It would be a pity
I read with great interest the M. C. story in a recent issue of SDN. A good deal of it I knew already as I've been to M.'s home on a number of occasions collecting set dance tapes. Towards the end of the interview he expressed his concern about playing for the same eight or nine sets at most ceilis. I think there are a couple of reasons for this and I know a lot of dancers might not agree with me but I feel it must be said anyway. Around this part of the country we always have a caller and this way you can always call different sets and dancers have no trouble dancing them. Some people might not be too happy with a caller but it is a big help to people who are not long dancing. A lot of bands would rather play reels and because of this some of the lovely polka, slide and jig sets are being forgotten. A lot of people prefer reels for battering and some even have plates on the toes of their shoes to make even more noise. Some batter on beat and some batter off beat and this can knock the band out of time. I'm as fond of a bit of a batter as anybody but dance to a rhythm without banging. There are a lot of sets that we danced some years ago that you would never get now at a ceili and I think it would be a pity if these polka and jig sets were dropped in favour of battering reels.