Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[ganderbox]

The first ceilidh is quite nerve-wracking

Ganderbox, you're one in a million! You spelled that right!

(Wrack - from Old English - punishing)

.....I'll get my coat

Tom

Unfortunately, I'm old enough to have been taught spelling when I was at school.

[ganderbox]

So I am I    but where and when did you learn to say "I don't" in reply to "you've got"? When we went to school, only Americans would have done that! Or is it old Cornish? 

- oh, and a melodeon.

I'm surprised you've got room for one of them... 

Sometimes I don't...

[/quote]


What's this? Trawling through my posts looking for grammatical errors?
"Sometimes I don't" is short for "sometimes I don't have room".  It makes sense to me. I don't know what the Americans would say.

Do you think this is helping Sandy prepare for her ceilidh?

[Stiamh]

Urgh, I just logged on to delete my post but too late.  

No, not helping Sandy - notwithstanding jb's defusing post - and please accept my apologies Pauline.

By way of explanation, not looking for grammatical errors - they don't bother me, and anyway this isn't one. It's just that the extent to which American usage has taken hold in England in the 20-odd years since I left is a source of constant surprise to me. Talk on here about "the pinky" is another example. I should get over it I suppose.

I'll crawl back into my hole now.

[Sandy]

Work out your introductions, then practice them over and over again. Your mind can go blank, or your fingers tie themselves in knots, at the moment when every single person in the room is focussed on you, waiting for their cue. I usually use the last 2 bars of the tune, as it gives caller, band and dancers an idea of the pace before they start.

Also, if you are using more than one tune for a dance, practice the changes over and over, as again your mind can go blank at this point. Make sure the rest of the band know when you are about to change tune...a nod or a meaningful look will do, as long as they are all paying attention!

Thank you. Practice with the band tonight was pretty good but I do need to feel more comfortable with my intros and changeovers. Will sort that out tomorrow and Friday hopefully.


Cheers

Sandy.
 

[Wurdal]

I played in a ceilidh band for about 12 years in the North East of England and it was good fun. I learnt a good repertoire of tunes and it made me confident to play in public. I would just make a few points some of which have already been made.

work out a programme for the evening so you know what you are doing
the caller is essential for keeping the evening together - they need to have some experience of a ceilidh
you do not need fancy tunes for a ceilidh- the most important thing is a steady rhythm for the dancers
a lot of the dancers will not know what they are doing so there is no need to worry about your lack of experience
start and finish at the same time - what happens in the middle doesn't really matter
if you cock up hopefully others in the band will not and you can find your place
people are pretty forgiving
if you are playing for a wedding remember that half of the people didn't want to be at the wedding and the other half didn't want to be at a ceilidh

[melod-ian]

if you are playing for a wedding remember that half of the people didn't want to be at the wedding and the other half didn't want to be at a ceilidh

too true
a lot of wedding parties start to enjoy themselves 10 minutes before you're due to finish.

[ganderbox]

if you are playing for a wedding remember that half of the people didn't want to be at the wedding and the other half didn't want to be at a ceilidh

too true
a lot of wedding parties start to enjoy themselves 10 minutes before you're due to finish.

Weddings can be really awful, but we've had some quite good ones recently. Last week for example..some of them were not only willing and able, they were actually stepping to the music instead of shuffling around. We also got an immediate booking for another wedding from it.

 
[/quote]

Thank you. Practice with the band tonight was pretty good but I do need to feel more comfortable with my intros and changeovers. Will sort that out tomorrow and Friday hopefully.


Cheers

Sandy.
 

You might find it easier to do the intros by playing the tune with your right hand and leaving out the basses, which is what I do. I find I'm less likely to fluff them doing that, and I think it's clearer. You can bring the bass in on the last chord of the intro, as you go into the start of the tune.

No, not helping Sandy - notwithstanding jb's defusing post - and please accept my apologies Pauline.

That's OK...no offence taken.
Jb's right about long boring gaps when you play for ceilidhs. I used to be in a band where the caller would often take 20 minutes to call a dance.
It's worth also mentioning the need for the band leader not to get too drawn in to any debates, exchanges of witty remarks, or anything else used to fill the time, as it's easy to get carried away and not notice when the caller says "and now the band willl give you a short introduction"...

