Contra Dance Musicians Course

This intensive class will focus on learning to play in a way that is simultaneously supportive and exciting for dancers, but also interesting and fun for the musicians. Essential elements to this combination include 

• Being able to lock into various rhythmic grooves
• Being responsive to what one hears from other musicians and the dancers themselves
• Techniques for introducing variety to an intrinsically repetitive musical experience. 

We will focus specifically on playing for contra dancing, although some skills learned in this class will be transferable to other types of dance accompaniment.

Participation is limited to 20.

This course is intended for intermediate to advanced musicians; participants should already be able to play several tunes at contra dance tempo. Music will be provided in advance, both as sheet music and in recorded form. We will not spend time in class teaching tunes.

We’ll meet for two hour-long periods each day. The rest of the day and evening, you’ll have full access to Dance, Music & Spice Week.

To improve our mastery of each of these elements, we will do quite a lot of playing, both in small groups and as a large ensemble. There will be exercises that expand our understanding of what it means to play rhythmically, trial and error to explore how to mold our playing to the dancers’ choreography, discussion of different types of arranging, and experimentation with improvisation. Melodic and rhythm instrumentalists will have chances for break-away sessions with Anna and Owen to talk about the skills specific to those roles.

Come expecting to listen a lot—to each other, to your own playing, to live music during the week, and to recordings from a variety of contra dance bands. Don’t be surprised if you’re asked to dance every so often. It is our goal that through listening and experimenting with new skills and ideas, every participant will be able to approach the tunes they love with more confidence, breadth and joy.

The course is taught by Anna Patton and Owen Morrison

Anna Patton is a clarinetist, singer, composer, and educator driven by musical curiosity. She plays with the internationally touring dance band Elixir and with many other contra, ECD, and swing/blues bands. She loves to teach ensemble classes, improvisation, and ear training. In her home town of Brattleboro VT, she directs the Soubrette Jazz Choir which performs her creative arrangements of historical and contemporary American music. She also enjoys drinking good espresso and playing ping pong.

Owen Morrison is an accomplished rhythm and lead guitarist, at home in many styles of traditional music. His playing, laced with rhythmic power and skillful finesse, has made him popular among dancers and fiddlers alike. Owen has toured the U.S. and abroad with bands such as Elixir, Airdance, Night Watch and The Morrison Brothers Band. A frequent staff member and Program Director at Pinewoods, Ashokan, Augusta, and many other camps.

This year we are using a sliding scale model to make this course accessible to more people. The sliding scale fee you choose will not affect your chance of getting into the course.

If the course is oversubscribed on March 18, there will be a lottery with some preference given to applicants supported by their local community. Strong indicators of that support are our Affiliate priority and matching scholarship processes, where a CDSS Affiliate vouches for a participant and may offer some scholarship, asking CDSS to match that amount. This is a statement by people who know the individual, that the person is deserving of assistance and would benefit the local community by attending the course.

To register, please log into CDSS Commons, or visit our registration page for more information.