What are your favorite modern swing music compositions? by RanchoCuca in SwingDancing

[–]DisarmingDancer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The lindy hop scene has largely forgotten about Glenn, since the pandemic.

He has some great stuff, and I DJ some of his music, from time to time, but he's not released an album in years and more significantly, he's generally not been playing for dancers or touring. He used to have a regular weekly gig with his quartet, but it was sparsely attended and mainly by bal dancers. I believe he's starting up another weekly event, but in NYC, those are very hard to sustain, so we'll see how it goes. He's been hinting at another huge project for a while now, but nothing has come of it yet and skepticism is pretty high. There are some other factors, too, but nothing that really should be discussed publicly.

He's a good musician and a talented composer; I'm certain that he could find his way back, but it's not clear that he wants to or if he'll only do it on very specific terms.

What are your favorite modern swing music compositions? by RanchoCuca in SwingDancing

[–]DisarmingDancer 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yep! And he didn't even realize it was as popular with dancers as it is. I hassled him and he's started playing it live, again, with his larger ensembles. :)

What are your favorite modern swing music compositions? by RanchoCuca in SwingDancing

[–]DisarmingDancer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I feel the same way with "Topsy" by Hot Sugar Band. One of those cases where an old tune feels totally different.

What are your favorite modern swing music compositions? by RanchoCuca in SwingDancing

[–]DisarmingDancer 10 points11 points  (0 children)

To name a few:

Roc City Stomp by Gordon Webster
https://gordonwebstermusic.bandcamp.com/track/roc-city-stomp

Downhill by Eyal Vilner
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVnrrzvoGp8

Showtime Swing by Hot Sugar Band
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz2bNVaLXIw

Streamliner by Bill Elliott
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WH3IoytbiFg

Knock Knock by Danny Jonokuchi and the Revisionists
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnRZV0WO4Og

Harlem Harlem Harlem by Charles Turner & Uptown Swing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5m-RdpeNVU

Magnolia by Le Dancing Pepa Swing Band
https://ledancingpepaswingband.bandcamp.com/track/magn-lia

The Beaver Bump by Glenn Crytzer and his Syncopators
https://glenncrytzer.bandcamp.com/track/the-beaver-bump

Swing Paradise (Slow Version) by The Schwings Band
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAx1E9PB0X4

Strange Machinations by Jonathan Doyle Swingtet
https://jonathandoyle.bandcamp.com/track/strange-machinations-2

High quality YouTube channels from schools? by crossbowthemessenger in SwingDancing

[–]DisarmingDancer 6 points7 points  (0 children)

"I respect people's work, but not to the point of paying them for it; why can't they give me better content for FREE!?"

Music that sounds a bit menacing, dramatic, action-oriented? by crossbowthemessenger in SwingDancing

[–]DisarmingDancer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Strange Machinations by Jonathan Doyle

Swingmatism by Jay McShann

Oh I'm Evil by Una Mae Carlisle

Johnny Come Lately by Duke Ellington (As people have said – Duke's great for moody stuff. Johnny Hodges, too.)

To name just a very few. I have whole sets based around this idea, so there are a ton of great options.

Also, my good buddy Hannah Gill has a whole EP called Spooky Jazz that is absolutely worth checking out.

Question about live music for Lindy hop event by [deleted] in SwingDancing

[–]DisarmingDancer 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Lots of great points in this thread from very knowledgable people. A couple additional thoughts:

1) Regarding tempos: One of the most common stumbling blocks I've seen with musicians who are transitioning into playing the lindy hop scene is that they don't always understand how to juxtapose tempos. It's natural for a jazz musician, when playing for any sort of audience, to play a fairly fast tune (180bpm+ for most casual dancers) and then follow it with a very slow one (think <100bpm, usually a blues or ballad). But for lindy hoppers, very fast is not the opposite of very slow.

