, alas.
Tonight was the 9th consecutive daily square dance event: I danced only on Saturday & Sunday (to
otterpop58), called a little last Wednesday and was otherwise on mic exclusively all other times. It was a good run, I think; I had fun and I think I maintained a good level of quality & professionalism throughout. At the moment, I'm just relieved that there were no work- or family-related crises in the middle of it all and that I now get a few days' break.
In preparation for tonight's gig, I checked over the call lists to pull out three calls which I thought the club needed some practice: peel off, peel the top and tag the line. There are, of course, several other good candidates but these seemed a good place to start.
Yup, definitely. Peel off was OK. Peel the top was a disaster but we walked it a couple of times and all went well. Half tag the line was OK; (full) tag the line was OK; 3/4 tag the line crashed & burned. WTF?! I'm still not entirely sure we have that one fixed but I don't want a club night to completely degenerate into workshopping only so I let it go for the moment. Next time, however...
I got to call two A2 tips ce soir as well; this was the first time in two months I've been on mic in Baltimore with enough bodies for a square. Yup, a workshop is definitely a good idea... there was a great deal of cuing required for some not-especially-difficult figures, although my stack of easy & trivial figures was well danced.
Singing calls are no longer the source of screaming frustration they were for me about 2 years ago. My delivery is more confident and timing is vastly improved. I do worry about a lack of originality in the dancer rotation; I'll work up some fresh material soon. I also worry that I'm wearing out the same 20+ songs; while I do have others on hand I like, I need to find a block of time to pitch-shift them down into a more comfortable vocal range. That would have been my project tonight if I hadn't been substituting.
Next gig: Mainstream class next Monday.
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Tonight was the 9th consecutive daily square dance event: I danced only on Saturday & Sunday (to
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
In preparation for tonight's gig, I checked over the call lists to pull out three calls which I thought the club needed some practice: peel off, peel the top and tag the line. There are, of course, several other good candidates but these seemed a good place to start.
Yup, definitely. Peel off was OK. Peel the top was a disaster but we walked it a couple of times and all went well. Half tag the line was OK; (full) tag the line was OK; 3/4 tag the line crashed & burned. WTF?! I'm still not entirely sure we have that one fixed but I don't want a club night to completely degenerate into workshopping only so I let it go for the moment. Next time, however...
I got to call two A2 tips ce soir as well; this was the first time in two months I've been on mic in Baltimore with enough bodies for a square. Yup, a workshop is definitely a good idea... there was a great deal of cuing required for some not-especially-difficult figures, although my stack of easy & trivial figures was well danced.
Singing calls are no longer the source of screaming frustration they were for me about 2 years ago. My delivery is more confident and timing is vastly improved. I do worry about a lack of originality in the dancer rotation; I'll work up some fresh material soon. I also worry that I'm wearing out the same 20+ songs; while I do have others on hand I like, I need to find a block of time to pitch-shift them down into a more comfortable vocal range. That would have been my project tonight if I hadn't been substituting.
Next gig: Mainstream class next Monday.