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Category: Audience

Creating a Happy, Healthy Volunteer Base: Ways to engage and retain volunteers to sustain our dances

Volunteers are crucial to the healthy sustainability of our dances, as much to build community as to get the job done. These workshop notes talk about the importance of volunteers, different kinds of volunteers, recruitment, engagement and retention. We’ll also work to address some specific volunteer challenges, useful whether you’re a committee of one or part of a large organizing team.

from Tara Bolker & Maxine Louie, Puttin’ On The Dance 2015

Some Ideas on Governance

This article by, Tom Siess, including a follow up by Bruce Hamilton explores the role of a board as well as ideas regarding good governance.

From the CDSS News

How to Structure Your Organization

This two page document provides some basic considerations on how to structure your organization

From CDSS

Starring Your Recorder

Starring Your Recorder is a free educational video series from GEMS NY. The recorder has been an important instrument worldwide for hundreds of years. It has often been played along with other beautiful instruments that are still played today. With these six videos, students can experience playing easy tunes on recorder accompanied by a Renaissance band.

From Gotham Early Music Scene, Inc.

Reference Contra Dance Sound System

In this series of blog posts, Jeff Kaufman describes various aspects of sound engineering at a contra dance, from the system itself to mic placement and more.

Looking at Mixers

Battery Powered Contra II

How Should BIDA Finance a Sound System?

The Two Kinds of Feedback

Contra Dance Sound: System

Contra Dance Sound: Microphones

Sound For Really Long Halls

Sound Reflection

Simple Contra Speaker Placement

Fiddle Clip-on Microphone Placement

Contra Dance Sound: Mic Placement

Contra Dance Sound: Mixer

Contra Dance Sound Policy

Doing Sound

This resource outlines some basic considerations for doing sound at a dance event.

From CDSS

All Mixed Up: A Guide to Sound Production for Folk and Dance Music

All Mixed Up is a comprehensive guide to doing sound for both traditional dance and folk music events. Bob’s guide covers a wide range of topics that are useful to both beginner and experienced sound technicians. The printed version of All Mixed Up is available for sale through CDSS’s online store.

From Bob Mills

Shared Weight: TradSound

TradSound is a listserv (email group) that exists to share information, experiences, techniques about people using intelligence, acoustics and audio equipment to optimally reinforce voices and instruments at community trad music events including dances, concerts and festivals. Most of our group members are audio techs, though we also welcome interested musicians, singers, callers, organizers, dancers and listeners. TradSound is a great way to talk to those passionate about sound at trad events. Join the discussion! Special Note: As a member of the group, you can also search the extensive list archives.

BIDA Musician Booking

In this post, Jeff explores some of his thinking behind musician booking for the BIDA dance series. Community discussion follows.

From Jeff Kaufman

Performer Info Sheet

Example of a performer info sheet that can be sent to people hired for a dance to clarify any confusion beforehand!

From Nancy Turner, Queen City Contra, Puttin’ On The Dance, 2011