Friday, April 29, 2005

Tips for Hiring Live Wedding Musicians

Sorry for the long break between postings. It’s been a busy month!

We’ve spent the majority of our time in the recording studio over the last few weeks. In addition to putting together a second volume of wedding songs, we’re working on a compilation of patriotic favorites.

We also appeared on QVC twice last week, bringing Mom along with us in honor of Mother’s Day. Mom played a huge part in encouraging us to pursue our music career. She’s our biggest cheerleader!

Last Wednesday, we did a segment on KARE 11 (our local NBC affiliate) that included some of our wedding music tips. We invited Four Voices String Quartet of Minneapolis (http://fourvoicesstringquartet.com/home.html) to join us for the appearance, which focused the benefits of using live musicians to provide the music for your wedding and some pointers for hiring them.

The greatest benefit of using live musicians is, of course, the beautiful music, but it’s important to keep in mind that live musicians are the best choice for keeping the wedding moving on time. Live musicians are easily able to adjust the length of pieces of music to accommodate what’s happening. If a processional march takes more or less time than it did during rehearsal, live musicians can add or eliminate measures or entire sections of music to make the song end when the procession (or any other part of the ceremony) does.

Here are some other things to help with the process:

1. Consider the theme or style of your wedding for help in selecting the type of musician you'd like to have play. Romantic? How about a harp. Classic? Maybe a string quartet. Traditional? Perhaps an organist. A little bit country? Try a 12-String Guitar.
2. Consider the size of your guest list and venue. A smaller space and number of attendees might require a more intimate musical setting – perhaps just a piano player or harpist.
3. Check with the contact person at your venue. Many venues, particularly churches, have rules about the type of music that’s allowed. Also, some venues may have a list of ceremony musicians from which to choose.
4. Check in with your spouse-to-be. It’ll be more memorable for both of you if you make the selection together, and you might be surprised to find out that they have some specific ideas about the music for the wedding.
5. Ask potential musicians for references. Experienced wedding musicians will have a long list of happy couples who can vouch for their talent/professionalism.
6. Preview a performance. Ask to attend an upcoming event at which your potential musicians are performing. Much like trying on clothes, this will ensure that you know what you’re getting.
7. Get a contract. If you’re hiring professional musicians to play, be sure to get a written contract for their services. Be prepared to put down a deposit, and ask about their protocol for future touch-base meetings and selecting the music.
8. Budget Tip: Hire musicians who can multi-task. Do you want to include both instrumental & vocal music on the big day? Select an instrumentalist that can play all the parts of the ceremony, including accompanying the vocalist. This will help cut down on the budget and the number of people involved. On a super tight budget? Hire a piano or guitar player who can sing.

For more wedding music suggestions and to listen to samples of the songs included on “A Day To Remember,” visit http://www.pianobrothers.com/. “A Day to Remember” and a handful of our other recordings are now available nationwide in Borders Bookstores.

Take care,
Tim & Ryan