10 Things that a Bride Should Know before Hiring

 

Song Requests

 

Special requests for songs are a way of life for the performing artist. Whether it's a big star at a major venue or friends sitting around strumming acoustic guitars, people will call out for songs that they would like to hear. And we musicians, being the hams that we tend to be (or we wouldn't be performers in the first place) try to accommodate these requests as it leads to a pleased audience and subsequent applause, which make us feel really good! It's an all around win/win situation....or should be. The reality is that it may not be possible to give the audience or client everything that they want every single time, although we will certainly strive to do just that.

 

Let's begin with the planning stage of your big event. Most of the better bands will have considerable and varied repertoire. My band knows literally hundreds of songs, many in regular rotation and others charted out and ready to read down when needed. In addition, we get maybe 30 - 40 special requests per year for songs that a client would like to hear from us, usually for a 1st dance or parent dance at a wedding. These songs take time to locate, distribute and write charts for the musicians to learn. We are not disc jockeys who simply scroll down their list of MP3's and push the button and the original artist sings their song through the PA system. But we are more than happy to learn these songs for live performance assuming that we have adequate preparation time. I have recently added this timing contingency to my band's performance contracts to avoid any misunderstanding. 

 

At the event, without fail there will be people calling up to the band for requests. At one moment there may be a guest stage right getting the attention of our sax player requesting that we play a Foxtrot, while simultaneously at stage left is another guest asking the female vocalist if we could do some Madonna. Trust me on this one; it happens every single day. While we of course will be polite, smile, and say that we will try to get to their requests, we will always defer to the client that hired us and do what we were paid to do. If for example we are the local Jimmy Buffet cover band, we were hired to play endless versions of Cheeseburger in Paradise and not the Chicken Dance, no matter how badly you're crazy uncle might like to hear it after a couple of martinis. All of this being said, any good band comprised of talented musicians should be able to do an adequate job of covering almost anything on the fly. We of course prefer to be prepared and I personally spend hours with my wedding, private party and corporate clients working out all of the details, variables, and possibilities to make their event play out exactly how they envision it being. When pressed at the event to veer away from what has been previously planned, I usually will track down the client for their approval and guidance. After all, it is their big day and the requests of some guests may not be along the lines of what they want to hear at their wedding or event. Handled delicately, as we certainly always do, there has never been an issue and the event goes on seamlessly with a dance floor overflowing with your happy guests. 

 

In short, plan carefully but allow for flexibility. The professionals that you hire; caterers, photographers, musicians, etc. have done this countless times and will get you thought it all, from the initial planning through to the end of your wildly successful event with all of its variables.

 

Gary Rivenson

 

 

Note – This is one in a series of articles Gary has written on the subject of hiring live music for weddings, events, private and corporate parties. The current version pertaining to weddings is entitled “10 Things That a Bride Should Know Before Hiring a Band for Her Wedding.”