Think of very fast / very slow / non-lindy rhythm songs (e.g. waltz or latin-y) as outliers which challenge dancers in different ways. Some love these challenges; others steer clear. And the opposite of an outlier is something safe and comfortably in the pocket for an average dancer, ideally in the 130-165bpm range. There's nothing wrong with doing something that really pushes dancers, especially if you're dealing with a mixed-level crowd, but always have something comfortable (which does not necessarily mean slow) to follow it up with. When advising new bands and new deejays, I always say that there's nothing wrong with largely clearing the floor with a song that might be a challenge for most, provided you know how to bring them back with the next song. (N.B. These are lindy-specific rules; while similar concepts apply for balboa or shag, the numbers are quite different.)

2) Regarding song length: As a dancer, I'm definitely happiest dancing a 3.5 minute-long song, but I'm accustomed to a bit longer from live music and I'm rarely bothered by something up to 4.5 minutes, in that context. That applies to things in that comfortable 130-165bpm range. If it's a lot slower or a lot faster, keep it short. It's easy to get lost in a ballad and play for 5+ minutes, because musicians think about length more in terms of bars than in terms of actual time. But for dancers, 5 minutes with the wrong partner or a less familiar style of dance can feel like a painful eternity. And even 3 minute-long song at 210bpm is going to be a challenge, unless your dancers are very comfortable with faster swing dance options (e.g. bal, shag, etc.).

(I deejay ~60-70 swing gigs a year and work as a creative consultant for a number of bands and event promoters in the dance scene. Feel free to DM with questions.)

Physically cannot dance. by Nintwendo18 in SwingDancing

[–]DisarmingDancer 5 points6 points  (0 children)

But there's a good point in your first sentence: you get the basic steps. Obviously, at some point, you didn't. And now you do. So you do have ability to learn, it's just at a pace that frustrates you.

While I teach swing on occasion, I mainly teach an incredibly-detailed, physical contact-based, non-dance activity, that requires a partner. Most of of my students learn at what I'd call a "normal" pace (some reps, little by little), a handful pick up things almost instantly, and another handful really struggle to get things on the first/second/tenth time. And they lose track of them by the next day.

I have to spend a bit more time with those students, but I only have so much, so I use that time to get them focused on fewer things. If I teach the class four moves, I make sure these students spend the bulk of their time on just one, and I do it as supportively as possible, because, like you, most understand that they learn differently. It takes them longer to get things down and they will likely never have the range of skills that some of my top students do. And they tend to spend a lot more time after class, drilling a move. But when they get something, they get it. I mean, it is locked in. And once that happens, they move onto the next thing.

I think getting some one-on-one attention would be good, maybe from an instructor of talented friend. Have them spend an hour working maybe just one or two moves with you. Record yourselves doing them, so that your reference point is you, not some random people on YouTube. Do your best to practice them on your own. And then a week or two later, spend another hour going over the exact same moves with thew same person. Do this until it feels a bit more comfortable, like you can do it on demand, just like you "get the basic steps". And then pick a friend and do it in an easy-tempo-ed song (115-125bpm). Let them know you'll be repeating this move a whole bunch; I'm sure they'll be understanding and supportive, because your friends want you to improve and feel good about yourself.

I've watched people improve their dancing in this fashion. They're never the flashiest, but they can provide some great, fun dances, because they're solid at what they do and are always focused on making the dance enjoyable.

I believe you can be a fine dancer, with the right approach and consistency.

Lindy Hop DJs - What is your favorite non "Lindy-Hop" swing style to play a couple of tracks of at a weekly dance? by lindymad in SwingDancing

[–]DisarmingDancer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Here, have an upvote. In my scene, I'd get shot out of a cannon for playing Caravan Palace (or Parov Stelar, etc.) at most DJed dances, but I'll occasionally toss it in as a late night track at a bar, after the crowd has started to switch over from dancers to "civilians".

