Fifth Friday Contra Dance Open Band - this is an occasional event. Please sign up on this google form if you want to be notified of future Open Band dances. The next Open Band is Friday January 31st.

Have you ever wished you were up on stage playing your heart out while dancers move to your music?

Now is your chance to try it!

Here’s how it works.

There will be two lead musicians; one on melody and one on rhythm. On Jan 31st, I (Emma Rushton) will play fiddle. Rhythm player TBA.

There will be room for up to eight guest musicians to join us. If more than eight want to play, we will work out a system of taking turns. While you wait, go and dance!

I have started a list of tunes that I think are common repertoire in these parts (see below). I’m happy to take suggestions for tunes you believe most people know. Just email me at emma.rushton@vanderbilt.edu.

I’ll select tunes from this list for the Open Band night, and will post them in the order we’ll play them. That way you can decide whether or not to play for any given dance.

The rhythm player will set the tempo and play the lead-in (4 potatoes). The melody player will announce any tune-changes, and signal the last time through. Please be sure to watch the leaders for cues. Remember, it’s important to keep a steady tempo. Listen to the rhythm player and take your cue from them.Try not to speed up or slow down.

Please fill out this google form so I can get some idea of how many people are interested and what instruments y’all play.

Tune List

G major

Girl I Left Behind Me

Golden Slippers in G

Lost Girl

Nail That Catfish

Possum Up a Gum Stump

Redwing

Shove That Pig’s Foot 

Seneca Square Dance/Waiting for the Federals 

Old Yellow Dog in G

A Major

Cold and Frosty Morning

Golden Slippers in A

Goodbye Liza Jane

Grub Springs

June Apple

Kitchen Girl

Little Dutch Girl

Red Haired Boy

Sandy Boys

Shenandoah Falls

Squirrel Hunters

Waterbound

A mixy/modal

Cold and Frosty Morning

Kitchen Girl

Red Haired Boy

D major

Angeline the Baker

Chinkapin Hunting

Cuckoo’s Nest

Fisher’s Hornpipe

Johnny Don’t Get Drunk 

Julianne Johnson

Liberty

Mississippi Sawyer

Needlecase

Over the Waterfall

Spotted Pony

Soldier’s Joy

St Anne’s Reel

West Fork Gals

Waltzes

Ashokan Farewell (D)

Tombigbee Waltz (G)

Star of the County Down (Em)

Sheebeg Sheemore (D)

Southwind (G)

Set list for Jan 31st 2025 (subject to change):

Over the Waterfall - D / Mississippi Sawyer - D

Angeline the Baker - D / Liberty - D

Chinkapin Hunting - D / Soldier's Joy - D

Cuckoo's Nest - D / Fisher's Hormpipe - D 

(both these tunes are quite hard to play, so we might not use this set)

Julianne Johnson - D / Arkansas Traveller - D

Seneca Square Dance - G / Old Yellow Dog - G

Possum Up a Gum Stump - G / Nail That Catfish - G

Girl I Left Behind Me - G / Redwing - G

Goodbye Liza Jane - A / Golden Slippers - A

Squirrel Hunters - A / Kitchen Girl - A

Red Haired Boy - A / Cold and Frosty Morning - A

Waltzes

Star of the County Down - Em

Sheebeg Sheemore - D

Chord Charts for Jan 31st

Sheet music for Jan 31st