Wedding Repertoire

[tompilk]

Hi people,
I've been asked to play at a wedding - i have any time as long as I like up to 1 hour and a half, but for a DipLCM (im taking it in a few weeks, but I;'m not convinced I'll pass) is seems a little long, although I could manage it.
Anyways, I've already agreed to play:
Scarlatti K. 535
Scarlatti K. 213
Mozart K. 330 (first movement)
Beethoven - Pathetique (they only want second movement, as you'd guess)
Beethoven - Moonlight Sonata (first movement)
and two other things i can't remember...

They asked if I could choose some from (although I realise it's not piano music, I'm sure there are some great transcriptions):

Pirates of Penzance
Satie - Gymnopedie 1
Vivaldi - four seasons
Tchaikovsky - Nutcracker Suite
Handel - Water Music
Ravel - Bolero
Anything modern or cheerful.

So any suggestions, I'm happy. I keep looking at the score to pletnev's nutcracker rearrangement, so I might give some of it a go, so I'm up for a challenge, but would love any suggestions or rearrangements for piano.
I have until the 21st July...
Thanks,
Tom

[pianistimo]

are you playing an acoustic or digital piano?  sometimes it does matter - as to the sounds you want to produce.  obviously, you don't want heavy music (which it seems that none is that heavy) - but some pieces you can 'fudge' - leaving out notes on purpose - to make it have that 'lighter' sound.  people will still want to talk until the bride comes down the isle.

when i got married - i was talked out of the traditional 'here comes the bride.'  unfortunately, i didn't realize that is a sort of cue - unless you TELL the mother and father of bride and groom which song to stand up at (so they can give a cue to the rest of the party).  we picked our music post haste - and i regret not letting my parents know which song we decided to use to fill in for that.  i was halfway down the isle before anyone knew.

be ready to change lengths of pieces to shorter or longer.  and always attend the dress rehearsal - because you typically get an idea of how long the bridesmaids are going to take - but less clue as to when the bride will arrive - so perhaps having 'filler' for anything and everything.

there's a site with popular love songs and pop songs - that you can improve upon by writing in extra notes at a site i'll try to get right now.  also, didn't liszt write a transcription for 'loengrin' which has the bridal song in it. 

liapunov has 'canon in d' transcribed.  it's on piano forum here somewhere in sheet music requests.  kempf has transcriptions of bach chorales that are beautiful.

i always wished that more of dvorak was transcribed.  simple happy music.  above all, don't worry about that 'wrong note.'  the first time i played for a wedding, i thought - oh, if i make a mistake - i'll ruin the entire wedding.  then, i realized with most digitals or 1/2way organ sounding keyboards - nobody notices if you just keep on going.  just make it a 'passing note.'   

[tompilk]

thanks for that. some useful information.
Do you know of any piano transcriptions of the ones she asked for?

Pirates of Penzance
Vivaldi - four seasons
Tchaikovsky - Nutcracker Suite
Handel - Water Music
Ravel - Bolero

Thanks,
Tom

[pianistimo]

here is a site for popular music:

www.my-piano.blogspot.com

the rest i would just make requests under 'sheet music requests' and see what happens.  or go to the library!  there's a lot of stuff at the library.  sometimes - with a piece such as bolero - you could make your own transcription - although i heard a transcription on the radio the other day that was kinda cool (but for orchestra).  it was a sort of medley.

come to think of it - medleys for weddings are ok, too - because they're light and people realize you're not trying to play a recital - but simply playing background music in a fun way.  you can make a book (with nice cover) and plastic pockets to have all your sheet music in order.  that way - you don't have to mess with book after book.  and, you can mark what happens where - in the music - at the dress rehearsal.

are you also accompanying any instrumentalists or vocalists?  if not - attempt to bring a vocalist with you.  it will relieve you from 1/2 hour worth of music - solo- and the crowd will LOVE it.  music +words =romance.  you know, just something simple that the vocalist has performed many times before.  'bless this house' - i had at one time - for duet.  it was nice.

[pianistimo]

i have a question for you, tompilk.  how much is the going rate now for playing for weddings?  i'm thinking of doing this, too, this summer and was used to charging $100. for an hour or so - but for 1 1/2 hours - now is $200. about right?  or is this off.

[dnephi]

A good idea is Liszt's transcription of Mendelssohn's Wedding-March and Dance of the Elves, perhaps.

What do you think?

Dan

[tompilk]

i have a question for you, tompilk.  how much is the going rate now for playing for weddings?  i'm thinking of doing this, too, this summer and was used to charging $100. for an hour or so - but for 1 1/2 hours - now is $200. about right?  or is this off.

im not doing it professionally, i'm only 17 and doing it for my parent's friends. So it's not as if i'm going to charge, although my organ teacher said its about £30-50 (about $60-100) for a wedding and even more if it's recorded/videoed (sometimes even doubled).

A good idea is Liszt's transcription of Mendelssohn's Wedding-March and Dance of the Elves, perhaps.

What do you think?

Dan

Perhaps a bit too mainstream. I could play it at the end I suppose, but it sounds very difficult.
Tom

[tompilk]

lol i just looked at that free sheetmusic page and they have pirates of the caribbean sheet music. My parents met the couple to be wedded sailing. Might be the "opportune moment" as captain jack would say, to spring it on them. lol...
Tom

[richard black]

Do you know of any piano transcriptions of the ones she asked for?

Pirates of Penzance
Vivaldi - four seasons
Tchaikovsky - Nutcracker Suite
Handel - Water Music
Ravel - Bolero

Pirates is easy - get a vocal score from the local library. For the rest, you'd better get to a music shop and look through as few of those 'your greatest ever classical tunes' sort of collections for more or less tacky transcriptions of a few tunes. For background music jobs like the one you're evidently in line for, I just take a couple such volumes along plus one or two of slightly jazzy stuff and amuse myself for as long as it takes. Mostly almost no one is listening.

Wedding prices vary enormously, but in the UK something around £100 - £200 is generally reasonable.

[alwaystheangel]

there's definately a transcript for Satie aswell. I don't have time now, but I will give you some ideas for modern music for weddings


oh yeah.  and I'm shocked that Canon in D isn't included anywhere in that list lol