Susan Songer
About
Sue Songer has been a contra dance musician for 30 years. She plays both backup piano and fiddle, beginning in her hometown of Portland, Oregon, and eventually performing all across the States. Her specialty is piano accompaniment, which she has provided for a great many fiddlers and a number of contra dance bands. Coming to this music from the perspective of a dancer, she is especially attuned to matching the rhythms and textures of back up to both the nuances of the melody and the pattern and mood of each dance.
Sue also is deeply involved with community (all-comer) contra dance bands. She has organized and directed the 75-member Portland Megaband since 1996. She has worked with smaller open bands in many different contexts and locations, sometimes conducting intensive weekend workshops aimed at coalescing the sound of these groups of disparate musicians and also expanding their repertoire.
Sue, along with Clyde Curley, complied the 3 volumes of The Portland Collection: Contra Dance Music in the Pacific Northwest. Together these volumes comprise nearly 1000 fiddle tunes, all in the contra dance repertoire. The Portland Collections are widely used in the States and in the United Kingdom. The Country Dance and Song Society selected Sue to be the recipient of its Lifetime Contribution Award in 2019. That same year, her alma mater Whitman College chose her for its annual alumni Lifelong Achievement Award for her contributions to the little-known, yet wide-spread domain of contra dance music.
My first goal for each student or group is finding ways to increase their enjoyment of and confidence in playing—with other people in general and with contra dance music in particular. With piano, my secondary goals are solidifying and advancing the foundational skills of accompaniment if that is needed and expanding techniques and the “bags of tricks” that can rest on that solid foundation. All teaching, whether individual or group is conducted in an atmosphere of support and trust.
My exact approach to teaching contra dance accompaniment is highly individualized depending on where the student is in their learning curve and what they would like to accomplish. At the entry level, we usually work on becoming familiar with the frequent chords for the common key signatures and positioning of hands on the keyboard. With intermediate students the focus is typically on chord substitutions, bass runs, and some simple rhythm pattern variation. More advanced students try out different textures, moods, and ways to build dynamics and excitement in the course of playing for dances. Although some of the above is specific to piano, much of it applies to all backup instruments.
I also enjoy teaching playing by ear on both backup and melody instruments, and I have a lot of experience doing so, for individuals and for groups. In addition, I work with one person all the way up to the 75-member Portland Megaband on how to lift the notation off the page and transform it into compelling music. And I consult with bands of all sizes on ways to enliven their music. The overarching goals are always the same: increasing confidence in playing and having fun with music.