Who is Carl Kaye?
The last time I wrote about a particular individual, he had nothing to do with square dancing (see Who is Gregg Ostrick?). Carl Kaye, however, is having a big impact on square dancing, at least on the music. Two new labels (EPTunes, based in The Netherlands, and Ozark Productions, based in Arkansas, are using Carl Kaye’s music production skills. In February, EPTunes released two MP3-only tunes, with producer Erik Pluylaar singing, and Ozark Productions released five CD/MP3 tunes, with different singers (including Carl Kaye on Put Some Drive in your Country).
I would say the music is of high quality, but you need to be careful on tempo; I’m not sure the producers are focused on getting a good square dance tempo. Also, on at least one of the songs from Ozark (Summer Nights), there are some extra beats added each time through the melody.
If you’d like to get Carl Kaye to create some square dance music for you, see Aaron’s Audio Alternatives. Aaron Albright is a nom-de-plum for Carl Kaye, and this company will do all kinds of music-related services, including cleaning up old vinyl and arranging and recording songs.
Hi! It’s me – Carl Kaye.
What a nice surprise when I found this article about my work on this website. I thought I might add some lines.
In the meantime at least a dozen producers in the States use my music regularly, which makes me very happy. Some mention my name, some don’t…
I’ve been a musician since the 60es, and a caller since 1980 and last December I combined both, and started offering this service. I do exactly what my customers order – if they feel a song needs a certain tempo or arrangement, that’s what they get. The customers pay – I play.
There’s one thing, though, that I have never been able to understand, and that’s why I’m bringing it up here:
Why does everybody want the singing calls to have a 7/32 structure? (Actually – for a musician it’s 7/64, but that’s another matter…)
Why do many of the original songs with an irregular structure and extra beats here and there, as well as verses and choruses of different length, have to be cut, mangled, dissected, and put together awkwardly, just to fit this terribly repetitive and boring 7/32 structure? Why can (and dare) modern callers not adapt their calls to specific songs, and write choreography for irregular singing calls, thus enabling a particular song to keep its original structure (not length), which is exactly what makes a particular song so attractive.
I get orders for modern songs to be turned into singing calls, that make me feel like crying (as a musician) – they truly destroy the beauty of the original song and turn it into an ugly monster.
When I do singing calls for myself, I write my choreography to fit the song, not the other way round. Of course, this means having to write more than just one sequence for Heads1/Heads2/Sides1/Sides2, you’d need at least 2 different sequences, soetimes 4, but I think it’s worth the effort. We’re in the 21st century – squaredancing might as well wake up.
I’m curious if any of you will ever answer and let me know what you think….
Best wishes
Carl Kaye