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Weaning crowd off of favorites

Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 8:10 pm
by tornredcarpet
I noticed when I DJ in a certain scene, I will get different people out dancing on the floor, but it seems the feedback from the regulars seems always to be negative.

Some main things I shoot for:
-trying not to play songs that are heard week after week.
-getting everyone their turn on the floor
-keeping energy up.

Some observations and hypotheses I have:
-I think they want to hear the usual songs they like... Wade in the Water, Revival Day, and No me Digas Nada
-Their energy seem to respond inversely to tempo... but the general energy of the room will die.


I don't quite know how to work with this scene... any thoughts on what I should do?

Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 10:17 pm
by Nate Dogg
"No me Digas Nada" is a staple in your scene? Is this song a staple in other scenese as well?

Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 6:20 am
by Eyeball
"No me Digas Nada" :shock: :?:

Re: Weaning crowd off of favorites

Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 7:03 am
by Haydn
tornredcarpet wrote:I don't quite know how to work with this scene... any thoughts on what I should do?
Have you talked to the dancers?

Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 7:09 am
by Kaastel
I've had a somewhat similar problem converting our scene from highly east-coast dependent to involving more Lindy-able songs. I only DJ once every 4 events, so that may help a little- I can't upset the crowd too much. :) Most people appreciate the variety I interject. I would suggest:
1) Changing slowly. Play mostly standards or things they like, but throw in a few songs of a different variety to gently steer the direction
2) If you see the energy dying, fall back on something you know they'll like. I'll often have a song queued up but notice the energy in the room is falling off, so I'll change it to something I KNOW they'll dance to
3) Influence the scene some other way- I do it by teaching exclusively Lindy/Bal/Charleston. :)

Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 9:02 am
by CafeSavoy
Eyeball wrote:"No me Digas Nada" :shock: :?:
It's a version of Digas Digas Don't.

Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 9:06 am
by tornredcarpet
"No me digas nada" is a salsa song. Yay for swing night!

I've talked to dancers and those are the conclusions I came with. I cooouullld give them what they want, but you might as well make one playlist and set it to play every wednesday night. (as opposed to a ballroom from my hometown).
I think the main issue is they all dance swing, but they are not lindy hoppers (I'm seeding an interest in blues, but they don't seem to want to learn). They don't really have an appreciation for the music nor a knowledge of it at all. I had a laugh when someone told me my music was too fast (132bpm average) and they actually requested "slower songs" to the tune of 156bpm...

I generally play slower swing songs... as gemzombie says, swing music, not music that swings. Most standards I will never ever play, and I can't really justify spending money or resources collecting them.

A problem with playing songs the regulars like is the regulars will all come out and dance with each other but the new people will all be sitting alone. Quite a dilemma here.

I guess I have to rely on the teaching direction... When I'm teaching- they don't have any say on what music I pick mwahahahahaha!

Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 11:55 am
by GemZombie
The trick is trying to find the music you think is good that they will respond to as well. These are musical stepping stones...

Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 8:18 pm
by la musette
I am so sick of Wade in the Water!!!!! I haven't even put it in my music collection. EVERYONE has it. I don't care if someone requests it from me, someone else will play it anyway.

:)

(I love the song, I just don't want to hear it for a few years.....like that's possible!)

I think if you play good music, then people have no business complaining that they don't get to here 'that one song' again.

Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 8:29 pm
by la musette
tornredcarpet wrote:A problem with playing songs the regulars like is the regulars will all come out and dance with each other but the new people will all be sitting alone. Quite a dilemma here.
Have you thought of adding extra things to the evening, like snowball dances (I found this VERY helpful one time in another city where I knew NO ONE) or a steal dance here and there? I've actually suggested this many times in Columbus but we haven't gotten around to implementing. We have a pretty welcoming scene on its own, though. If you have a forum you might just get people talking about the need to dance with new people. Sometimes they need to be reminded of things like introducing new people to other partners so they have a few ideas of people to dance with. We do this from time to time on our boards if there is an event where this is a problem and someone calls us out on it. But if your scene is mostly EC I'm guessing there is no forum. Try propaganda? :) Make T-shirts that say 'Lindy Whore- will dance with anyone' perhaps? :)

Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2006 12:29 am
by Eyeball
tornredcarpet wrote:"No me digas nada" is a salsa song. Yay for swing night!

