Music
matters
Selecting
which music to play for your special day
can be so very fun. It’s a truly important
factor that shapes your event. Remember
that musical tastes vary greatly from person
to person. Following are some suggestions
and hints that can help ensure an enjoyable
experience for all. Having DJ’d numerous
events, I’ve found these guidelines
are very helpful.
Talk
about tunes
You
can choose as much of the music as you want
for your event. After all, it is your event
and I work for you. Having said that, I’ve
had clients give me extensive play lists
of songs they think are "cool”,
but when I play them, their guests don’t
respond. The best approach is to suggest
songs for me to play, but to leave room
for me to include other songs in the styles
of which your guests are enjoying. Though
there are thousands of potential songs to
play, there are only a very few that your
guests will spontaneously dance to. I’ve
performed enough functions to better feel
this out and know what a particular audience
will respond to.
How
many songs?
I sometimes receive play lists from clients
with pages and pages of songs. When it comes
to dance music, only 15 songs an hour are
necessary. At a typical wedding reception
or anniversary, guests usually only dance
for a few hours. Occasionally they will
dance for a little over four hours, but that is the
exception. So ideally, what I would like
from you is a list of 20 to 30 songs from
which I can pick. Feel free to highlight
any MUST PLAY songs, but then leave it to
me to read the crowd. The following song
list is enough for well over 25 hours of
dancing!
On
the dancefloor
Your
guests still might not dance! Some audiences
and families LOVE to dance and when I put
on the first dance song, dozens of people
jump to the dance floor. Other times, I’ll
play plenty of prime dance material and
very few people will dance. The level of
dance participation is usually predetermined
by these few factors: if the hosts like
to dance themselves, the type of people
attending the event, and other event-planning
circumstances such as the time, day and
location of the event, the venue and whether
or not alcohol is served.
Go
with the flow
For
many reasons, intentional or not, I’ve
seen clients kill the dancing and length
of their own parties. The common reason
is leaving the event for extended periods
of time. This includes things like half-hour
photo shoots, extended breaks and the hosts
arriving late to their own event! If the
dancing is stopped for any reason, there’s
a possibility it won’t get started
again! Another dance floor killer is when
I’m told to “PLAY THIS SONG
NOW!” by a client or a close family
member. Getting people to go to and stay
on the dance floor is about flow, tempo
and timing. Sometimes one of these requests
throws a wrench in the works and people
actually get on their coats and start to
leave! Yes, parties can actually empty because
of music clients insist I play. The culprits
are usually within these genres: RAP, METAL,
HARD ROCK and GRUNGE.
Sound
advice
I
am happy to play your guests' request. But
my best advice to you is to help keep these
within styles of music that we pre-designate.
Styles that typically work best are Big
Band/Swing, Motown/R&B, 70-90’s
dance, melodic Hip Hop and Top 40. A “DO
NOT PLAY” list is helpful as well.
Bottom line: Choose styles of music that
enhance the over-all “feeling”
of the event. Choose 20-30 specific dance
songs to help guide me, limit your guests’
requests to the style of music that will
enhance your event, give me a ‘DON’T
PLAY’ list and then just leave the
rest to me!! This will all help ensure your
event is a successful one!
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