Cueing

The following information is published with ROUNDALAB's permission from the ROUNDALAB Reference Manual compiled by Richard & Jo Ann Lawson, 1987.

Bruce & Roberta Bird

Introduction

A viable round dance leader must cue. We have seen little written about how to cue. We have studied cuers to identify some factors that make cueing good. We hope to share what we have observed and point out ways to improve cueing.

Frank Lane is known as a square dance caller, but his excellent round dance cueing made an early impression on us. We would like to describe some of his attributes.

His cue is completed just before the action begins.
He uses few words; yet, they completely describe the action.
His speech tone is in harmony with the music.
His voice volume is clearly understood, but it never covers the music.
The cues sound so easy that the dancer feels the dance must be easy. This builds confidence in the dancer.

Qualities of Good Cues

Good cueing is effective and pleasing. We would like to describe several qualities of good cueing under those two headings.

To be effective, cues must:
1. be delivered at the proper time. The cue must be completed (or at least recognized) before the action is to begin. In many cases, a blending is required in the preceding step. In this case, the cue must be completed in time to permit the blend.
2. be in terms understood by the dancers. Since standards are not available, the cuer must carefully select terms that will be easily understood. For example, if you teach a group that a set of steps is called a "Running Fishtail," that is an effective cue for that group. But another group would not understand.
3. be delivered clearly and with sufficient volume so they can be easily heard and recognized.
There are many factors that make a cue pleasing. Some are:
1. Good voice quality and diction.
  1. Diction problems can be identified by listening to a tape recording. Articulation drills and tongue twister practice will help almost everyone.
  2. Voice quality can be improved with practice and study of oral anatomy.
  3. Any use of the voice requires breath support. The most common cause of poor voice quality is improper breath control skill.
2. Tone. All speech is in one tone or another. If speech with music is to be pleasant, the tone of the speech should match one of the tones that harmonizes with the music. A cue should not be sung or changed, but the tone of speech should blend with the harmony of the music.
3. Meter. A string of cue words will "flow" with the music when you emphasize a word or a syllable of a word on each down beat. We teach cuers by having them prompt contras first. When they have mastered the skill of metering contra prompts, we start them cueing four beat phrases like:
  Two, Forward, Two, Steps; Two, Turning, Two, Steps;
  Cut Back, Twice, Dip and, Recover; Vine, Four, Walk, Two;
4. Balance of voice to music. Voice volume so high that it obliterates the music is bad. Music volume that overpowers the cues is just as objectionable. Great care should be taken when you adjust the volume. Music volume often changes during the song. Crowd noise changes during a dance. So, balance and volume must be treated as variables.
5. Minimum number of words. Many cuers try to cue every action, position, and direction. While this is sometimes desirable, care should be taken to use as few words as possible. While dancers want help, they also want to hear the music. The use of a lot of words (crowded in) suggests your lack of confidence in the dancers ability. If the dancer feels that you are worried, he is more likely to make a mistake.

Techniques of Cueing

There are three basic cueing techniques. A cuer should understand these techniques to know when each should be used.

Cueing. The word "cue" means a reminder or a signal to begin. In round dancing, we help a dancer through a routine he has learned by reminding him of a sequence of steps and signalling when it is to begin. In cueing, we need only enough words to recall for the dancer what is to be done.
Calling. When we direct a dancer through a routine he doesn't know, the technique is different from cueing. We must tell him in sufficient detail how to do the dance. We use as many normal terms as we can, but we must also describe positions, directions, and any abnormalities of that dance. While Calling should be as pleasing as possible, the important function is to describe the action completely in terms that the dancer can understand quickly.
Cadence Cueing. Cadence means that we say a command precisely as the step is to be done. The value of cadence cueing is to establish proper timing. The dancer must know what he is to do. The cadence cue only tells him when to do it. Cadence cueing is most frequently used in class drills. It does have other valuable uses with cues. For example: we might cue "Hitch Four," then cadence cue Forward, Close, Back, Close. We usually cadence cue a standard acknowledgement at the beginning of a dance.

Selection of Cue Words or Phrases

We feel that no area of Round Dancing cries for standardization more than cue terms. Many problems exist in attempting to find the best terms with which to cue.

The dancer should be the center of your attention in cueing. You must select terms that will recall the dance to him. You may cue a "Serpiente" and be technically correct; some people may be impressed with your knowledge. But, if the dancers don't know the term, "Serpiente," your cue is of no value.

Normally the largest block of time we spend preparing a dance is preparing the cues. Our process is usually like this:

As we learn the steps from the cue sheet, we pick cue terms.
As we dance the routine, Roberta begins cueing with those terms.
We ask each other if the cues are correct. If not, we make changes.
We ask each other if the dancers will understand our cues. We may start cueing a Chasse. If we doubt that some dancers are familiar with Chasse, we replace it with "side, close, side."
We ask each other if the cues might be mistaken for another cue. We may have cued, "circle away two steps." Since that is confusing, we may change it to "circle away two slow steps."
Roberta cues with the mike and I dance with an imaginary partner. We may try many word combinations to see which are most comfortable for her to meter, and which are most helpful to me (the dancer). We also try variations of timing the cues, grouping cues or separating groups of cues. We normally spread this over several days to get the perspective of time.
The final step is when she cues the dance for a group. I try to set so I can watch the dancers. I note the places where they have trouble and we later discuss this to see if a change in cues would help.

Through the whole process we keep two question in our minds:

Would other terms be more easily understood?
Can we say the same thing in fewer words?

Sound Equipment

The link between you and the dancer is the sound system. Only quality equipment operated properly will reproduce your cues effectively and pleasantly.

Equipment varies widely in its ability to reproduce certain sounds. Voices vary widely in the tones produced. You should select equipment that reproduces the positive qualities of your voice faithfully while it looses or minimizes any negative qualities. For example: if you have difficulty articulating, you should use a crisp microphone. But, if you have a sibilance problem, a crisp microphone will emphasize it. A microphone with more bass response will make you sound better. Special care should be exercised in the use of portable microphones. Their quality is marginal at best, and affected by mike location and/or direction, level adjustment, and speaker placement.

Conclusion

As dancers rely more heavily on cueing, your acceptance as a leader becomes more a function of your respect as a cuer. The hand is writing on the wall; we must do a better job of cueing.

We hope this stimulate your thought, study and comment. We hope exhaustive coverage of the facets of cueing will be published soon.

Roundalab Journal, Summer, 1982