If you want to include a musical instrument, such as a violin, in your church wedding ceremony, you may be wondering how much music to have the musician play.
Should the musician play the whole ceremony? Instruments add a wonderful accent to a ceremony and help make it a personal and memorable event, so should you use them for everything? You’ll be paying him or her, so you might as well get all you can, and then you won’t need the church’s organ or piano, right?
Not quite.
In this article you’ll learn how to answer these questions. [Read the full article…]
You’d like your wedding ceremony to be filled with joy and drama-free, right?
Here’s a wedding music tip for you that could help prevent an awkward or even possibly disastrous ceremony. If you’re using an amateur musician in your ceremony, think about this.
Anyone can be nervous
Almost everyone can get nervous before a big event. Athletes, performers, speakers can all suffer from being nervous. Even you, before your wedding ceremony will probably be nervous! It takes determination to get through it.
Professional musicians can also be affected, so amateur musicians can be affected even more so. And since amateurs usually don’t have the training or experience that professionals do to help overcome it, nervousness can lead to big problems.
A friend or family-member musician may be extra nervous because of their relationship to you and may put extra pressure on themselves.
You want to do whatever possible to put your amateur musicians at ease.
A tip to help put nervous musicians at ease
If you think this could be a concern (and you can usually figure it out from their situation), you want to make sure that you don’t have a ceremony marred by a musician struggling to get through a piece of music.
So here’s my tip: Invite the amateur musician to your wedding rehearsal and have them play or sing there.
This will help them get comfortable with the surroundings. It gives them an audience, helping them feel more at ease and boosting their confidence.
Even if their part of the ceremony isn’t a significant part of the rehearsal, you can still have them play or sing while another part is rehearsed.
For example, have a vocal soloist sing while you’re rehearsing something else, such as the processional (if your processional musician isn’t there or doesn’t specifically need to rehearse their part). You might need to make sure the accompanist is present (who might already be present). But this is a small detail compared to the pain or awkwardness of a difficult performance during the ceremony.
Trust me, your heart will go out to your friend or relative if they start struggling.
Not using amateur musicians isn’t the answer
[Read the full article…]
You’ve found a perfect piece of music for your church wedding. You mention it to your musician and you get back a “what’s that”? look. Or a response like “I don’t think I have that in my library.” Or worse, “I know I don’t have that piece.”
What to do?
Don’t worry, this doesn’t have to be the end of the world. Here are some tips for getting past this little hurdle. [Read the full article…]
Have you ever planned a church wedding ceremony before?
Probably not. If this is all new to you, you need to be shown what to tell your musicians and to ask your musicians. Asking questions will help make sure your ceremony is what you wanted. It doesn’t all just happen by magic, after all. [Read the full article…]
I hear grumbling about overused wedding music, often from musicians, having to play the same pieces wedding after wedding, as if it were the bride’s (or couples’) fault. I’m not convinced this is the case.
It’s true that wedding planning guides don’t include much variety. But how much encouragement and support for using distinctive music do musicians provide?
I know some musicians who do strive to help couples find the perfect music. But there are others who seem content to recommend the same pieces already heard over and over again.
I thought about this after my recent article on how couples can better prepare for meetings with their musicians. Maybe the musicians can also better prepare for meeting with their couples! Keep reading for some tips on making your discussions more effective. [Read the full article…]
If you want to include a musical instrument, such as a violin, in your church wedding ceremony, you may be wondering how much music to have the musician play.
