Q: Are there periodic practices?
Q: What about sheet music?
Q: Do some of the musicians get paid? How is that worked out?
Q: Would a 14 year old be welcome?
Q: How should I best prepare to play with the open band?
Q: How does the open band sound?
Q: What is involved in playing in the Open Band?
A: Just show up with your instrument and find a seat in the second or third
row. If you can, try and find a seat next to someone who plays the same
instrument that you do. Its best to arrive by about 8 pm, so that you have
time to meet some other players, tune up your instrument and warm up a little
before the dance starts at 8:30. We start the sound check about 8:15 and
play the polka to open the dance at about 8:25.
Q: Are there periodic practices?
A: No, we do not practice as a group.
Q: What about sheet music?
A: We do not use sheet music as a group or have any collection of tunes
organized in a book. Many of the tunes that we play can be found in the
fiddle tunes books commonly available - The Fiddlers Fake Book, The
New England Fiddlers Repertoire, and The Portland Collection.
All three books are available from the Country Dance and Song Society,
Elderly Instruments, or the House
of Musical Traditions in Takoma Park, MD. Open band players are encouraged
to memorize the tunes, since we are playing for dancers and the best way
to make a connection with the dancers is to be able to look at them while
you play. If your nose is stuck in sheet music, it's pretty difficult to
interact with the dancers or the other players and you can miss cues from
the band leader. All the musicians playing on mic have memorized the tunes.
But learning the open band repertoire is a different story. Sheet music
is helpful to learn the tunes or you can also come to the band and learn
them by ear as we play for the dance. Bring a tape recorder and ask someone
from the open band to play a few tunes for you during the break or after
the dance. We do have one member - Jim Stahler, who records the titles of
the tunes we play each night and produces an Open
Band Tune List. That is very helpful to new players, because it lists
all the tunes that we might play, and how many times we played each tune
in the last year. So, you can get that list and see the most popular tunes
and learn those first.
Q: Do some of the musicians get paid? How is that worked
out?
A: Everyone that plays in the open band may sign up to receive a share of
the band pay. The share varies with the number of open band players and
the number of dancers in the evening, but generally amounts to about $10
to $20. The core musicians who lead the band get paid more.
Q: Would a 14 year old be welcome?
A: We welcome musicians of all ages and abilities. The open band is loosely
organized anarchy, so anyone coming to play should be comfortable joining
the crowd, introducing themselves to their neighbors and then jumping right
in to play some tunes.
Q: How should I best prepare to play with the open
band?
A: We suggest that you get a copy of the Open Band
Tune List. Then, if you read music buy two tune books - The Portland
Collection and The New England Fiddler's Repertoire available
from the Country Dance
and Song Society, Elderly Instruments,
or the House of Musical Traditions
in Takoma Park, MD. Then, using the Open Band Tune List, learn to play the
most popular tunes at home and practice them at tempos of 112 to 140 beats/minute.
Q: How does the open band sound?
A: Here
is a link to a podcast that offers the sets of songs along with the page
info in some of the popular books such as the Portland Collection and Fiddlers Fakebook.