Contra Dan's is the name of the Houston volunteer band that is open to anyone who would like to play for contra dances, regardless of skill level.
Members of Contra Dan's at a dance a few years ago. There's room for only five players at our current dance hall.
All musicians and instruments are welcome. However, Contra Dan’s is not a “pick up” or “drop in” or “bring your instrument to a dance and jam” band. The band rehearses every few weeks, currently on an irregular schedule based on when most members are available. Members are expected to respond to the scheduling emails and to attend as many rehearsals as possible.
Due to the small size of our current dance hall, no more than five players are able to play any particular dance. Those players are chosen based on availability and instrument.
We encourage all players to download and print the tunes or add them to a tablet. See the Tunes section below.
Playing for dancers is a lot of fun and has none of the pressure of concert music, so please join us! Email contradans@hatds.org for details.
PDFs of our tunes, the current medley list, source files for many of the tunes, and the Notes for new members are all in a Dropbox folder: Contra Dan's Tunes .
You do not need a Dropbox account to download these files; you can cancel any request to create an account.
If you click on a PDF it will probably open in Dropbox (depends on your device). You can print directly from there or download the file to your computer. If the file looks like garbage on the Dropbox page, download it and then open it.
You can download individual files, a specific folder, or everything.
Each tune folder (Couples, Jigs, Reels) has its own subfolder called Source Files. Each Source Files folder contains MuseScore files (.mscz) and/or ABC files (most of them with a .txt extension) for many but not all of the tunes. You can use the ABC or MuseScore files to transpose or customize the format of your copy.
Mandolintab.net hosts a really good ABC converter.
MuseScore is a free, very popular notation program.
Or thinking about joining? We've prepared a special document for new and prospective members called Notes for new members. Please read that document before coming to your first rehearsal; it will help you integrate into the band quicker and save rehearsal time
If you have questions not answered here or in the Notes for new members, please email contradans@hatds.org.
Listen to members of Contra Dan's performing The Rivers of Texas at the April 2018 San Marcos contra dance. Ashley Orlando is featured on the lead vocal with Elena Wortham and Ed Freiter on harmonies. Thanks to Michelle Lynskey for the recording.
