Contra dance!

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Posted by groundhogbrains on Tuesday, December 8, 2009

I played a contra dance last Saturday! What fun!! Unfortunately the circumstances are kind of sad, one of my friends in the regular band was in a bad motorcycle accident, and is hospitalized with serious spinal injury. We still don't know how the recovery will go, so if you read this send some good thoughts his way. He's an amazing musician, and I really think that if anyone can recover from something like this to play again, he can. Since he and his wife couldn't play in the contra band, the other two bandmembers asked MJ and I to fill in. We had a bass, mandolin, and the two of us on fiddle.

We made a whole list of square tunes that we could play (and discovered that it was less than half of our tune list, hah!). We then figured out that very few of them overlapped with tunes the band played. I was so busy all week I couldn't practice with them until the gig, so I just showed up and hoped it would work out. MJ, of course, knows every OT tune in existence so she had no problem.

I thought they might be worried about the tunes I didn't know and stick with the safe ones, but nope! They figured I was fine and called out 8 tunes in a row that I had never heard before. There I was, learning them full speed right under the mic, with MJ doing crazy harmonies and variations just to trip me up. The dancing was great, the band sounded good, and I was having such a good time.

I remember it took me a month to learn my first OT tune, about three years ago when I was switching from years as a classical violist. The tune was so foreign to me, the bowing so intricate, and the timing so strange, I thought it was fascinating. Now here I am learning 12 tunes in a night, on stage! So I guess I have been getting better bit by bit. Just for good measure MJ decided to teach me a handful more last night, including Golden Chain Tree, which has become one of my new all-time favorites for twin fiddle.

5 comments on “Contra dance!”

mudbug Says:
Wednesday, December 9, 2009 @1:33:04 AM

Very Impressive!

Arkansas Traveler Says:
Wednesday, December 9, 2009 @1:50:59 AM

Michele,
Wow... Sounds like you had a wail of a time.
And umpteen tunes down the line... Learnin' them under the spotlight, sounds crazy...
What an achievement...
Have fun, with your new all time twin fiddle tunes...
appy fiddlin'

bj Says:
Wednesday, December 9, 2009 @7:33:43 AM

Isn't it absolutely the most AMAZING thing when the ear/hand connection kicks in and WORKS??? I love it! Though I have a feeling you're a bit better at it than I am, it only works for me for simpler tunes.

Why is it that I think you're going to be playing for dances on a regular basis from now on? ;-)

I'll keep a good thought for your friend.

wormbower Says:
Thursday, December 10, 2009 @11:36:38 AM

Darn! I got an email notice for that contradance, but didn't read it carefully enough to see that you and MJ were the guest fill-ins. IDE have loved to see it, and have no doubt that you guys put on a great performance. Congratulations! hope to see y'all at the next TOTMC on the 18th (pleeease?)

Paul