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!
Subscribe to Blog (RSS)
