When I put my first band together only one out of ten was a vocal. As time passed we changed with the demand. Today only one instrumental in 20 songs is played. If it were not for polkas, waltzes, and Latin music the percentage would be even lower.

Reference to the beginning of this thread.

As I changed over the years to meet the listener’s and dancer’s demand I am ready to change to the demands in the adult places I play in now. I cannot meet the demands for the younger crowds so I never book them. I learned this the hard way.

Years back I played a three hour for 120 people in a catering hall. After the first hour I asked myself; what am I leaving out, what do they want. No one danced. I began to lose it toward the end of the job; almost three hours and no one had danced. I played the best that we had and got the same results. At the very end of the job we announced that we were playing the last dance. A young couple walked up to the dance floor and began to dance. Something was strange; they were doing a box step. I looked towards to bar and tables and they were all drinking water and soda. They were a religious group laced with DO NOTS. Moral of this story, let us not always blame ourselves.

In the nursing homes I play in when they become restless and begin to lose interest I begin to play music they cannot turn away from. Fast two-steps, and later I found out they loved disco music. Even though they did not understand disco music they could feel it.

IMHO, John C.