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by Allan Hurst - allanh[at]myrealbox.com – Last updated 7/23/1999

Converted to HTML with minor revisions 8/4/03

When I wrote this article, it was after attending my third GCA Caller School. At that time, I thought I knew what to expect. However, the school class structure/format changed quite a bit from previous years.

As in previous years, students ranged from first-timers to those with several years of experience. The 1999 GCA Caller School staff included Anne Uebelacker, Mike Jacobs, and Dave Wilson. We were also lucky enough to have Frank Lescrinier sit in on many of the sessions.

Different Year, Different Format

In previous years, the school's teaching format split up the students into three groups, by level of experience, then rotated each of the three coaches through a full day with each group of students. This year, the students were split up into three groups only part of the time, and groups were formed and re-formed as needed, depending upon the curriculum being taught to each group. As before, assistant coaches were on hand to provide additional help and support to the coaches and students as needed. (1999’s assistant coaches: Kris Jensen, Andy Shore, and Jbear Bibb.)

This year, the coaches asked us all to perform patter material (both written and, if possible, sighted) and singing material. The coaches then individually and collectively noted strong performance points as well as areas needing improvement. This took a lot more time than in the previous year’s school, in which the three groups performed separately. However, this seemed to provide the coaches with a better overall understanding of what skills we needed to work on as a group, as well as individually.

The Daily Schedule

A general discussion of common areas of interest kicked off most days, followed by splitting us up into different groups to work on different aspects of calling. Some sessions, we were separated by experience level. Some sessions, we were separated by topic. (For example, sight resolution techniques in one room while another room focused on calling Advanced & Challenge level material.) While there was as much microphone time as could be crammed into three full days, because there were a number of all-together-now sessions, I didn’t feel like there was as much mic time as in previous years. On the other hand, the all-together-now sessions provided invaluable information about performance technique, choreography flow, stage presence, and vocal techniques.

The 1999 school involved 23 students, many of whom were first-time attendees. Some of the students were aspiring to be club callers, or club teachers. Some students were investigating what it took to be a caller. Some were dancers who were merely curious. A personal note: perhaps I only noticed because I live there, but the San Francisco Bay area seems to be a hotbed of new caller activity these days, since there were at least ten students from Bay Area clubs! As noted in my previous article, caller school is one way to meet other callers and begin building life-long professional calling relationships.

All callers, no dancers

One challenge facing GCA Caller School every year is not having enough dancers to dance for the students. It’s very difficult for calling students to dance AND take notes, for example! One of the wrap-up items discussed at the end of school this year was how we could attract dancers to the school, and/or encourage students to bring a dancing partner with them. (It’s quite common in other caller schools for each student to bring a dancing partner – often a spouse – with them.)

Different Perspectives

Each year, the rotating staff of the GCA Caller School brings new faces and new perspectives.

• This year, Mike Jacobs provided a depth of information based on his extensive calling career, much of which I’d never heard anywhere else previously.

• Dave Wilson, who I’d only seen during dances and conventions, proved to be an exceptionally patient and supportive teacher, and brought a whole new set of simplified sight resolution tools to the school this year.

• Anne Uebelacker once again demonstrated why she’s one of my very favorite caller coaches, helping students discover numerous small, simple changes to their technique and presentation, all of which made a world of difference in performance.

• As mentioned earlier, Frank Lescrinier, a professional caller coach himself, was kind enough to attend many of the sessions and offered us invaluable advice on performance technique and an incredible fifteen-minute “mini-session” on carefully selecting and listening to singing call music.

If you’re interested in becoming a caller, or if you’re a caller wanting to polish your skills, or even if you’re just curious about what it takes to become a caller, consider attending GCA Caller School!

GCA Caller School is usually held the first three or four days prior to each year’s IAGSDC convention. For information on the next GCA Caller School, visit the GCA’s website at http://www.iagsdc.org/gca/callerschool

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Allan Hurst lives, dances, and calls in the San Francisco Bay Area, with semi regular visits to Chicago. He is a member of El Camino Reelers, Foggy City Dancers, Midnight Squares, Squares Across the Border, and Chi-Town Squares. He can be contacted via email at “allanh [at] supportnet.com”

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