Eric J. Anderson: contra dance piano

Last updated November 19, 2010. (Updated every four years, whether it needs it or not...)

Breaking news...

Next birthday party is Sunday April 3, 2011. Mark your calendar!
E-mail to 'ericdancepiano.com' is still black-holed. Try meanders@gmail.com or 'ericdancepiano' on Facebook (though I don't often post...). Or look below for my mailing address and phone number.

Sound samples

A sound sample (30s, mp3) from Bandemonium! An entire two-disk set from that dance is freely available -- just drop me a line.
A sound sample (1:40, mp3) from the Fiddlerats.

Configurations

    "Do you believe only two people are making all that music?"
                        -- a camper at Bear Hug, as reported in the 
                           Missoula Folklore Society newsletter

You'll see me mostly fiddle-and-piano, and mostly with the same familiar faces:

Bandemonium!, fiddle-and-piano with Lee Anne Welch of Saratoga, CA. Contra dance fiddling with a bluegrass tinge.
Fiddlerats, fiddle and flute-and-djembe and that piano again. Young and lively contra dance tunes built around the spectacular Scottish fiddle of Caroline McCaskey from Stockton CA and now Denver CO. (She also plays saw.)
Alan Roberts, more fiddle-and-piano with a great old-time player from Seattle WA. We're often joined by his wife Sande Gillette and Betsy Cooper from Kingston as "Southwest Passage" (so named because we used to all get on airplanes...).

Other bands and people I've played with --

I got to tour a little this summer with Nor'easter, a great lively young band from Boston.
I'm in a band 'Triangularity' with Susan Burke and Joe Micheals of Seattle. We played Halloween 2010 in Sacramento and Hayward, CA.
I played a dance recently with Julie Smolin, an up-and-coming fiddler from San Francisco.
Once in a while I get to play for David Kaynor, at his Montague Center dance or even in Seattle.
I used to play with Tom Hodgson (a fabulous guitar player from Ithaca NY) and Randy Miller in Celticladda.

Find out more...

Contra dancing is quite popular in Seattle and elsewhere, for good reason. Live fiddle music

and a rocking piano, and newcomers always welcome.

If you want to play -- who doesn't? -- I've got some workshop materials on playing piano for dances that I'm happy to send you. Just drop me a line.

Also, as noted above, we hand out the Bandemonium! tape from 2006 to anyone who wants a full-dance-length live recording. Useful for calling, maybe too for the musical ideas. A sound sample (30s, mp3).

Where you'll find me...

These days I'm based in based in Seattle and Montague MA, but I'm traveling quite a bit, mostly to dances. This page collects my travel schedule, for my own benefit as much as organizers'.

November 2010:

Nov 6: Monterey CA with Julie Smolin.
Nov 12-13-14: Ben Lomond CA, "Contra College" with Bandemonium! and Susan Petrick.
Nov 27: Hilo HI with Lee Anne Welch and friends.

December 2010:

Dec 2: Lake City with Red Crow.
Dec 3: Phinney Ridge (alert! venue change!) with David Kaynor and friends

January 2011:

Jan 7: Phinney Ridge with Bandemonium! and Spider Vetter.
Jan 8: Olympia with Bandemonium! and Spider Vetter.
Jan 13: Lake City with Southwest Passage.
Jan 15: Vancouver BC with Bandemonium!.
Jan 28: Denver with the Fiddlerats.
Jan 29: Sacramento with Bandemonium!.
Jan 30: Hayward CA with Bandemonium!.

February 2011:

Feb 5: Honolulu HI, calling for KGB.
Feb 25: Bellingham WA with Bandemonium!.
Feb 18-19-20: I'll be at Dance Flurry in Albany NY. Brrr.

March 2011:

Nothing planned!

April 2011:

Apr 1-2-3: Birthday weekend! Lee Anne and I will play the Phinney Ridge dance on Friday night, then throw the Birthday Bash on Sunday.
Apr 9: Reno NV.

Earlier schedule

... from the now obsolete page