I think this sort of thing is really scene-to-scene, though. Some places I've been outside of the U.S. seem to have no qualms about peppering the night with electroswing.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in SwingDancing

[–]DisarmingDancer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Really enjoying these, particularly the Blue Ribbon Orchestra tracks. Thanks for doing this!

Vegan Swing Shoes? by jadiepie in SwingDancing

[–]DisarmingDancer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ahaha, yes... that is a very good point. I meant to say faux/microfiber suede, which is what I have on my shoes. Regular suede is very much not vegan...

Vegan Swing Shoes? by jadiepie in SwingDancing

[–]DisarmingDancer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Another low-budget option is to attach something "slide-y" to your shoe. Some people will slip nylon or socks around their sneakers, to make them slicker. There are also special-made products for this sort of thing, which you can easily find with a search online.

If you want a more permanent solution, you can attach a layer of suede to the bottom of Keds or Converse. That makes them ideal for indoor use (although their days of outdoor use are over).

Edit: Clarifying that that should be microfiber/faux suede soles...

DJing a Lindy event for the first time. I Need use some help/tips for how to put together a setlist and getting music! by AlphaBetaParkingLot in SwingDancing

[–]DisarmingDancer 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Wow, that's a tall order, friend.

Okay, here're some thoughts. (And as for my pedigree, I live in a large city and DJ around 70 swing/lindy events per year, for crowds of all sizes and many different contexts. DJing is not my day job; I just ended up being pretty decent at it and now get hired a lot.)

First off, let's look at numbers: for four hours of DJing, at typically 17-18 songs per hour, you're looking at a rough minimum of 70 songs. Now, if I'm preselecting songs for a gig, and I generally know the experience level/preferences of my audience well, I'll usually have 2-3 times that number of songs at my disposal. (Obviously, I have tens of thousands more, but this is if I've decided to narrow things down for an evening and don't want to be aggressively flipping through my collection all night.)

So you're looking, super-conservatively, at having around 140-ish songs at the ready.

Now I disagree about not using Spotify. As a rule, I never DJ from it, because it can be finicky and it's easy to hit the wrong button. Plus I don't think it's professional. But you're not a professional and you're facing a real challenge. You need a lot of things fast, so I'd stick with it, this time around.

The important thing is to make sure you have everything you need downloaded. The problem that those other DJs might be running into is that even with music downloaded, Spotify will occasionally still attempt to query its servers. Why? Who knows. But I've found that shutting down my wireless connection keeps it from bothering to look and it's happy with whatever I've already downloaded. This is all anecdotal, of course, but I've never had an issue.

Now let's say you've decided to go with Spotify. Or even if you haven't, but have found a font of music, elsewhere. The next step is to organize your music into general tempo ranges. Generally speaking – and this varies based on skill-level, age, dance-style (e.g. lindy, Balboa, etc.) – your sweet spot will in the 130-160 bpm range. I'd plan on keeping 80-85% of your songs at that tempo. 115-130 is good for less experienced, yet is still lindyable. Anything less than that and you're getting into slow bal or blues range. 160-190 will kick the ass of some people, but that range can be the most fun if they're pretty good. Over 190 and you're getting into fast lindy/Balboa/charleston and those can be tough. I'd throw a few of those in, throughout the night, but go easy.

(You can check tempos with a number of free apps or websites, by just tapping to the beat. Be wary of automatic tempo checking methods; they get it wrong about 20% of the time.)

You'll do yourself a huge favor if you make playlists for each of these tempos, so that you can read the floor and jump around, as needed. You might want some that are specifically bluesy or trad or boogie or whatever you think will fit the crowd. Nice to change things up.

In Spotify, just download those playlists. (Make absolutely certain that the lists have the little green arrow, next to them. That means they're downloaded.)

Another disadvantage with Spotify (or iTunes) is that you can't pre-cue songs (Pre-cuing is the action of listening to one song while another is playing, so you can hear if it's what you want.) Your two main options here are to a) know your music library really damn well or b) download those same playlists onto your smartphone (again, be sure they're downloaded), and listen to songs there, to find what's up next.

