Our humidifier is working overtime this week. We're hoping for rain tonight to break the spell, but meanwhile everything is just...sticky! We have a wedding to play next week, and I finally broke down and ordered a pair of light wristies to both help me slide and to save the finish on my harp. I can hear my old teacher telling me to raise my arms and not rest on the side of the harp. But sometimes, up in those high octaves, I get lazy, especially if the tune is up there for a while. Is anyone else a leaner, or am I the only lazy harpist here??
We (my husband on guitar) played a coffeehouse at the end of June. We don't play out that often, so it always re-surprises me how intrigued everyone gets over seeing a harp! We've been getting ready for the wedding at the same time, so, when asked for an encore, we had nothing ready and ended up playing Fanny Poer, which I love, but we haven't made a great arrangement of yet. We had a hard time getting out of there because so many people wanted to try the harp. I hope The Harp Connection is ready for all the people I recommend to them! We've played twice at our local Farmers' Market, where the vendors clap and laugh at each and every number and little girls dance all around us. AND the vendors give us free stuff! I got the most AMAZING Irish soda bread, and I wish you were all here to help me finish it, because that thing is huge!! A little girl on a bench behind us called out "Bow down to the goddess" after C's Concerto. You should have seen the look on my husband's face - he is sometimes known as the Guitar God (jokingly, but still...) by our goofy friends, and suddenly I was the one getting the fun comments!
Our wedding set list is our regular stuff with the addition of Pachelbel's, Here Comes the Bride and the Wedding March. I like playing weddings because we're usually there ahead of time and by the time folks start walking in I have warmed up and feel comfortable in the new setting. And then I hate weddings because, no matter how you plan, you're going to have to lengthen or shorten Here Comes on the fly due to slow/fast walkers, delays, etc. So far we have managed to end right as the bride reaches the groom! but someday our good luck will run out. We're so pleased to be invited to the reception, but it's in another building, and we'll have to bring our instruments into the A/C instead of leaving them in the car, which always seems a little show-off-y. If you ladies have advice or great stories about past gigs I sure would love to hear them!
Bye for now! Have a great month.......
Ugh, when playing The Wedding March in C, you have to raise/lower both D# and F# at the same tie. Granted, at least they bookmark E, so they're easy to find, but sharping and canceling while your right hand goes on and then getting your left hand back in position.....on the hour, all day, 6 times through each time, I will practice this song until I'm a pro!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE this post! "Bow to the Goddess" INDEED!
ReplyDeleteWeddings! I forget, EVERY TIME,: the music is the last thing on people's minds. You sit in an off-to-the-side area and play background music, while waiting guests chat. This is fun -you can goof around, change things up, make little mistakes, and no one cares! :)) Once we started a song twice because I missed a lever, and we laughed and began again. In today' shedding, a bridesmaid....just never showed up! And everyone was a fast walker, so we didn't play more than 45 seconds of Here Comes, and maybe only half of Pachelbel (which is good because I'm only 75% great at the stretch-your-fourth-finger part of the b minor arpeggios!). The Wedding March? People are clapping and cheering for the happy couple, and no one's listening. They pay us to have such fun, and we're getting dinner and champagne at the reception. I get to wear a nice dress and good makeup. I'm going to get our business card out there - a good time was had by all!
ReplyDeleteI do have a funny story about a past wedding gig--I almost forgot, it was ages ago. It was a wedding inside of a small church. The reverend was giving me nods and looks when he needed me to start or stop playing. There was a pianist who was hired especially to do the music for the (what's the word for when everyone walks out at the end--recessional?). The pianist never showed up so the reverend gave me some wild signals and mouthed for me to play something.
ReplyDeleteMy repertoire was much smaller then, but I could have picked an O'Carolan tune apart from SiBeag SiMor which I had played for the procession. Instead I launched right into the jolly and lyrically very inappropriate barndance 'Paddy McGinty's Goat'!
Well, I got loads of thank yous for saving the day a nice compliments on my music, so of course it didn't matter.