I've talked to dancers and those are the conclusions I came with. I cooouullld give them what they want, but you might as well make one playlist and set it to play every wednesday night. (as opposed to a ballroom from my hometown).

I think the main issue is they all dance swing, but they are not lindy hoppers (I'm seeding an interest in blues, but they don't seem to want to learn). They don't really have an appreciation for the music nor a knowledge of it at all. I had a laugh when someone told me my music was too fast (132bpm average) and they actually requested "slower songs" to the tune of 156bpm...

I generally play slower swing songs... as gemzombie says, swing music, not music that swings. Most standards I will never ever play, and I can't really justify spending money or resources collecting them.

A problem with playing songs the regulars like is the regulars will all come out and dance with each other but the new people will all be sitting alone. Quite a dilemma here.

I guess I have to rely on the teaching direction... When I'm teaching- they don't have any say on what music I pick mwahahahahaha!
You have a difficult situation.

You have 'McDonald's' dancers - they like the same thing over and over and it doesn't have to be very good. You could offer them steak, but hey would still choose the Happy Meal.

If you play mostly slower songs, how do you get or keep the energy level up?

What's the age demographic at your dances?

Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2006 1:26 am
by LindyChef
Eyeball wrote:If you play mostly slower songs, how do you get or keep the energy level up?
Don't mistake energy for tempo ... those are two seperate things (it's why that he got that request for a slower tempo song and the requested song was faster tempo).

Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2006 1:49 am
by Eyeball
LindyChef wrote:
Eyeball wrote:If you play mostly slower songs, how do you get or keep the energy level up?
Don't mistake energy for tempo ... those are two seperate things (it's why that he got that request for a slower tempo song and the requested song was faster tempo).
I don't think I have ever been any where where all the tunes were slow and there was any sense of energy going on. Actually, I have never been to a "Swing" dance venue where all the tunes were slow ones.

Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2006 11:04 am
by tornredcarpet
>I don't think I have ever been any where where all the tunes were slow and there was any sense of energy going on. Actually, I have never been to a "Swing" dance venue where all the tunes were slow ones.

There's the occasional blues venues where that holds true- slow music with energy. Don't forget old school rag like Jelly Roll Morton... I find plenty of energy with that, even though tempos dip down to 120bpm, it's still incredibly danceable. (but the regulars still think that music is fast, and then they go play wynonie harris)

I think it's really the musicality that gives the energy and breathes life into what you hear... You can play all the Neo-Swing you want and I won't feel any desire to move, but you play some Duke Ellington I'm already in the middle of the floor.

>What's the age demographic at your dances?

Most of the people are in their upper 20s, younger 30s.

>We do this from time to time on our boards if there is an event where this is a problem and someone calls us out on it. But if your scene is mostly EC I'm guessing there is no forum. Try propaganda? Make T-shirts that say 'Lindy Whore- will dance with anyone' perhaps?


I just kicked off some forums last week... would you like to chip in and offer some support? http://socaroswing.17.forumer.com

Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2006 2:31 pm
by la musette
tornredcarpet wrote:
>We do this from time to time on our boards if there is an event where this is a problem and someone calls us out on it. But if your scene is mostly EC I'm guessing there is no forum. Try propaganda? Make T-shirts that say 'Lindy Whore- will dance with anyone' perhaps?


I just kicked off some forums last week... would you like to chip in and offer some support? http://socaroswing.17.forumer.com
Aw man, you're not going to make the t-shirts? :)
I'll stop by and have look at the forum- good luck with it!