88 Keys on the Road - Blog

Posted by Rev. Tomkin Coleman, Minnesota Wedding Officiant.

When evaluating a musician for your wedding, or trying to decide what kind of musician, or even if deciding between live music or a DJ, you're of course going to listen to your clips. But here's some advice from my 15+ years as a wedding officiant - I've seen all sorts of weddings, and the difference between live and DJ, the difference between instruments, and the difference between other musicians and Sharon is dramatic. Starting when I first walk into a ceremony site (whether it's a church or a reception hall), I could probably tell by guest's laughter and talking whether there was live music or not. I mean, yes, I can hear whether music is playing, but I could probably tell just from the guests' behavior - if there's music playing, they're all at ease, all chatty, all friendly with each other, but if there's no music, people definitely have an awkwardness to them. After all, they're all dressed up with relatives they haven't seen in a long time, and there's soon-to-be in-laws all around, and so it's easy for people to tense up and be nervous. But live music puts them right at ease - it's soothing, and fills any awkward silences, and makes every conversation easier. Next - the ceremony: With a pianist, it's just one musician, and so there's so much flexibility. When there's a trio or quartet of musicians, it's much harder to get everyone to start and stop the music at an unexpected time, but with a solo musician like a pianist, if the music needs to wrap up quickly, she can end easily at the end of a phrase...and she can start up, too, if needed. Especially in non-traditional ceremony sites, this sort of flexibility makes everything go smoothly (in a non-traditional wedding site, it's not as obvious to everyone how everything goes...no matter how much rehearsal was done the night before!) Final - Sharon herself. She has an amazing sensitivity and sense of timing, and those elements, combined with her years of experience, means that even if a mistake is made in the wedding (someone trips, or some child runs off, or anything else), she's there to take up the slack and extend the music, or cut it short, or start in if needed. So listen to all the clips in the world - you're probably better than me at knowing what you like, I'm sure! But from my POV, the choice of musician is incredibly important for reasons besides just the quality of the sound - and Sharon is not only a wonderful-sounding musician, she's one that really makes a wedding go smoothly and easily. Bravo!

by Sharon Planer, Pianist for Parties

It is so helpful to have BOTH the bride and groom attend the meeting when I met with them to plan their wedding piano music.

They each get a chance to express their feelings about the music and are sometimes surprised at what they find out about each other and their music assumptions!

The life of a bride and groom can be incredibly hectic and overrun with hundreds of details and decision making. Sharon's music planning meeting gives the bride and groom a relaxed hour or so to listen to my beautiful music and a chance for them to talk about their ideas and bring each other and me 'up to date' on their thoughts.

Wedding #1.  The wedding ceremony and reception that I played for last weekend was greatly enhanced due to the fact that both the bride and groom had attended our music planning meeting. At the meeting the bride had great music suggestions and felt strongly about the music she requested. The groom liked country music but knew his bride disliked it and that the bride did not want any country performed. I asked the groom to tell me the titles of a few of his favorite songs and encouraged the bride to 'hear' the music out as I played it on the piano. She was amazed that hearing those songs on the piano were actually lovely and not the 'country' feel that she disliked. The groom and I were delighted that she approved those specific songs to be played during the reception. The groom had a Latin heritage, so I asked if they would enjoy me performing some Latin songs during the cocktail and dinner time. It hadn't crossed their minds. I played some samples and they both loved it!  Latin jazz is so much fun to play! It added an upbeat atmosphere to their cocktail celebration. I included several beautiful Latin love songs during dinner. It made me very happy that both the bride and groom were able to experience music that each of them enjoyed!

Wedding #2. This evening I met another bride and groom to plan their music.  They are getting married in a couple months. It was great fun learning their 'story' and hearing their aspirations for their ceremony music. I was glad that both of them were present. The groom has been the person communicating with me by email up until this point and he had expressed the desire to have all of the music be classical. So at our meeting they selected a number of classical pieces for processional, recessional, prelude, and postlude. But as we talked on, I learned that the bride had a Kenny G song that she absolutely loved and wanted it highlighted as a stand alone piece during the ceremony. She has a relative that is a talented alto sax player that will join me on the song. Having the saxophone carrying the melody will sound awesome! I can't wait! The bride also wants a Josh Groban song performed with my violinist. This will complement their unity ceremony nicely. The bride was hoping that I would include a few elegant love songs during the prelude music as well as the classical music. The groom approved. I felt really good that the music choices reflected the wishes of both the bride and groom.