History Lessons

[Nando]

As an experiment, try not playing any music for 60 seconds at a dance. See what happens. Or time how much dead air you have before someone asks for music. A couple of seconds without music can seem much longer at times.

"No music" does not equal "Talking instead of music."

But both equal no dancing.

[funkyfreak]

Depending on the situation, every once in a while I'll do this. I might explain the connection between the songs I'm playing, or I've spent the final hour of a night giving a progression of swinging music from early to late or the influence of time and traveling in Blues music, or whatever I make up that night while giving a brief mention of why/who/when/how.

It has recieved excellent feedback from the full range of dancers, but would I suggest it for every DJ? Would I suggest it for every scene? Every venue in a scene? Every night a DJ spins? Not a bit.

-FF

[Nando]

I seriously doubt regulars are so uppity they would have a major problem with 1 minute a night of historical information. There was a DJ in San Diego who used to give 30 second to a minute introductions to half the songs in his set, and that got annoying. But only a minute once per night? Please. At venues here in SD, it is standard for the owner of the venue to talk on the mic for at least a minute or two every night, possibly twice a night, to promote local classes or events. A historical lesson wouldn't be any more intrusive than that. Give the crowd SOME credit.

I don't think it would ruin someone's night if the DJ took 60 seconds to speak. Not enough to audibly or visibly show how upset they are.

But I do think it does take away the focus of what the night is about. Is the night to educate or to entertain? Finally, is the focus on the music or the DJ? In a case where the DJ talks up every few songs, it obviously points more toward the DJ. For a nightly history lesson, it depends.

Most venues will have DJ's talk up occasional announcements. Even though they may be informative, I wouldn't think they're the highlight of anyone's evening. But even the people who already know the all the info beforehand realize that announcments are necessary. History lessons, while informative, aren't the same as annoucements.

The amount of time 60 second takes is variable depending on who you are. 60 seconds to you if you're on the mic might not seem as long as the 60 seconds someone has to wait for the next song. Or worse yet, you might think you're talking for 60 seconds, only to be talking a LOT longer.

I am giving the crowd SOME credit. That they probably want to hear music, or that they probably know enough of the history behind the music not to have a nightly interruption when they're out dancing.

[Swifty]

Speaking as a dancer, it would seem to me that a DJ spending a minute or more on mic blabbing on about history would come across as a pretentious show-off more than anything else.

"Gather around, kids, it's history lesson time!" Holy condescending.

[yedancer]

I've never seen someone come to a dance and dance every minute of the night. As in everything, delivery is the key. If you are excited about what you are talking about, people will pick up on that. If you are doing it to show how smart you are, then people will pick up on that too.

If you went something like, "Hey everyone, the next song I'm going to play has a really neat story behind it. The song is 'I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate' as performed by BLAH BLAH BLAH. It was originally written in 1918 by Louis Armstrong, and he sold it for $50 to Clarence Williams. It was the first song Louis ever wrote and sold, back when he was just a young jazz musician that hardly anyone knew about."

How could that possibly irritate anyone or make you come across as a pontificating gasbag?

p.s. By the way, was that song the first one Armstrong ever wrote and sold? I think it says so in the Ken Burn Jazz book or something, but I'm not sure.

[JesseMiner]

I come to a dance for entertainment, not for education, so I would not feel comfortable giving a "history lesson" between songs on a regular basis while DJing, even if it was only once a night. Maybe for some special occasion though I would make an exception.

People who are interested in learning something specifically come before the dance to do so. Have you ever thought of offering a musical lesson before the dance starts? The people who are interested might show up, and the dancers who don't care, or more than like aren't paying attention, won't have to deal with it.

Speaking of paying attention, it's hard enough to command the crowd to get through the evening's regular announcements, much less get them to give you their undivided attention for 60 seconds, which is a long time - try timing it when you give your normal announcements. If they are lasting that long, more than likely you're rambling or giving your crowd more information than they can handle. Most likely, all they will hear is "BLAH BLAH BLAH Sister Kate BLAH BLAH BLAH $50 BLAH BLAH BLAH Louis Armstrong", while thinking "when is the next song going to start?"

Announcements are tough, and it takes a long time to perfect the skills of delivering them.

Jesse

[Roy]

I only give a brief history when there is a musician who died. I usually let the crowd know that in honor of such and such the next several songs will be material by that artist. The whole anouncement is around 30 seconds. Recent honories that I have done this for include: Ray Brown, Nina Simone, Benny Carter, Phil Thomas, Sonny Seals, and Lionel Hampton

[gatorgal]

I only give a brief history when there is a musician who died. I usually let the crowd know that in honor of such and such the next several songs will be material by that artist. The whole anouncement is around 30 seconds. Recent honories that I have done this for include: Ray Brown, Nina Simone, Benny Carter, Phil Thomas, Sonny Seals, and Lionel Hampton

That I could handle... I've done it on occasion myself. It think it's important to reflect on an important loss in the music world and give some perspective.