Haha, so sweet. And you saved the day, which is always grand, right? Thanks for sharing. We had a few requests for Morning Has Broken, which we never play. Have any of you ever played the John Rutter version? We could play it by ear, but I'd like something a little more substantial. :))
ReplyDeleteWeddings always amaze me- no matter how well planned they are supposed to be! I am stunned at the number of people who are late (very) or never show- or musicians who took the gig then back out the week before (how I got my LAST wedding gig)! I tell them up front- I do not do the Wedding March or the traditional postlude! This is not a pedal harp! However, for a great recessional, and easy peasy, The Chimes fits the bill beautifully. Sounds like church bells ringing, you can keep it up forever, and add left hand octave drones occasionally... Pamela- I am heartened by the number of weddings you guys are getting! For awhile I was doing at least one every month or so- then it seemed like CD's or guitars were the go to music! Maybe as a duo you are more attractive than my little soloist self? The last time I was contacted to play for a ceremony, about 5 years ago, it was for a vow renewal . Fairly simple gig- when the woman asked my fee, I told her, and she was very pleased. Her husband, however, decided a $10 cd would do just as well, and she called an hour later to cancel! I stopped putting my name out there shortly after.
ReplyDeleteSince then, all my weddings have been on the keyboards at church- piano and/or organ.
I had a similar situation to the one above. I was contacted by friends of one of our open mic acquaintences . They wanted 'mates rates' and I complied even though I didn't know them. They went back and forth with me for weeks and even months on exactly when and for how long they needed me to play. I gave my fee. Basically they wanted me for the whole thing--from cocktail hour to the ceremony to playing during the meal. I would not reduce my fee any more especially since the venue was in another city and I'd have to take a taxi there. In the end they just used a CD.
ReplyDeleteWow! These are not good stories at all! I've got to say, we never think a gig is a done deal until the signed contract is returned with a 50% deposit. If people have to cancel, they get all of their $ back if they cancel 4 weeks before the wedding, 75% at 3 weeks, etc, etc, and so far we haven't been stiffed yet. (Knock on wood! :)) ) As far as songs, I will - in general - learn and play anything people pay me to learn and play. Is there a reason, Sharon, that you won't play Here Comes?? For the Wedding March, learning to switch 2 levers was a great learning experience for me, and I'm kind of proud that I figured out a good key and a way to play almost all the accidentals! Sue Richards changes her levers all the time. At a wedding last summer, we worked up an arrangement of All Your Life by The Band Perry. I wasn't particularly proud of what we did, but that's because I didn't care for the song. The bride & groom did, though, and the wedding party was all excited that we played a song they knew! (This was an everyone-wearing-cowboy-boots outside wedding...) If people are paying me, I guess I think they should get what they want for music. But that's just me, I know everyone is different.
ReplyDeleteWe played at the Art in the Park market this morning. Everything was wrong: I forgot to bring my husband's music, it was hot and sunny and I like to keep my harp in the shade, I couldn't remember what key half the songs were in, and I sat RIGHT NEXT TO THE SPEAKER, so it was hard to balance the 2 instruments. But 2 women came up at different times, said how playing the harp was on their 'bucket list', and when I had them sit down and showed them a few things, you would have thought they died and went to heaven. Both of them had friends take a photo so they'd have a memory of the occasion, and I gave them ideas on buying starter/smaller harps, so after that I cheered right up. We would have gotten hired for a tea in Marlow, except that's when I'll be in London.
We had some photos taken by a friend who is a photographer a while ago, Andee, and if I can figure out how to post a photo, I'll add one in a few minutes. I must say in advance, it was while I was mid-way through growing out the gray - Kathy D. is my idol here! - and I'm wearing a muslin/linen kind of undershift that adds a least 2 million inches to your bust when it's all gathered up, so forewarned is forearmed.....
It is a great photo! Kudos for growing out the grey. I go back and forth about that myself, still not ready! I am 50 but feel 30, just can't bring myself to do it--yet--!
ReplyDeleteI am too lazy to learn special pieces for weddings. If they want all Irish they can hire me. If not that's fine. I will happily flip levers galore if it's a piece I like (Irish!) The best wedding I did was for an Irish couple who wanted all Irish, so a match made in heaven (hopefully for the bride and groom as well).