Cara LaGreen
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  • February5th

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    How to Choose Music For an Afternoon Wedding

    Posted in: Articles, Events, Guest Post, Inspiration, Jazz, Jazz Musician, Jazz Singer, Local

    How to Choose Music For an Afternoon Wedding

    Author: Errol Livingston

    Weddings are unique events. Each wedding breakfast and drinks reception will have a different combination of guests, venue and entertainment requirements, so finding a perfect musical match can take some time!

    You might be wondering what kind of music your guests would enjoy, and how you can make that work with your budget and venue. Fortunately there are a huge number of options available, so we’ve written this guide to take you through some of the most popular – and more surprising – choices our clients have made for their special day, and show you how to fit great music in with all your other plans.

    What’s the best style of music?

    Live music in any genre makes an event special, and can be as much of a reflection of your personal taste as what you wear. The choice you make depends on what you would like the music to do for you. Do you have a lot of very young guests who would love some entertainment while they’re waiting for the cake? Would you like some gentle background music as a soundtrack to a formal meal or drinks reception? Or would you just like to hear your favourite sounds and share them with your friends?

    Jazz bands are one of the more versatile options, available as everything from solo pianists to big bands. They can provide a selection of time-tested classics that everyone will recognise, or draw on a more esoteric catalogue to impress serious aficionados. If you like your jazz a little spicy, a Latin band can give your drinks reception a groove to remember, as well as an entertaining show!

    Classical music is a wonderful way to enhance an elegant reception or wedding breakfast, and the pieces the musicians play can vary a great deal. While all string quartets, wind trios and other classical groups will have a repertoire of classical favourites, some will extend their range to include pop hits and medleys of folks songs. All of them list their repertoire on their profile pages, and it can be worth speaking to the musicians themselves for more information.

    Guests always enjoy traditional music, with many couples still choosing klezmer and dhol for Jewish or Asian weddings. The increasing popularity of world music means there is a wider range of music available than ever before, so why not try something original and exciting? Steel bands and bluegrass bands are ideally suited to outdoor events, providing great music as well as visual entertainment.

    If your budget is fairly modest, but you still want the magic that live music can bring, how about a soloist? A cocktail pianist, harpist or solo guitarist can provide gentle sophistication and a musical background without being intrusive. The swing revival has brought a flood of tributes to Rat Pack-style singers who can draw on the glamour of a bygone age to create a classy accompaniment for your food and drink.

    If you’ve already booked a wedding band it’s worth checking to see if they can provide a smaller line-up for earlier on in the day, such as an acoustic guitarist/vocalist, a cocktail pianist or a jazz trio. Using the same musicians for the whole day could save you money and help keep stress levels to a minimum!

    Choosing an act

    Once you’ve decided on a style browse acts on the relevant music section on our site. Each act has a profile page featuring a biography, photos, audio samples of their playing, a repertoire list and testimonials from previous clients. Some also have video clips to view online.

    Dealing with the venue and equipment

    Make sure you get in touch with any musicians you have booked well before the actual day, so that you can explain the arrangements to them and they can make sure you’re happy with the music they plan to play, giving you the chance to specify any special favourites. Wedding musicians always have to work around the rest of the day’s events, so will be keen to hear about your plans and what you’d like them to do. They usually provide all their own equipment, so you won’t have to worry about organising this – though it’s always worth checking with them beforehand!

    Some venues are designed with live music in mind, and some can easily accommodate it. Others might be a little more difficult because of noise or space restrictions, but you can work around these kind of problems. It’s easy to keep the volume down by using an adjustable backing track, or save space (and money) by using fewer people. Good wedding musicians will have experience of many places, and will be able to adapt to your requirements with enough notice, so make sure you tell them as much as you can about your venue.

    Function Central makes booking wedding music easy

    Function Central is a wedding music agency specialising in wedding musicians who have been hand-picked for their talent, professionalism and reliability. We take over 600 wedding music bookings a year and get great feedback from our clients. We make choosing and booking your wedding entertainment easy, providing support and advice right up to the day, and even a 24-hour helpline.

    Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/how-to-choose-music-for-an-afternoon-wedding-2629435.html

    About the Author

    Carl Liver
    Marketing Manager for Function Central
    Wedding Bands
    Wedding Bands in London

  • October24th

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    Jazz Musicians And The Art Of Transcribing Jazz Solos

    Posted in: Guest Post, Jazz, Jazz Artist, Jazz Music, Jazz Singer

    Every great jazz musician has, at one time or another, transcribed jazz solos from recordings. Since jazz is an art from that is aural in nature, it makes complete sense that listening and copying the improvisations of earlier jazz masters helps one become a more consistent and skilled jazz improviser.

