Q: You have a band. You'd like to play a dance. How many tunes do you need?
A: Three dozen reels and a pair of waltzes.
Here's the arithmetic.
A typical contra evening has no more than twelve dances: five or six in the first half and the same number in the second with a break in between. There's a waltz at the end of each half.
For each dance, you'll want a three tune set.
Sit down with a Fiddler's Fake Book or a Portland Collection, go through it and mark the ones you know. When you have three dozen, 32-bar tunes, group them into 3-tune sets and write those down.
Write down two waltzes and decide which one you'll end the night with.
As a band, run through the sets, end-to-end, playing each a couple of times apiece. Go through the waltzes, too.
As you do this, you'll see where the holes are -- ragged transitions, tunes that won't work for dances, sets that you can't play up to speed, .... Substitute, add new tunes, polish the rough edges. Call some band practices.
Once you have those covered, write down the set list, give a copy to every band member, and go find yourself a dance. You're ready. If you can't find a dance, rope in a caller and make one.
