Magnolia Jazz Band Where Will the Band Set Up at Your Wedding or Your Next Party?

Magnolia Jazz Band Where Will the Band Set Up at Your Wedding or Your Next Party?Are you planning a wedding?

Or maybe your next party?

Where will the band set up?

You don’t want your guests complaining that the music was too loud or too soft.  Or the band was in the way, or too far from the dance floor.

Unless you’re experienced at creating successful floor plans, you’re likely to make some mistakes when you decide where to have your band set up.

Let me show you how how we avoid several common mistakes.

Magnolia Jazz Band Where Will the Band Set Up at Your Wedding or Your Next Party?Here’s the trio entertaining hundreds of guests at an elegant cocktail party, beginning last year’s annual awards gala for the Second Harvest Food Bank.

We’re playing in the lobby of Mountain View’s Center for Performing Arts (photo above).  Recently we entertained at this year’s event, in the Computer History Museum (photo at right).

Thanks to Scott McDonald for the wonderful photos.  It’s just the third time we’ve worked with Scott, and I’m sure we’ll have more to come.

These are very similar lobbies.  Large, long, open rooms with a high ceiling, marble floor, stone walls, and many floor-to-ceiling windows.  The sort of room you might find in many churches, office buildings, country clubs, and hotels these days.

A room like this often hosts a variety of special events, and always presents a challenge for the music.  Primarily because every surface in the room reflects, and echoes of every sound swirl throughout.

So how did we have the band set up, to counter this challenge?

Last year the band set up on a staircase landing, mid-way along the long wall, rather than at either end.  This allowed us to play softly, letting the music carry.  If we had the band set up at one corner, we might be too loud for the people nearby and inaudible for people toward to opposite end.

This year, at the Computer History Museum, we set up near the registration table, the bar, the appetizer table, and the dinner buffet table.  This insured that we’d be surrounded by guests, whose presence would muffle many of the echoes.

And because the band set up against a wall, away from doorways, we didn’t interfere with traffic in that long room.

Occasionally we find ourselves in the opposite circumstances.  Low ceiling, carpeted floor, fabric or wallpaper on the walls, and curtains or drapes over the windows.  Acoustically dead.

One strategy we often use here is to set up the band on a riser or a stage.  Especially if there is a podium for a speaker later in the event.

We’ll set up midway along the long wall if the room is rectangular.  Or occasionally in the center of the room, especially if the dance floor is located there.

And we’ll reinforce our sound with one or more PA speakers.

So here’s a tip for helping you plan music at YOUR event.  Wherever you have your band set up, pay attention to the room’s acoustics.  If you’re using a special facility, ask for professional advice from their event coordinator.  Best of all, ask your experienced musicians for their recommendations.

 

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Thanks for reading my blog. I appreciate your interest and hope you get a few good ideas here. Please write me a little COMMENT and continue this conversation. I’ll reply to you, and so will others who share your interest. You’ll make new connections.

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The Magnolia Jazz Band entertains at weddings and parties throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. If you are ever nearby, you’ll love catching us in action, seeing and hearing us create a great mood.

In the meantime, please join our Magnolia Jazz Band fans on Facebook to receive daily tips for planning wedding and party music and to get reminders for our public events.

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Magnolia Jazz Band Roaring 20s Music for Wedding and Party Professionals

Magnolia Jazz Band Roaring 20s Music for Wedding and Party ProfessionalsWe recently played lots of Roaring 20s Music at a fabulous party.

Organized by… and for… wedding and party professionals in the San Francisco Bay Area.

I participate in an active Facebook group — San Francisco Bay Area Wedding Pros  — created by my friend Jacin Fitzgerald.  The members become friends, to advise and support each other.  We ask each other for professional help and offer recommendations.

It’s wonderful to rely on hundreds of top special event professionals — wedding coordinators, event planners, caterers, photographers, florists, decorators, musicians, and more.

Now, just imagine if this group would plan a party for themselves.

Well, we do.

Every few months, we get together for another spectacular evening, showing off the best of the best.  Gathering in a social setting to network and deepen our friendships.  And most important, in my opinion, creating frequent opportunities to hone our skills for working together.

Roaring Twenties” was the theme of our most recent mixer, coordinated by my friend Jutta Lammerts.  An outstanding party!  Everyone who attended enjoyed a wonderful time networking with our Roaring 20s music, appetizers, champagne, decor, and all the rest.  CLICK the photo above to watch the beautiful video of highlights by my friend Martin Meyer.

This party of colleagues reminds me of a tip to help plan music at your own wedding or your next special event.  Whether or not you’ll include Roaring 20s music, enlist the help of professionals who work together well.  Many pros have valuable experience about music making events succeed.  Ask for their advice.

 

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Thanks for reading my blog. I appreciate your interest and hope you get a few good ideas here. Please write me a little COMMENT and continue this conversation. I’ll reply to you, and so will others who share your interest. You’ll make new connections.

Do you know a friend who needs help selecting wedding or party music?  Do them a favor. Please SHARE this article. Or POST in on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+. And if you find this blog useful, please LIKE it, TWEET it, and SUBSCRIBE for more of my thoughts.  Use those little icons below.

The Magnolia Jazz Band entertains at weddings and parties throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. If you are ever nearby, you’ll love catching us in action, seeing and hearing us create a great mood.

In the meantime, please join our Magnolia Jazz Band fans on Facebook to receive daily tips for planning wedding and party music and to get reminders for our public events.

