I'm not a fan of themed nights, but Dave Arch and his musicians did a great job this weekend. Their accompaniment to Scott and Joanne was absolutely top class. He has so little time to get the music ready for each show and he deserves masses of praise.Wonderful Dave !

Raises glass

well,teacup,but the sentiment's the same.

Apparently that is true. It just means that Louise Rainbow, the Executive Producer and the rest of her team are not only tone-deaf and can't match music to the dance but also totally disorganised. Why doesn't Louise give all her random music choices to Dave at the outset of the show?

I'll give you an analogy:

It's like employing Rembrandt to paint a portrait and then have a schoolgirl leaning over his shoulder, "making helpful suggestions."

As you say, give Dave the dances and let him choose.

I'd rather the pros chose the music based on the celebs' MP3 music collection. But that can be done at the outset of the show along with the pros choosing the dance order based on the celebs personality, age and shape.

But whoever chooses the music - the pros (and the celebs) or Louise Rainbow's random music generator, all this can be done at the beginning of the show. Or well before the opening show when the celebs are matched with pros by Louise et al.

Dave should have had the music lists several months ago.

You need someone to "balance" the show. It's got to appeal to all ages, but at the moment it seems to be directed at people who are less familiar with ballroom, which seems a bit pointless, considering that is what on which the show is based.

I agree, and that's why he deserves such praise for the wonders he achieves. He's a consumate musician who manages to accompany and support the dancers really well no matter how deluded the choice of music is. His orchestra is superb. But as you say, he should have more say in how and when the music is chosen.

Not even that.

Just that Louise Rainbow should come to her senses and see that there is no need to make a mad rush and choose the music at the last minute when it could all be done calmly in August to allow Dave Arch to prepare in good time.

I've been re-watching Frankie and Kevin's paso to 'Defying gravity' and I have to say that I thought the singer deserved four 'real' 10s. Superb performance.

Probably the 'thinking' is that if you don't give the band the music until the Monday of the first week of SCD then you don't have to pay them until then. Even worse is if they only employ them from say Wednesday till Saturday, which would mean two days of practice, one of rehearsals, and then broadcast day.
The words 'false economy' come to mind, but this is the BBC who have other much more important things on which to spend (in reality, fritter) our licence fee.

Could pay them on a piece work basis. If as usual the songs are inappropriate then it takes more time to calmly find an appropriate singer.

As I mentioned earlier, people may be surprised how little professional musicians are paid, (in show-business terms) considering they are an integral part of a show.
But these days, with so little "live" music televised, they can be considered "ten a penny."

The bass player "the man in the hat" who unwisely posted on here a few times some years ago with some very interesting information (until a few numpties obviously pissed him off with their rude and silly comments), remarked on how little is the rehearsal time for which the BBC are willing to pay.

Still, with all those so-called celebrities and at one time a ridiculously over-paid old codger, I guess they have to make some economies to keep within the budget.

I struggle to think of celebrities in the SCD list from the beginning that have given me more pleasure than Dave Arch, the band and the singers. Maybe Pamela Anderson on the back of Not the Nine O'Clock News and Lesley Garrett. Ramps, Vaughn, Jacklin and Hingis a bit behind Arch.

Im sure I read somewhere (it might have been her blog actually) that Hayley said she only has a couple of days to learn the songs as they aren't given the set list until the very last minute

I know the band are not one of the BBC Orchestras as such but for comparison this link is interesting (public domain)
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/foi/class...ement_2014.pdf

Utter silliness when they pay big money to people to read autocues and pay a tidy sum to a bunch of nonentities passing off as celebrities.

Thanks.

So why don't they just have the BBC Concert Orchestra? That might be even more appropriate than Dave Arch et al. It might be easier to dance to instrumental music than songs and probably more difficult to learn a song than play off sheet music.

I would miss the singers, I think they are brilliant at dealing with the diverse types of music they have to deal with, especially as it appears they have such limited time to rehearse - actually it is pretty amazing they achieve it!

oh I know, I think its awful that they get sooooo little rehearsal time - without the band and singers there would be no show

Yes, we have to remember this is a "show," so the producer demands vocals with most tunes.
In contrast to the days of "big bands" playing for ballroom dancers, the vocalists would not be used that often.

I think the BBC miss a treat for viewers by "hiding" the band. I think they should be an integral part of the show. Catching a glimpse of them as the dancers move around the floor would add to the experience. The producer thinks they are necessary, but relatively unimportant.
But then I think she's a numpty, so what else should we expect?

The BBC Concert Orchestra would be a big "on-cost" which would have to charged to the show's budget.
They'd be less versatile and would demand far more time for rehearsal.
The Strictly band is selected because they are obviously cheaper and can "play anything."

If the contracts are anything to go by, it is probably cheaper and easier to engage the likes of Dave & Co for this sort of purpose. And it probably fits better with how they want it to sound.

I didn't think the lady who sung Kate Bush's 'Wuthering heights' was as good as Kate herself. I also wish the singers would sing the whole song but I suppose the dances wouldn't allow it due to time constraints.

I seem to remember it being said or written somewhere that they sometimes change the song late in the week and they have to start from scratch again on a number.

I can't see that choosing all the music before the series started would work and have any advantage. The pro might want to select the music as they get to know the celebrity and more important the celebrity's ability for either an easier or more challenging piece of music. They might also just hear something that they like and want to use it.

I cannot see why before the series starts the pros and producers cannot plan in advance what music will be used for each dance right the way through the series. This music plan can then be passed to DA by the relevant pro dancer, who can explain exactly what he/she needs. It's not enough to say it's a 3/4, 4/4, timing etc. For example, foxtrot and rumba are both in 4 time, and similar tempo, but there is still a vast different in the actual feel of the music. This would give DA a lot more time to plan each week.

Music can be adapted quite easily by experienced musicians; A few years back there was a very popular piece of music called Somewhere in Time, from the film of the same name. On various strict tempo cds this has been beautifully reproduced as a rumba, a foxtrot, and a waltz.

The band, the pros and the celebrities do not have a say in the music. The producer decides unilaterally.

Yet another excellent post on the subject of Dave Arch and his Wonderful Singers. Keep up the good work!


No, not quite as good as Kate (but a good effort), but then would Kate be able to sing all the songs (and in the prescribed style) that Hayley has to cope with?