The question posed is what SONGS are you playing. Your answer is an obvious given.

Scott no more obvious then the original question. This whole thread is getting ridiculous.

Says the guy who drove the thread off the tracks in the first place. Awesome...

I'll be posting a list later today, but I wanted to comment on Donny's comment about dance tempos.

First, Scott has been doing this long enough to know what works for his crowd and what doesn't.

Second, it may not be what works for a guy in New Jersey, Dayton or Texas for that matter.

I perform for a few different Ballroom Dance clubs. These are probably some of the most polished dancers in the SW Ohio area,. One club prefers slow and medium tempo Waltzes to be performed nightly. The other club wants ONLY faster Waltzes.

Is one Club wrong? Nope, not in my opinion.

I also perform at several Animal Clubs North of Dayton in a more rural part of Ohio. Country folk. They like their waltzes S-L-O-W! Are they "wrong?" Nope...

Polkas are another good example. Some clients like them fast, others like them on the slower side.

Each group has their own preferences. If you watch the competitive ballroom shows, they also have their own tempos.

Nobody's wrong...

So when someone says "You must play these songs at the correct ballroom tempo!!!" they should really say, "You should play these songs at the tempos your dancers want them at and respond well to."

You want to lose some gigs fast, Scott? Start playing everything at a professional competitive Ballroom tempo and then tell your dancers they've been doing it wrong all this time.

I'll post a list of what works for me later today...

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Bill in Dayton

Set lists from my last weekend band gig: (Mother's day weekend)

1st -

M-o-t-h-e-r
You belong to me
They Can't Take that away from me
Bill Bailey
He'll have to go
Moonlight Serenade
Everybody Loves Somebody
Cherry Pink/Apple blossum white
NY, NY
I Only Have eyes for you
Green Door
Red Roses/Blue lady
Sway
King of the road
Innamorata
All Shook up
Moonglow
Sentimental Journey
KC
Please don't talk about me when I'm gone
PA Polka
I can't stop loving you
Blueberry Hill
It Had to be you
Misty
tequila
You've got personality
Tennessee waltz
I just called to say I love you
For the good times

2nd -

Don't take your love from me
Slow poke
The wanderer
Could I have this dance
Fly me to the moon
Drinkin Champagne
Make the world go away
fools rush in
Mack the knife
Memories are made of this
My blue heaven
stranger on the shore
unforgettable
tea for 2
let it be me
all of me
Your mama don't dance
Paper doll
Blue skirt waltz
Its now or never


3rd -

You're nobody till somebody loves you
Dolly
Margaritaville
Satin Doll
Cab driver
Don't get around much anymore
Blue moon
last date
dream
God bless america

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We have played together so long that we move from tune to tune pretty seamlessly. In many cases, the final beat of one tune is the start of the count off for the next one. There is minimal chatter from us on the bandstand, its just not our style.



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Bill in Dayton

Hi Scott,
That was the gist I gathered from your question, so can I point you back to my earlier post.

FWIW, in answer to those who think that the 'correct' tempo is a be-all, end-all, I haven't found that to be the case. Nobody in over 40 years of dance gigs ever came up to me and said they couldn't dance to what I was playing. Not just tempos, which were probably right or near enough, but songs done in completely different styles from their original versions. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

That is a terrific device to help keep things fresh.

Take a tune like "It Had to be you." It can be a ballad, a bounce, a fox trot, a rhumba, a cha cha, etc. with out losing its appeal.

Its also fun to see how flexible a tune can be...

Good comment, 124...

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Bill in Dayton

Yeah.......if it wasn't for "activity directors" running interference!

Lucky

Excerpt from: http://www.eastangliadance.co.uk/styles.htm

At public dances, the styles are usually restricted to Waltz, Quickstep, Foxtrot, Jive, Cha Cha Cha, & Rumba. The other ballroom dance styles, & indeed many of the complicated steps and flashy introductions as seen on Strictly Come Dancing - these are mainly for display or competition level dancing. Definitely not the sort of dancing for a crowded dance floor !

Strict Tempo
The term "strict tempo", is often used in association with Ballroom Dancing, or even as another term for Ballroom Dancing, but could equally apply to other dance styles. In essence, the term means that throughout a particular tune, the rhythm conforms to a precise regular timing & beat pattern & beat emphasis as required by the dance style. The actual speed (i.e. tempo as defined above) is therefore only a part of what dancers imply when using the term "strict tempo".

What this means in practice is that the more predictable & emphatic the beat (i.e. strict tempo), the easier the music is to dance to.

Music does not have to be strict tempo in order to apply a given dance style, but requires a high level of technical dance skill in order to maintain the necessary level of synchronisation.



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Bo pen nyang.

Thanx Bill

That's even more than I had hoped anyone would contribute. Look's like you and I do a lot of similar things. I noticed a few I haven't been thinking about which I will probably start doing again now and then.

There were a few that I didn't recognize the title. This could be some I never heard or would recognize it if I heard it. I will check them out.

This is very helpful to anyone reading this which is also what I thought the entire thread was going to be about. Until someone just dedided to get ridiculous.

There were several excellent answers among the posters here that answered along the lines of the question.

I like playing all kinds of music. BUT, I don't like listening to a lot of it. I hardly ever have listened to what's current on the radio. I almost always was listening to jazz, swing, dixie, big band, Bix Biederbecke, Bunny Berigan, Maynard Ferguson, Al Hirt, etc, etc, For the trumpet background.

Keys was Jimmy Smith, Brian Auger and many others.

So these kind of answers help me because I either didn't hear all of the stuff out, or I did hear it and it was the same old non-descript pop music that's been out there forever.

I'm better at it than that really sounded. I have found that I usually know what they are talking about unless someone requests a country song. If I don't recognize the song title or artist name I usually ask if that's a country song and almost all say yes. Not that all country is bad. I enjoy playing it. We just never allowed it in our homes when I was growing up, the channel was changed immediately. haha

You along with several others certainly answered along the lines I had hoped and I am thankful for that. I have been very busy so only have a couple minutes here and there and probably won't get to acknowledge everyone who mad a worthwhile post.

On tempos the thing I've found after doing years of swing, jazz, big band and even concert organ work that one needs to generally slow the songs down for dancing.

This is especially true for seniors and/or those learning to dance.