Concentrating! Open Band Feb 2024

For Musicians

Next Open Band
TBA

All musicians are welcome to join in. The Program list and details are posted on the Open Band page.

Tempo Spreadsheet

Check out Robert Mills' Tempo Spreadsheet for 150+ dances.

Musicians are an integral part of GCD

Musicians of all levels are welcome to join our Open Band Wednesdays, our annual Fish & Chips rehearsed Open Band, our occasional music jam sessions, and our Music Development workshops. Enthusiastic and skilled musicians make our dancers happy! (Details below.)

Know what's happening--Subscribe!

Click the "Subscribe" button on this page to sign up for the GCD musicians' email announcements. While you're at it, sign up for the GCD mailing list too. (You'll generally get one or two informational emails a month from these lists, including info about COVID cancellations.)

Join us!

Become a member of Germantown Country Dancers. The very modest membership fee ($12/year) helps keep our dance and workshop fees low. Donations towards workshop costs are gratefully accepted, as is help with promoting GCD's events for musicians. If playing for dancing brings you joy, support us!

Opportunities:

Playing Music for our Wednesday dances

The Wednesday Music Committee engages musicians to play for Wednesday evening dances. If you are a skilled musician who is familiar with English Country Dance music, is able to maintain steady rhythms, and can play at dance tempo, you may apply with a band to play for a Wednesday dance. Musicians should also be comfortable playing the tunes on the GCD Repertoire List.

Please read our Guidelines for Wednesday musicians (PDF).

Open Band

Several times a year we invite both skilled musicians and those who are learning the English Country Dance music genre to play for a Wednesday Night “Open Band.” The tune list is available ahead of time, and a jam session is often planned beforehand.

Fish & Chips

Fish & Chips provides another opportunity for musicians to work together on the skills needed to play English Country dance music. This rehearsed band, led by Bob Pasquarello, is open to all local musicians. The ensemble meets several times to prepare for an annual GCD dance.

Music Workshops

Each year GCD provides workshops for musicians. Our purpose is to give musicians an opportunity to learn more about the variety and uniqueness of English Country Dance music. Workshops also explore techniques to help musicians approach the English Country Dance repertoire and to provide great music for dancers. We invite well-known English Country Dance musicians to give workshops on playing for dancing. Past workshop leaders have included Jacqueline Schwab, Mary Lea, Barbara Greenberg, Bob Pasquarello, Kate Barnes, Robert Mills, Rick Mohr, Kathy Talvitie, and Chris Rua.

COVID policies

Masks, vaccines, boosters are no longer required. Contact tracing is still in effect: GCD's COVID safety policies.

Playing for Dancers: Our Vision

Germantown Country Dancers (GCD) is committed to fostering a vibrant community of English Country Dancing in the Delaware Valley. This works best when dancers, musicians and callers are fully committed to working together.

GCD offers a variety of workshops for dancers and musicians to achieve this goal, and also looks for other ways to nurture the development of local musicians.

We hope that our musicians will love playing for our English Country dancers and will join us as a dedicated and appreciated part of our dance community.

Questions

If you have questions or suggestions about workshops or playing for Wednesday nights, feel free to contact the .