About

James McCafferty calling a barn dance
James McCafferty

James McCafferty is the Caller for Barn Dances for Everyone, which means he explains and walks through each dance with you before we dance it.  The music for all the dances is digitally recorded and played through a powerful Behringer PA system, so the sound quality is at least as good as a live band.

Fryern Morris Minors
Fryern Morris Minors

James taught country dancing in primary schools for many years.  He first learned the art of English Folk Dance with Eastleigh Folk Dance Club (still going strong!) and danced with Winchester’s international dance display team Woodfidley.  He danced and played melodeon for King John’s Morris of Southampton and founded the boys’ morris dance team the Fryern Morris Minors.

He also founded the unaccompanied folk song group Solstice, and is the author of Live Recorder 1 – 3, a series of three workbooks and CDs designed to teach basic musical literacy to complete beginners. Under the banner of Early Music in Schools, he continues to take his demonstrations of early musical instruments to schools and community groups (www.earlymusic.co.uk).

 

James continues to perform early and traditional music with early music group Milady Clare’s Musicke, with whom he has recorded the CD albums Live and One More Tyme. So if you’d like to turn your Barn Dance into a proper Ceilidh (“kay-lee”), with live traditional songs and music during the break(s), this can be arranged at a modest extra charge – just ask!