USE OF PLAYLISTS FOR SQUARE DANCING (From Callerlink 198 Feb 2010)
By: Jeff Garbutt, Western Australia

By now many callers have already been exposed to the concept of playlists for music on Computers and iPods etc. But "playlists" are not a new concept and we have been (subconsciously at least) using them for many years. Put simply a playlist is a collection of songs. In that regard a box of 7inch vinyl records qualifies as a playlist. With computers and MP3 players we simply have a different way to accessing our playlists.

The term originally came about in the early days of top 40 radio formats when stations would devise (and, eventually, publish) a limited list of songs to be played. The term would go on to refer to the entire catalog of songs that a given radio station (of any format) would draw from. As music storage and playback using personal computers became common, the term playlist was adopted by various media player software programs intended to organize and control music.

Professional bands also keep playlists of tunes to use at their concerts, especially for when they share the concert with other bands. Bands commonly submit their playlist with the concert organisers to ensure they don't clash with other bands.

Playlists are also very useful for helping callers out with the chaos that many of us tend to have with our music collection. Many of us have too many tunes and can easily loose track of records. It's hard enough to pick out tunes that will match a theme or a mood, but when you can't find one particular tune within short notice (maybe not more than 2 seconds), it can become even harder.

Using a playlist is simple. Simply set up a list of tunes you intend to use including hoedown music in order of intended use and give it a name. When you arrive at the club night simply select the playlist and play one tune at a time. Ideally you set up the playlists with a couple of extra tunes in case you need them.

Believe it or not, there are still some club organisers out there who resist square dance music in any form that is "other than vinyl". Attitudes range from minor skepticism to complete hostility. Some of them are "absolutely certain of the fact that your music player will take too long to set up and adjust to be practical and will consequently delay their night". But remember, it is in fact "their night", not yours. Maybe their attitude has been caused by a previous experience from a previous visiting caller. You need to demonstrate that their concerns are unfairly based by their past experiences. Show them that it can be a good experience and won't cause problems to their program. You are, in fact, also an ambassador for the digital music revolution. You need to make the experience, (to the host organiser), be as pleasant as possible. Hopefully this will improve their perception of digital music. (This has made me think about writing a new article "suggested code of practice for digital music".)

The trick is to set up a playlist for each night you are running, or could be asked to call at. Ideally you should set up a playlist for each night just as you would set up a program for the night. A playlist is especially useful when you are a visiting caller at a convention or club. You simply have your playlist ready, with each number set up in desired order, on your music player so that it can start straight away on the host equipment. That way you can ensure you waste no time searching for your tune.


Even if you don't set up a separate playlist for each night, I suggest you have playlists such as:
- Typical club night program.
- Numbers to use when visiting clubs.
- Conventions and festivals.
- Good tunes for beginners.

But other playlists could also be created based upon themes such as:
- Rock tunes.
- Period tunes (50s, 60s, 70s etc)
- Tunes from movies and television.
- Particular artists tunes (Elvis, Beatles, Jolson, Sinatra etc)
- Love songs
- Evergreens.
- Favourites.
- Often requested tunes.

The naming convention for your playlists depends upon your music player, but you need to make your playlists easily findable with names that are easily "sort able". Therefore the names need to (1) Make Sense and (2) Be easily found. One way of achieving this is to prefix each name with a two or three digit number. For instance your playlists are named "Tonight", "Hoedowns", "Singers", "Requests", "Beginners", alphabetical sorting would show them in order as "Beginners", "Hoedowns", "Requests", "Singers" and "Tonight". But the order can be manipulated by using the following names: "00 Tonight", "02 Hoedowns", "01 Singers", "04 Requests", "03 Beginners" to override the natural order that alphabetical sorting would cause. Using this method you can have as many playlists as you like and by force the most important playlist to be mentioned first.

Depending upon your music player you may also have the facility to keep track of the date you used each tune and produce statistics such as how often you use them, when you last used them etc. This is a good tool for keeping track of over and under used tunes.

Whatever type of music player you have, they all (seem) to have playlist options, and so I suggest you explore the full range of options that are available to you. They can not only make your job easier but they allow you to look more professional in your role as ambassador for digital music players to the remaining square dance world.


Jeff Garbutt