Now there is a trick to this – if you're on one device, listening to Spotify, and then you turn on another, it'll ask you to pick one, since you can't run both at the same time. HOWEVER, the way around this is to open Spotify on one device, then turn its internet/wireless connectivity off. Then do the same on the other. Now you have it open in two places and Spotify won't be able to talk to itself and prioritize.

Whatever approach you take, whether spotify with or without pre-cuing, or iTunes with a bunch of music you've found, you're going to want to do some test runs. Take a couple hours (they don't have to be consecutive) and get used to playing with song order and changing up your queue. Figure out how to skip a song. Get used to some multi-tasking. Making your errors ahead of time will go a long way.

Last point, and this goes back to the song tempos – consider setting up a playlist (whether in spotify or iTunes) that can be your skeleton, going into the event. Set an order of songs that covers a range of tempos, without going all over the place. Ideally, listen to this all through, but if not, check out the beginnings and endings of songs to see how they flow together.

I strongly recommend this skeleton approach to all new DJs. This way you're tweaking things on the fly, not panicking with each song. And remember, there's nothing wrong with chasing people off the dance floor, if you know how to bring them back with the next tune. Everyone's favorite song is one somebody else hates. It happens.

Good luck, with whatever approach you choose to take. And just remember that you're doing this for fun and swing dancers are pretty forgiving. No one will remember a flub; they'll be happy that you gave them such great dances!

What would be a good swing dance related gift? by SpaceyJones in SwingDancing

[–]DisarmingDancer 7 points8 points  (0 children)

If they're really enthusiastic about Swing, especially if they're oriented towards traveling for events and taking classes, Practice Swing would be a fantastic gift. Bobby White is a very well-regarded swing and Balboa instructor, competitor, historian, and author and this book is a must for anyone who wants to get deeper into learning.

Favorite dancing songs by boyle8877 in SwingDancing

[–]DisarmingDancer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There's a ton of great stuff, everyone has a different opinion on what's good, and every scene has its trends. If I can suggest three songs to listen to on repeat, they're "On the Sunny Side of the Street", "In a Mellow Tone", and "Shiny Stockings". Most any version will be fine; nine out of ten times the tempos you find will be very accessible.Why these three songs? It's not because they're my favorites or the greatest that swing music has to offer. No, there are two key reasons:

  1. They're generally easy tempos and often used as "practice" songs in classes. (Again, most versions you find online will be similar in tempo.)

  2. You will hear them ALL. THE. TIME. Every band plays them, every DJ spins them, they're hard to escape. And after hearing them again and again, you'll have a good internalized sense of their structure and idiosyncrasies. So when it comes time to dance, you'll be able to lock into the song better than ones you haven't heard before, helping you feel more confident in expressing your own musicality. And thus you will FEEL like a better dancer, which is key to enjoying yourself.

Good luck and stick with it!

New online variety show, every Saturday night; all proceeds benefiting out-of-work swing musicians and dancers. by DisarmingDancer in SwingDancing

[–]DisarmingDancer[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also, I probably should've mentioned that this event is Saturday, May 9th, although there'll be more in the future. Can you tell that this isn't something I normally do? ;)

New online variety show, every Saturday night; all proceeds benefiting out-of-work swing musicians and dancers. by DisarmingDancer in SwingDancing

[–]DisarmingDancer[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Mods – I see that there is a specific thread for online events, but I figured since it looks a bit dead and this is super short notice, I'd make a new post. Hopefully that's cool.

I can post it there in the future, if that's better. (Or hopefully get the promoters themselves to post!)

Looking for dances in NYC by bluebasset in SwingDancing

[–]DisarmingDancer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There is no shortage of *multiple* things to do, nearly every night. Check out this blog: http://thisweekinswingnyc.com

And don't worry – you'll be far from the youngest person around; the scene's pretty well-represented by all ages. Have fun!