Rethink how you hire a barn dance band

Also there is a difference between folk music as played in most folk clubs, which is instrumental but primarily vocal, with no dancing and a ceilidh or a barn dance, which is about dancing. At a barn dance or ceilidh most of the people there are the Dancers. They are the important people. They are the reason that the ceilidh or barn dance is happening. The band are not there for their own entertainment, although they will thoroughly enjoy themselves if the dancers are keen and enthusiastic.

barnd dance band posing infront of windowThis is quite different from the majority of folk clubs where the object is for the musicians to entertain themselves by playing and singing. The audience is mostly other musicians who are waiting to do their turn. Many Folk Club don't have an audience as such. Of course, this is a generalisation and there are folk clubs  that perform for the benefit of an audience and not primarily the benefit of the musician, but this is not so common.

So at a barn dance or ceilidh, the band are putting on a performance for the entertainment of the dancers. The event may be a birthday party, it may be a wedding evening reception or it may be a charity fundraising event, but it is an event at which the audience expects to be given a fantastic time. They are paying to have a good time. If the band don't give them a good time, they have completely failed.

 Furthermore, a barn dance band is not just made up off instrumental players, it has a caller who teaches the dance to the audience and guides them through the dances while the music is playing, sorting out the muddles and Chaos on the way. (  Incidentally, the muddles and Chaos can be a part of the fun, don't be too serious about barn dances.)  The caller and the idea of teaching dancing has nothing to do with the vast majority of folk clubs, who are there, as previously explained, for quite different purposes.

 So if you are trying to find a barn dance band or a Ceilidh Band, the local Folk Club is not necessary the right place to go.

You would think that you could find a barn dance band by finding out what public barn dances and public ceilidhs are happening in your area. Unfortunately barn dances are quite seasonal and tend to happen in the winter season, but more importantly there are relatively few public ceilidhs happening. At one time ceilidh and barn dances were public events. This was in the era when ballroom dancing and other types of public dancing with common, but as time has gone on the ballroom have closed down and the public barn dances have become a rarity in most parts of the country.

Everybody goes mad about Come Dancing where they see their favourite celebrities learning to do what they secretly would like to do themselves, but how many people actually get off their backsides and move from in front of the television and learn how to do ballroom dancing properly? Not many. My father's generation, people who were in their teens and early 20s during the Second World War mostly dance quite well and I've seen my father on the dance floor. He knows what to doing all right. But then they didn't have television in those days, and if you wanted to hire a jazz band or a barn dance band you just had to go down the town on Saturday night to one of the dance halls, and there you would find excellent bands and people who knew had to dance.

But these days, just as ballroom dancing has moved away from the every day event to the television, the barn dance and ceilidh have moved away from being a common weekend happening to being something for special occasions. So at least it is better than ballroom dancing where it has migrated to television. The barn dance and the Kaylee has migrated to the special position of wedding entertainment, birthday party entertainment and sometimes bonding sessions for corporate events. Also barn dance is a common for charity events, University reunions comma wedding anniversaries, in fact anything said here's a special event where people who may be doing meet frequently, can get together and enjoyed themselves and interact with each other.  So one place where you can find a band is an event such as these, but you have to be in on the act to get to meet them.

 So  ceilidh bands and barn dance bands are in great demand, but mostly for special events. This means that any old barn dance band or any old Ceilidh Band won't do. For such significant events you have to find a Ceilidh Band that will create excitement, and a barn dance band that can bring people to their feet. In many ways the standard of present-day wedding bands, or should I say wedding barn dance bands and wedding ceilidh bands are better than they have ever been.

 In some ways though,  playing for a birthday party, a 40th birthday or a 50th birthday etc is more critical than playing for a wedding. Some people get married several times in their lives, but no-one, absolutely no one has more than one 40th birthday  in their lives ! Having said that, weddings are probably the most critical events to get absolutely right, in part because of the huge expectations that have been built up over many months and sometimes over Years by the Bride, the bridegroom, and especially the Bride's mother.

 Book your barn dance band through Midsummer Music Agency

So where do you find a band for a wedding, where do you locate the critical band finder. How do you learn how to find a barn dance band? Much as before, I would say go onto the Internet typing something like ceilidh bands in Yorkshire barn dance bands in Birmingham, or whatever is relevant to you unless you want to do an awful lot of work, go to an agency who have done the donkey work for you.

So this is the difficulty of finding a general barn dance band or Ceilidh band or barn dance band, but what if you want something special? For burns night you want a Scottish ceilidh band. For St Patrick's Day you're wanting an Irish ceili band. Perhaps you're having a wild west themed fundraising event so you will need an American barn dance band. We have supplied English barn dance bands  or  English Country dance bands  for events that are happening in beautiful English country houses.  What about finding a Jane Austen period Country Dance Band and caller for your event in the pump rooms in Bath, or a Thomas Hardy. English Country Dance Band to perform at your Village Hall. You can search the Internet four hours trying to sort out which bands really perform in the right style and have callers who know the correct dances. Finding a band under these circumstances can be a real challenge. So again,  you can turn to People Like ourselves, the midsummer music agency.

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