Monday Report from Canada

I slept but not very restfully. This isn't too surprising as I seldom sleep well the first night in a new bed. Compounding my normal morning annoyance, my alarm clock didn't go off because I had mis-set it and was consequently late to the first morning session.

There were two tracks running 75 minutes each simultaneously, two per morning and two per afternoon. Many were similar to sessions I had attended at the CALLERLAB convention in Los Angeles last March so I was able to chose which sessions to attend more easily than first-time attendees.

The first session I attended was an "Introduction to Voice" with Donna Flynn. I like her: she's one of the few vocal coaches I've heard who didn't go all metaphysical and artsy-fartsy when talking about one's voice and vocal chords. Her recommended exercises for warming up and vocal practice were direct and very useful; her recommendations for hydration & nutrition less so... not having sugar drinks or caffeine three days before a performance is not exactly practical for those of us who may be on a mic 4-5 times per week. As one other attendee restated the rules, if it tastes good or has flavour, you can't have it. Ever. Still, she gets the difference between what square dance callers do and what professional singers do and recommended that some folks may actually need a public speaking coach more than they need a singing coach.

For the second morning session, I attended "Steal a Peak" with Tim Marriner, Bill Harrison and John Marshall. Each caller presented a handful of favoured musical selections from their library, explaining how they used it and analyzing its appeal. Some of it was new to me while others were very familiar.

Per usual, the topic of music to attract younger dancers came up. Examples of such were offered but they were "Funky Town" and ABBA's "Super Trouper." Sure, they're good examples, but do they know they're pulling up examples of hip music for youngsters which are nearly 30 years old? Just when I was working up the nerve to ask for a piece of music which wasn't already older than the supposed target audience, Tim Marriner pulled out "Born to Hand Jive," a fun, driving piece. Bullet dodged. :-)

A light lunch of delicious sandwich wraps and soup was made available before the next sessions. I tried to catch up on email/drama back in DC and was thus a few minutes late for the "Teaching Methods and Making Learning Fun" forum with Norm Wilcox and Betsy Gotta. Much of this material I had already heard in Los Angeles back in March but it was good to have it reinforced.

By the mid-afternoon, I was running out of steam. I had a choice between the partners session and the digital music session. I chose option three: go for a nap before my head could hit the table.

The evening's banquet was fun. I sat a table with Clark Baker, Bill Ackerman, Osamu Miyabe, Chris Homer and Louis & Nancy Friedlander; conversations about the Friedlander's work on the upcoming national square dance convention in Detroit and my work with the IAGSDC convention abounded, among other bits of smalltalk.

The food itself was excellent: caesar salad, stuffed chicken breast, potatoes and carrots. I might never leave.

We had a series of square dance tips after dinner on the small dance floor, regularly assembling three squares per tip. The planned events of the evening wrapped up with Clark Baker's hexagon squares; I'm glad to have had some experience from ACDC 2007 with Clark on this, but he extended it further than I had seen previously, into diamonds, spin chain & exchange the gears and more. Much fun!

Monday Report from Canada

I slept but not very restfully. This isn't too surprising as I seldom sleep well the first night in a new bed. Compounding my normal morning annoyance, my alarm clock didn't go off because I had mis-set it and was consequently late to the first morning session.

There were two tracks running 75 minutes each simultaneously, two per morning and two per afternoon. Many were similar to sessions I had attended at the CALLERLAB convention in Los Angeles last March so I was able to chose which sessions to attend more easily than first-time attendees.

The first session I attended was an "Introduction to Voice" with Donna Flynn. I like her: she's one of the few vocal coaches I've heard who didn't go all metaphysical and artsy-fartsy when talking about one's voice and vocal chords. Her recommended exercises for warming up and vocal practice were direct and very useful; her recommendations for hydration & nutrition less so... not having sugar drinks or caffeine three days before a performance is not exactly practical for those of us who may be on a mic 4-5 times per week. As one other attendee restated the rules, if it tastes good or has flavour, you can't have it. Ever. Still, she gets the difference between what square dance callers do and what professional singers do and recommended that some folks may actually need a public speaking coach more than they need a singing coach.

For the second morning session, I attended "Steal a Peak" with Tim Marriner, Bill Harrison and John Marshall. Each caller presented a handful of favoured musical selections from their library, explaining how they used it and analyzing its appeal. Some of it was new to me while others were very familiar.

Per usual, the topic of music to attract younger dancers came up. Examples of such were offered but they were "Funky Town" and ABBA's "Super Trouper." Sure, they're good examples, but do they know they're pulling up examples of hip music for youngsters which are nearly 30 years old? Just when I was working up the nerve to ask for a piece of music which wasn't already older than the supposed target audience, Tim Marriner pulled out "Born to Hand Jive," a fun, driving piece. Bullet dodged. :-)

A light lunch of delicious sandwich wraps and soup was made available before the next sessions. I tried to catch up on email/drama back in DC and was thus a few minutes late for the "Teaching Methods and Making Learning Fun" forum with Norm Wilcox and Betsy Gotta. Much of this material I had already heard in Los Angeles back in March but it was good to have it reinforced.

By the mid-afternoon, I was running out of steam. I had a choice between the partners session and the digital music session. I chose option three: go for a nap before my head could hit the table.

The evening's banquet was fun. I sat a table with Clark Baker, Bill Ackerman, Osamu Miyabe, Chris Homer and Louis & Nancy Friedlander; conversations about the Friedlander's work on the upcoming national square dance convention in Detroit and my work with the IAGSDC convention abounded, among other bits of smalltalk.

The food itself was excellent: caesar salad, stuffed chicken breast, potatoes and carrots. I might never leave.

We had a series of square dance tips after dinner on the small dance floor, regularly assembling three squares per tip. The planned events of the evening wrapped up with Clark Baker's hexagon squares; I'm glad to have had some experience from ACDC 2007 with Clark on this, but he extended it further than I had seen previously, into diamonds, spin chain & exchange the gears and more. Much fun!