Last night I officially (if there is such a thing) joined Austin’s Local On-Call Orchestra, a pickup group of fiddlers sometimes joined by a banjo, mandolin, guitar or even a double bass.
LOCO plays every Wednesday at the Hancock Rec Center on East 41st Street for fifty or so impromptu contra dancers (a traditional line dance that’s sort of square dancing without the square) who rely on the rhythm of old timey tunes like Red Wing, Whiskey Before Breakfast, and Liberty.
Some of last night’s pickup fiddlers were much better than me and consequently played a lot faster (around 112 beats per minute) than I can (more like 60 bpm), so I followed my teacher’s instructions to just play chords, “chunk” the rhythm on the key string (most everything was played in G, D, or A), even improvised a little. I was able to play the two waltzes at the end of the evening.
The dancers rely on the rhythm. They applauded the players at the end of a tune (looped repeatedly for about ten minutes) but otherwise ignored us. So there was no audience pressure as such. I doubt they heard the notes at all, though some of the fiddle players were quite good and helped us beginners sound not-too-shabby. It was a lot of fun. I will go back next week.
