Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2006 2:44 pm
I remember PBDA people wearing those shirts back around 1998.
You need to meet littlebrother on the swingcolumbus forums. You guys post identically.Eyeball wrote:I remember PBDA people wearing those shirts back around 1998.
One suggestion that comes to mind is to re-evaluate your perception of what a Swing DJ does. A good Swing DJ does not just play music he or she likes. We can do that at home or in the car. Good DJs instead are somewhat chameleon-like, and can adapt to what the audience likes. Now, granted, the ideal is where your tastes and preferences can not only fit, but also mold the crowd's tastes and preferences; but you should first and foremost have a service-oriented attitude towards DJing.CountBasi wrote:I am finding this here as well. The dancers here are depending on hearing a lot of 'old faithfuls' they know and love. Resistance to new tunes is unfortunately high. I'd feel ok playing up to five scarcely-heard-before-locally numbers in one two-hour slot here. More than that and I don't know if I'd be asked to DJ again.
It's a tricky environment to operate under.
I agree, I wish more DJs would think about that.Lawrence wrote:One suggestion that comes to mind is to re-evaluate your perception of what a Swing DJ does. A good Swing DJ does not just play music he or she likes. We can do that at home or in the car. Good DJs instead are somewhat chameleon-like, and can adapt to what the audience likes. Now, granted, the ideal is where your tastes and preferences can not only fit, but also mold the crowd's tastes and preferences; but you should first and foremost have a service-oriented attitude towards DJing.
As such (and I mean this respectfully), the critical nature of the question about weaning people off their favorites seems a bit misguided. It's like an attorney asking a support group of other attorneys how he can better convince his clients to do what HE wants them to do, not what THEY want to do. No, no, no; clients hire an attorney to accomplish THEIR goals, not the attorney's goals. Likewise, the venue hires a Swing DJ to accomplish the goals of its customers (the dancers) not of the DJ.
Now, if you don't LIKE "pandering to the crowd," then (in the most friendly tone possible) simply stop being a DJ and listen to your music at home. Or open your own venue and bear the risks yourself. Nobody is oppressing you or forcing you to be a DJ at someone else's venue.
As such, being able to get away with playing only a few "push the envelope" songs per set SHOULD be the norm. I finally figured out why I have trouble answering the main question of this thread; it is because of a mistaken assumption behind the question: that we should be able to play whatever we (the DJs) want, which is not the case at all.
That said, when I have wanted to shift tastes in a direction (and when I have the credibility and flexibility to do so), I have found that the best way to do so is ALWAYS to give them a little taste here and there, and leave them wanting more. Don't lose your audience by forcing an agenda down their throats: be it tempo, style, eclectic, vintage, groove, westie, or whatever. Slip it in so they can become accustomed to it. Eventually, if it comes anywhere close to their preferences, they will not only "see the light," but be enthusiastic about it.
Yeah after djing a 90 minute set last night (after teaching an hour class) I found that this scene is very unpredictable. I played 3 songs in a row that were upwards of 200bpm, the floor was packed. This is not usually the norm, they seemed to like the first one so I figured, let us see if they can handle another.zipthebird wrote:I've been finding the same thing about beginners. Most of the beginners that I encounter haven't really developed strong tastes yet, so they really will dance to just about anything, as long as it has a clear beat. So for beginners, I try to avoid:
- old recordings with obscured rhythm sections
- very groovy stuff where the rhythm section is playing in extreme spaces around the beat or implying a downbeat.
Amen. I was just reading this thread like this -> thinking, "Why would you not listen to the people who put down their hard earned money to come dance at your venue (or promoters hiring YOU to play at their venue)?Lawrence wrote:One suggestion that comes to mind is to re-evaluate your perception of what a Swing DJ does. A good Swing DJ does not just play music he or she likes. We can do that at home or in the car. Good DJs instead are somewhat chameleon-like, and can adapt to what the audience likes. Now, granted, the ideal is where your tastes and preferences can not only fit, but also mold the crowd's tastes and preferences; but you should first and foremost have a service-oriented attitude towards DJing.CountBasi wrote:I am finding this here as well. The dancers here are depending on hearing a lot of 'old faithfuls' they know and love. Resistance to new tunes is unfortunately high. I'd feel ok playing up to five scarcely-heard-before-locally numbers in one two-hour slot here. More than that and I don't know if I'd be asked to DJ again.
It's a tricky environment to operate under.
As such (and I mean this respectfully), the critical nature of the question about weaning people off their favorites seems a bit misguided. It's like an attorney asking a support group of other attorneys how he can better convince his clients to do what HE wants them to do, not what THEY want to do. No, no, no; clients hire an attorney to accomplish THEIR goals, not the attorney's goals. Likewise, the venue hires a Swing DJ to accomplish the goals of its customers (the dancers) not of the DJ.
Now, if you don't LIKE "pandering to the crowd," then (in the most friendly tone possible) simply stop being a DJ and listen to your music at home. Or open your own venue and bear the risks yourself. Nobody is oppressing you or forcing you to be a DJ at someone else's venue.
As such, being able to get away with playing only a few "push the envelope" songs per set SHOULD be the norm. I finally figured out why I have trouble answering the main question of this thread; it is because of a mistaken assumption behind the question: that we should be able to play whatever we (the DJs) want, which is not the case at all.
That said, when I have wanted to shift tastes in a direction (and when I have the credibility and flexibility to do so), I have found that the best way to do so is ALWAYS to give them a little taste here and there, and leave them wanting more. Don't lose your audience by forcing an agenda down their throats: be it tempo, style, eclectic, vintage, groove, westie, or whatever. Slip it in so they can become accustomed to it. Eventually, if it comes anywhere close to their preferences, they will not only "see the light," but be enthusiastic about it.