Music has an amazing power to connect people with their emotions. It can melt away the stresses of daily life, and open us to tenderness, hope, joy, love. And these happy emotions are what a wedding is all about.
Even the most hardened, overworked listener can unwind for the wedding, through beautifully performed music. One guest at a recent church wedding told me that her usually stressed-out husband started humming along while The Paragon Trio played their classical prelude music. (Amazed, she lovingly hushed him.)
Live music, performed flawlessly and with “heart,” can also rivet together a song and your emotions as you listen, together in your memory. For example, think of your favorite movie scene with a great sound track--how vividly you remember the scene, every time you hear that music! (Take for example the movie Platoon—that incredible music is Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings. When you hear that music, you can’t help but remember the movie.)
Well, artistically performed music works that way for weddings too, preserving memories more deeply and powerfully than any photograph could. As one bride recently said, “I will never, ever, forget the sound of that beautiful music as I entered the church with my father, and how I felt at that moment.”
With fine instruments and talented musicians, music can also help the bride and groom, family and guests, to feel more deeply the meaning of the occasion. “The music made us smile and touched us to tears,” a grandmother of the groom recently told me. “The music truly touched our hearts and made the service so meaningful,” a bride commented. Said another, “We had lots of compliments from our guests on how moving our ceremony music was. It was beautiful and touching!”
How to select your “Music of the Heart”? Just keep these points in mind, and then follow your heart—
1. Think about your favorite instruments, favorite styles of music or favorite songs/pieces. When you shop for musicians, this is a good starting point in describing music that will be meaningful for you. If you don’t have preferences, ask an entertainment adviser to tell you what type of music has worked well for other weddings at your same ceremony location.
2. Choose professional musicians who perform music for a living. For example, Columbus Symphony musicians perform music full time. Professional, formally trained musicians are the best qualified and the most experienced. Symphony orchestra managements don’t book weddings, but these players can be engaged through certain entertainment agencies, such as Paragon Music & Entertainment.
3. Seek musicians with plenty of experience performing specifically for wedding ceremonies. The ability to coordinate music with the pace and timing of the ceremony, comes only with years of actual experience. Musicians need to be able to play their instruments beautifully and intelligently, while judging the correct timing and appropriate duration. This is not easy!
4. Don’t just “shop price” for your wedding musicians. Consider training and experience as carefully as you consider fees. You really do get what you pay for.
5. Use a music provider with an organized way of documenting your musical requests. Look for a music provider that provides a Ceremony Music Request form, to ensure that your requests are understood and honored.
6. Really listen to demo recordings. Even if you are not a music “expert,” the recording will tell you a lot about the sound and style of the musicians. It should also indicate whether they are able to play appropriate music for wedding ceremonies.
7. Ask to see comments from brides who have used the musicians in the past. Past customers’ experience is a good predictor of what your experience will be.
8. If your ceremony is to take place in a church or synagogue, contact their music department before deciding on your musicians. Some have in-house rules about what music may be played, or whether outside musicians may be used.
By Rhonda Frascotti, Paragon Music & Entertainment, Ltd.
website: www.paragonmusic.com
e-mail: rhonda@paragonmusic.com
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