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Magnolia Jazz Band What Stubby Kaye Taught Me about Wedding Music and Party Music

Magnolia Jazz Band What Stubby Kaye Taught Me about Wedding Music and Party MusicStubby who?

Stubby Kaye, the cheerful singer and comic actor.  Know him?

He had a long career spanning vaudeville, television, Broadway and films.

Stubby Kaye taught me a few important lessons that inspire me whenever I entertain at any celebration.

Well, he didn’t really teach me these things personally.  I learned them by admiring his example and following his lead.

I’ve seen Stubby Kaye many times.  Maybe you have, too.  In all his movie and television roles, and on all the YouTube clips people have posted.  Watch two of his best film performances, from Guys and Dolls and Cat Ballou

I saw him in person only once.  As “Marryin’ Sam“ in the original Broadway production of Li’l Abner.

And there he was, cavorting non-stop all over the stage, a stout little dynamo singing his heart out with sunshiny humor and enormous feeling.  His clear voice rang with a gorgeous tone that grabbed everyone’s attention.  I’ll never forget that first impression.

Maybe that’s because I was just a little kid.  I’m sure that’s part of it.

Young as I was, whatever he said or did, I felt sure he was telling the story to me.  Since then I’ve learned that many stage performers, especially in the early days before microphones, would perform with the same enthusiasm.

So what has Stubby Kaye taught me?

Many things, I’m sure.  One is noticing that an outstanding musician can deliver a memorable performance with ANY song — a masterpiece, or a little “throwaway” tune, or anything in between.

It’s all in the performance.  I’ve seen this over and over, and hearing Stubby Kaye do his magic was probably the first time I noticed it.

But I think the most important lesson is realizing how deeply people enjoy the emotion in music.  Stubby Kaye always performed with enormous feeling, and his audiences could never get enough.

Especially me.  To this day.

I think of several musicians whenever I play, and they all performed with great expression.  Inspired by their examples, I always strive to play with feeling.

I’m always playing to please someone.  Wherever we are, I’m always looking around the room to establish some “eye-contact”, to keep me focused on the people.

And “ear-contact”, too, if you know what I mean.  It’s as though the more passion they hear, the more effective their music will be.

So here’s a tip for planning the music at your next celebration.  Be sure the selections and the performance appeal to your guests’ feelings.  Don’t distract them from the main event, but you’ll keep them in the right mood, and they’ll enjoy your festivities even more.

Have you found this, too?  Tell me about it.

And has Stubby Kaye taught YOU anything?

CLICK here to tweet this post.

Thanks for reading my blog. I appreciate your interest and hope you get a few good ideas here. Please write me a little COMMENT and continue this conversation. I’ll reply to you, and so will others who share your interest. You’ll make new connections.

Do you know a friend who needs help selecting wedding or party music?  Do them a favor. Please SHARE this article. Or POST in on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+. And if you find this blog useful, please LIKE it, TWEET it, and SUBSCRIBE for more of my thoughts.  Use those little icons below.

The Magnolia Jazz Band entertains at weddings and parties throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. If you are ever nearby, you’ll love catching us in action, seeing and hearing us create a great mood.

In the meantime, please join our Magnolia Jazz Band fans on Facebook to receive daily tips for planning wedding and party music and to get reminders for our public events.

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Music at Special Business Events

April 7, 2013

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April 2, 2013

Easter brunch music presents an interesting challenge for us. A challenge that we find in every party, every wedding. That is, what songs will entertain a WIDE group of guests?  The challenge: Pleasing their diversity of tastes. Every year for many years, we’ve created Easter brunch music at a San Francisco Bay Area hotel or restaurant.  [...]

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Can Great Wedding Music Ideas Flow From Wine?

March 19, 2013

Are you searching for great wedding music? Get creative. Experts agree that sipping a little alcohol can enhance romance and creativity.  I’m a fan of all three. See?  My thanks to wonderful photographer, Rachel Kumar.  We met at a networking cocktail party, of all places.  More about another networking event in a moment. Nearly every [...]

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Plan Party Music or Wedding Music: A Useful Tip

March 10, 2013

People who plan party music  (or wedding music) and people who landscape a garden make many similar decisions. About different subjects, of course, but both processes are remarkably alike.  More in a minute. Do you love a garden.  Your own, perhaps? I’m devoted to arranging and maintaining my own garden.  Gardening brings me great satisfaction, for [...]

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Cocktail Party Music at a Wedding, Banquet, or Soiree

March 3, 2013

Last Friday we entertained about 300 guests at this cocktail party. Music filled upstairs at the Computer History Museum, in Mountain View.  Our cocktail party music accompanied the silent auction in a wonderful dinner party to benefit the Alzheimer’s Association. We’ve played at this annual event at least five years now.  The organizers didn’t ask [...]

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Professional Advice for Planning Wedding Music and Party Music

February 19, 2013

Professional advice helps you make wise decisions.  It’s the voice of experience from people who’ve “been there, done that”. Here I am in the midst of tons of professional advice about planning special celebrations.  In front, about a third of the way over from the left.  Thanks for the wonderful photos, Chyna, of Chyna Darner [...]

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Wedding Music and Party Music: Size Matters

January 30, 2013

With wedding music and party music, sometimes size matters.  Sometimes “bigger” can mean “better”. Sometimes. When it comes to planning party music and wedding music, yes, size matters. But only a little.  It’s usually just one of the details. The main focus ought to be whether the wedding music — whatever it is — will [...]

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