[Theo]

Never played over a very long period of time.

Make sure you have drinking water available!

[melod-ian]

if its not been mentioned yet..
it might be worth having some SPARE tunes ready just in case no one gets up to dance. If they're being fed, they're more likely to stick to their chairs

hope the bar's in the same room as the dancefloor too..  otherwise you'll start loosing people.

[Sandy]

8. Have fun

Simon

Thank you. I'm hoping I should settle after a couple. (Dances not drinks!!)

[Sandy]

Thought I had better report back on my first playing for ceilidh experience.

WOW what a buzz!!

Thank you all for your advice. It helped a lot.

Probably was most grateful to the caller and drummer who knew exactly what was going on and made my job that much easier.

Pleased with clip on mics.

Would have preferred to stand up but there was no way. must get my lighter box fixed.

Had water all night but did sneak in a pint and a half of spitfire. (couldn't change habits of a lifetime)

Probably most difficult tune was the first. The bride and groom wanted to open the evening with a waltz. They had gone to classes and had the dance especially choreographed for them. Although I knew the tune really well, I just didn't want to spoil the moment and lose the plot! Big sigh of relief when it all went well.

People danced and laughed all night, the father of the bride was very pleased with the whole evening. Didn't think I'd tell him it was my first Ceilidh!!

Thanks again, can't wait for the next one!!

Cheers

Sandy 

p.s. The bonus also is that I feel better equipped to try different sessions now. Love the simplicity of some of the tunes like cock of the north and 100 pipers.

[TomB-R]

Well done ye!
Very glad to hear it went well.
Tom

[brianread]

Thought I had better report back on my first playing for ceilidh experience.
WOW what a buzz!!

I usually have to sit in front of the telly for an hour, otherwise I am "playing" all night (and get no sleep).

[Owen Woods]

Very glad to hear that it went well. It is a buzz, no mistaking. Hope that it's one of many to come.

[Steve_freereeder]

Excellent, Well done Sandy!

Yes - it is a buzz. I still feel that after playing in ceilidh bands for over 20 years. It's usually great fun and often difficult to 'come down' afterwards. In all that time there have only been about three 'ceilidhs from hell' which I can remember where either (a) hardly anyone turned up because the organisers had not advertised it, (b) no-one wanted to dance, (c) people were expecting a disco, (d) people were too drunk to take it seriously.

[ganderbox]

Excellent, Well done Sandy!

Yes - it is a buzz. I still feel that after playing in ceilidh bands for over 20 years. It's usually great fun and often difficult to 'come down' afterwards. In all that time there have only been about three 'ceilidhs from hell' which I can remember where either (a) hardly anyone turned up because the organisers had not advertised it, (b) no-one wanted to dance, (c) people were expecting a disco, (d) people were too drunk to take it seriously.

Only three like that in 20 years!! You're lucky!
We've had a, b and d, all within the last year, and no-one wanting to dance is not unusual (although they usually do eventually)

Glad to hear it went well, Sandy...hope the next one is a good one too.

[Owen Woods]

One of the gigs that the band did last term involved almost as many band members as participants... thankfully I wasn't on that lineup.

[rees]

We once did a ceilidh where, just before the first dance, the caller accidentally knocked our guitarist's Gibson Les Paul off its stand, snapping the neck clean off! Not the happiest of gigs. 

[Owen Woods]

We once did a ceilidh where, just before the first dance, the caller accidentally knocked our guitarist's Gibson Les Paul off its stand, snapping the neck clean off! Not the happiest of gigs. 

Ouch. My Uncle was once playing a gig, went to get a drink, came back and his saxophone wasn't working. Turns out there was a football going around and it had knocked it clean off the stand, half crushing the bow in the process. They just put it back and hoped for the best... It was a Selmer Mk VI and was a devil to repair apparently.

[Sandy]

I quite like hearing the horror ceilidh stories. It will prepare me for when one comes along. The caller did say to me afterwards that it was a good one and that sometimes they can be 'difficult'.

On a different note, just to show my naivety, I looked at the list of ceilidh tunes at the beginning of last week and my heart dropped. Thought I had double the amount to learn and then realised that these were the titles of the dances that went with the tunes.

cheers

Sandra.