    Transcribing a jazz solo involves the repetitive listening and notation of a recorded jazz solo. To get maximum benefit from the process, the person studying the solo through transcription should memorize and internalize every note and every inflection played by the improviser. “Transcribing” refers to the activity of notating on paper the exact notes and rhythms played by the improviser.

    Evolving Technologies of Transcribing Jazz Solos

    Charlie Parker could arguably be called the most influential jazz artist of the 20th century. His inventive jazz improvisations changed the face of jazz and ushered in one of the most exciting eras of jazz: the bebop era.

    Charlie Parker was born with a huge amount of natural talent, but that does not mean Charlie never worked hard at his honing his craft. History reveals that Charlie spent almost a year early on in his music career memorizing – note by note – the jazz solos of Lester Young from 78 RPM recordings.

    Before jazz became widely available on 78 RPM recordings, musicians relied on listening and learning in “real time”. The only way to learn jazz improvisation in the early days of jazz was to listen to live musicians and pick up what you could from what they played. Once played however, the music was gone forever. Read More | Comments

  • October16th

    2 Comments

    Managing Air Flow In Order To Protect Your Vocal Cords

    Posted in: Guest Post, Vocal Technique, Voice Technique

    Singing is technique. You as a singer will spend a great deal of time and effort developing your vocal technique.  One of the most important aspects to consider in developing your technique is balance and control of your airflow.  Too much or not enough air through your windpipe results in overworked and overused vocal cords, and this eventually leads to painful swelling, hoarseness of voice, and eventually damage to your vocal cords.   Many singers do not much consider the damage they may cause to their vocal cords, even though this should be a priority-one item any singer should guard against.  Having the sound you want is useless if it eventually leads to irreparable damage.  So first and foremost – protect you vocal cords!

    One common misconception is that you need a great deal of air in your lungs to be able to sing, especially when it comes to belting out those big power high notes. Contrary to this notion, you don’t need more air than you can muster; you just need to manage the air capacity that your lungs already have. If you take in more air than you are comfortable with, you wont be able to manage it properly to start, so you would be following a self-defeating approach.  Of course there are exercises that will help build and expand your lung capacity, but until you get there, you need to be comfortable with your current abilities and learn to manage the air flow corresponding to your present capabilities. Read More | Comments

  • September29th

    1 Comment

    The Technical Elements of Vocal Style

    Posted in: Articles, Guest Post, Vocal Technique, Voice Technique

    The Technical Elements of Vocal Style

    In this article I would like to talk about an interesting observation that I have made over my 26 years as a vocal coach; not too many people realize that there are several aspects that have to be addressed with regards to singing in general. First of all, when we talk about singing we are talking about two separate, but very much related elements: physical sound and emotional style. Physical sound is what is achieved by proper utilization of the technical aspects of singing, i.e. breathing (support), structure, placement and projection. Emotional style is essentially how the singer relates to the song and anticipates and complements the style of music, i.e. rock, alternative, country, R & B, dance etc. A common view is that while the technical aspects of singing can be learned through instruction and repetition, style is only developed naturally over time. There is definitely some truth to this statement; some people just naturally have it within them. As a Vocal Coach/Consultant, I strongly believe in the advantages of instruction in the technical aspects of singing. However, I also believe that it is a mistake to completely separate style from technique and I believe that style CAN BE TAUGHT in the same way that a student can be educated in how to stay in tune, project their voice, etc. Read More | Comments

  • September4th

    1 Comment

    Music Teachers Resources: Making Students Love Music

    Posted in: Articles, Guest Post, Inspiration, Music

    Music Teachers Resources: Making Students Love Music

    When your private studio has innovative and interactive music teachers resources, you can certainly focus on developing your students’ interests in music. Through these, you can also motivate them to craft music as both their profession and passion. Teaching music can be a difficult task. It requires much time and effort; thus, makes music education more challenging, dynamic and versatile.

    Ideally, a music teacher must have these objectives in mind:

    • to offer a custom-made and challenging program for his musically-inclined pupils to maximize their music potential;
    • to provide a holistic music education through listening, performing (solo and group) and composing skills; and,
    • To realize that everyone has such potentials to understand, express and create music. Read More | Comments

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