The whole history lesson thing every week bothers me as an aspiring DJ and as an aspiring dancer. I would much rather that get that sort of information while talking to the DJ one on one.

However, I totally commend lindyholic for doing it and if his dancer enjoy it, so much the better.

Tina

[julius]

I think the DJ should play a 300 bpm song and then when only two people dance, he can give the lecture over the music since he will have everybody's undivided attention. Except for two people.

[sonofvu]

I tried it years ago, and some people thought it was neat for the first few weeks. However, I eventually realized that commentary that would be appropriate for radio is often rather inappropriate for a dance.

Most people really don't want to hear about it, which is a shame but is also something I need to acknowledge so as to not distract people from how good the actual music is. It also smacked of uppitiness: as if I merely wanted to show off the fact that I knew more than they did instead of truly just share what I had learned. It ultimately came down to my realizing and appreciating that not everyone (and perhaps no one) was as interested in that stuff as I was.

I actually enjoyed those but that is because I like hearing about that stuff. Most dancers don't want to hear about that stuff I guess. Recently when Benny Carter died made an announcement and played some Carter tunes. People just did not know who Benny Carter was (except for a few music geeks) but when Nina Simone died it was easier for me to play her stuff and have people react positively to it.

[Nate Dogg]

I tried it years ago, and some people thought it was neat for the first few weeks. However, I eventually realized that commentary that would be appropriate for radio is often rather inappropriate for a dance.

Most people really don't want to hear about it, which is a shame but is also something I need to acknowledge so as to not distract people from how good the actual music is. It also smacked of uppitiness: as if I merely wanted to show off the fact that I knew more than they did instead of truly just share what I had learned. It ultimately came down to my realizing and appreciating that not everyone (and perhaps no one) was as interested in that stuff as I was.

I actually enjoyed those but that is because I like hearing about that stuff. Most dancers don't want to hear about that stuff I guess. Recently when Benny Carter died made an announcement and played some Carter tunes. People just did not know who Benny Carter was (except for a few music geeks) but when Nina Simone died it was easier for me to play her stuff and have people react positively to it.

I guess I considered the tribute intros to be a separate type of announcement. I have done a few tribute sets (Lionel Hampton, Peggy Lee, Nina Simone, etc..). Heck, I even did one for Claude Trenier a few weeks back. As I recall, I did not talk that too much, maybe two or three sentences, something like, "Nina Simone died yesterday, in tribute, we are going to be playing some of her songs tonight."

That is different, than telling a 60 second story.

[djstarr]

I've been talking about song introductions with some of my dance friends - they find it enjoyable when the DJ announces the title/artist of a song occasionally. Kevin T does this sometimes - which I like - I think he does so when playing a special song for him (a new artist or song in his collection etc.)

I interpret occasionally as once a night, and I'll do it if I'm DJ'ing the entire evening. The majority of social dancers seem to know very little about the music, so it's nice to offer a small tidbit up.

There seems to be some natural times in the evening that aren't disruptive - set breaks between DJ's; if you've have had someone make a request (that you like well enough to announce who the artist is), or if you are promoting an upcoming concert (I'll do this if I'm DJ'ing at a venue where the concert is being held since it's something the promoter appreciates).

Too many announcements kill the flow, as we found out during the battle Harrison and I did.

And there tends to be a lot of song discussion around the DJ booth if it's in a location that is accessible - at one dance here the booth is right near the front entrance, and the DJ's usually hang out around there and chit-chat about the music, which I think is fun.

[main_stem]

I do it when it feels like there is a natural break or before starting a set. I also keep it very short. "This is so and so from such time," or "from their final concert in 19XX, this is xxxx." Or if I've really messed with the dancers to"explain" what I've done. Keep it short and sweet. People are there to dance not learn about jazz. It also helps to make the song an "ass shaker".

Oh and if you're going to do it make damn sure you confortable talking on a mic.

I also sing over songs if the mood strikes me (okay only on Chimes at the Meeting)

[GemZombie]

One thing I have been really enjoying lately is doing a history lesson every week when I DJ. What I would do is before I play a song related to what I'm about to say, I say a little something about the song or artist usually. I wasn't sure if people were enjoying it or not, but the beginners last night who were out got really excited when I started my history lesson.

Does anyone else enjoy doing this?

Harrison

Interesting. I dont' think I would do this. Of course, I have a radio show that I can do history on... and know that my listeners will enjoy it.

[julius]

I've often wondered what it'd be like to simply announce the name of the song before you play it. No "and here's" or "this is", just "One O'Clock Jump", blam, the music starts.