Most Barn Dances last between two and four hours. All bands bring a dance instructor, known as a 'caller', who will briefly instruct you in each dance before you do it and supervise the dance. Anyone who can walk can enjoy themselves at a Barn Dance. Sometimes the 'caller' is also a musician, sometimes not. The music played is mostly based on English folk tunes, but will very often include Irish and Scottish tunes and sometimes other European folk tunes.
Some bands play largely acoustic instruments, some have an electric rhythm section, some have drums.
The most common instruments are probably fiddle, accordion, melodeon, concertina, whistles, guitar, bass and drums. A quick listing of the other instruments our bands play includes bagpipes, saxophone, keyboards, hurdy gurdy, trombone, trumpet, oboe, flute, pan pipes, occarina, cello, viola, hammer dulcimer, Appalacian dulcimer, and tuba. If it adds to the sound, they'll play it. The cost of a Barn Dance varies with size of band, distance travelled, location, time, and a number of other factors.