by Sharon Planer, Pianist for Parties

Here is a tip to put your guests in a festive mood...Hire 'live' music!

I love arriving at a venue before the party begins so that I can greet the guests with my piano music when they arrive.

At the start of a party live music is a great ice breaker and brings smiles to the faces of the guests.

As guests arrive, get their beverage, and settle into conversation, I keep my piano music light and easy going. The music creates a pleasant atmosphere without being distracting. Guests sometimes stop by the piano to request a favorite song or even want to sing along. Children seem especially attracted to songs with a lively beat...for their dancing feet! If the event is a cocktail reception, upbeat jazzy holiday tunes create the perfect musical setting. If a sit down dinner is part of the event, I play quiet elegant holiday piano music while the guests are dining.

Guests often love to gather around the piano to sing their favorite Christmas carols. I have my songbooks ready to hand out for just that occasion!

Activities that involve music are a great form of entertainment.

'The Twelve Days of Christmas'. If some of the guests have a dramatic flair, selecting 12 people to act out 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' while the rest of the guests sing the song can really get the action going. Providing appropriate props can add to the fun or you can encourage your 12 participants to use their imagination in acting out their part of the song. You might be surprised by the crazy and creative ideas they come up with!

'Frosty the Snowman' .  This activity involves TP (yes, toilet paper...clean, please!). This can be done as several teams or as one activity. Each team selects one participant that will be their 'Frosty'.  When the song begins, each team will 'decorate' their Frosty with toilet paper and whatever items they can find to make their 'Frosty' look the most clever or original. The 'decorating' ends when the music stops. Guests vote on the winner. Have a prize for the team that wins....a bag of candy is an easy prize.

Musical Dice Game. Ask each guest to bring an inexpensive wrapped gift. Everyone sits in a circle, with all the wrapped presents on the floor in the middle. Players take turns rolling two dice on a pie plate. If your group is large you can use several pie plates each with a pair of dice. Start the plates going different directions. Have your musician play some lively holiday music.

If a player rolls a double, that person gets to pick a gift from the middle. The dice continue around the circle until all the gifts have been taken. At this time everyone that has a gift opens it. Going around the circle, those with gifts hold up the gift and explain what it is. They set their gift on the floor in front of them so everyone can see what they have. Set the timer to the length of time you want (10-15 minutes is decent). Ask your musician play some lively holiday music until the timer goes off. Send the dice around the circle as long as the music is playing. If a player rolls a double, he gets to steal a gift. Keep the dice going until timer goes off and the music stops. Anyone with more than one gift keeps only one gift and puts the rest in the middle. Those without a gift move their chairs in to make a smaller circle and continue the dice rolling (with music!) until each of them has won a gift.

Planning a 'Winter Party' is a good alternative if you wish to avoid religious connotations of a Christmas Party. 

Some clients, especially corporate clients, are sensitive about hosting a holiday party that reflects religious views. In order to make all guests feel included and comfortable, the client may want to keep the music and party plans secular in nature.  Hosting a party with a 'Winter' theme is a good approach. I always ask the event planner to let me know what music I am allowed to play. Some clients ask me to only play secular holiday music and avoid Christmas carols. A few clients have even asked me to avoid songs that reference St. Nick. Even though this limits my repertoire, I am respectful of such requests. If the event is longer than an hour, I will ask if I can include some non holiday music.

The enthusiasm and joyous spirit of the guests makes Christmas parties great fun to play for!  You can listen to several samples of my holiday piano music on my 'Listen' page.

'Tis the Season to Make Music!

Have you enjoyed some fun holiday party activities that involve music? Share your ideas in the comment box below.  

A family member asked me to provide piano music for a memorial service. A young adult wanted to honor her great grandfather by singing a special song that she had learned as a school choral piece. The song is called, 'Farvel' (farewell), aka 'You Will Always be in My Heart'. The poem was written by Halvor Langslet in 1899 and the music was composed by Daniel Pederson (copyright 2007). This was a new song to me and it turned out to be so beautiful and perfect for the service!  I just had to share it here. There is no recording of our performance, but I found a YouTube recording as a choral performance. You can read the lyrics and story in the image below this clip.

by Sharon Planer, Pianist for Parties

The musical performance of a talented family member or friend can make your wedding music extra special.  

If you are asking a family member or friend to perform for your wedding, here are some questions to ask yourself to assure your music will have the quality you are looking for.

Do they want to perform for your wedding?

If they are a gifted musician and eager to make your wedding special with their music, you are on the right track to follow up with them. Ask if they are comfortable performing in front of guests. I was present at a wedding where the bride's aunt insisted on having her two adult daughters sing a duet. The daughters made is very clear that they did not want to perform, but their mother insisted. The day of the wedding the daughters refused to use a microphone and they barely whispered their music. Only the guests in the first row could hear them. If you invite someone to sing or provide music, you want them to be comfortable doing so. Do not push someone into performing if they don't want to.

Make sure to hear them perform.

If your only experience hearing a singer is a karaoke performance, ask to hear them perform outside of that setting...unless, of course, you want them to perform karaoke at your wedding.

Can they perform the style of music you want?

Can they perform the songs that you want? If they do not know your songs, do they have the talent to learn the music up to performance level? If they need accompaniment, can the accompanist and performer work together to provide a professional performance? A bride that hired me asked me to accompany her singer who happened to be a co-worker of hers. When we met to practice, the singer was very fine on two of the songs, but the third song completely threw her. It was a country song and she didn't sing country. After trying and trying, she refused to perform that song. I recommended to the bride a talented vocalist that I knew would be able to perform the song beautifully. Luckily, the bride allowed my vocalist to perform the country song. The day of the wedding, the co-worker performed her two songs beautifully and my vocalist aced the country song, twang and all! Everyone was happy!

Just last week I met to practice with a vocalist who is sister of the bride.  I can see why the bride asked her to sing.  She has beautiful voice and has performed for other weddings. Since the accompaniment she was used to hearing were band versions, I offered to record my piano accompaniment part for her to practice with on her own so she can feel comfortable with the piano part.

Hiring professional musicians will assure that your wedding music will performed by talented experienced musicians.

Hiring professional musicians that work together and have a repertoire together, will provide even greater assurance that your music will be as wonderful as it can be. Throughout my experience as pianist for hundreds of weddings, I have developed relationships and repertoires with other musicians. When I am asked to find a singer, harpist, violinist, etc. I have a 'go to' list of professionals that I love to perform with.

If you decide to have your friend or family member perform for your wedding, ask them to provide you with their backup plan if they are not able to perform for your wedding due to illness or an emergency.  You don't want to be left empty handed on your wedding day!  A professional musician will provide you with a written contract spelling out just such terms.

Your wedding is a personal and meaningful expression of your love and commitment.  When your musicians have talent and experience they can add a lot to making your wedding truly special!