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Is the time to plan party music a time of crisis?
How about when you plan wedding music?
NO! Definitely not! These ought to be times of fun and excitement.
THIS PICTURE, however, shows a real time of crisis:
I’ll talk about how I plan party music in a moment. But first:
All together now, “Gaaah!”
A computer catastrophe! A digital disaster! Thanks for this ghastly picture, Cadecam.com.
My desktop computer’s hard drive crashed a few days ago. OY!
Thank goodness TimeMachine was backing everything up on an external drive.
The local Apple Store installed a new hard drive, and I’ve managed to restore all my data. Except email.
My stupid error — don’t ask.
Years of my saved email is totally lost (sob!), except for the last 1000 messages still on my iPhone.
Have you ever experienced a computer catastrophe like this? How did you live through your digital disaster?
Thank goodness, over the years I’ve saved copies of valuable information. Important receipts, agreements, certificates, addresses, articles. I don’t remember when I developed the habit, but it’s a lifesaver now.
For example I’m finding tons of emailed notes and pdf’s in my Dropbox. Lots of frequently used email addresses in my Address Book.
So now I’m re-establishing my email archive in Apple Mail. Tedious work, but it’s coming together nicely.
I began by selecting a few of my most important email categories. Now I’m creating mailboxes for their significant details, and filling these mailboxes with the data I’m salvaging. And as time goes on, I plan to add new emails and reorganize the categories as necessary.
For example, my email categories will probably include “Magnolia Jazz Band”, “Personal Messages”, “Marketing”, and “Social Media”. Details for the Magnolia Jazz Band category will probably include “Prospects”, “Future Dates”, “Past Dates”, and “Musicians”.
Here’s where I’m going with this. As I assemble my email archive, I’m realizing how much this process resembles how people can plan party music. Or plan wedding music.
So here’s a tip to help you plan party music or wedding music. Start with the basics of your celebration, and focus on “Landmarks” instead of “Categories”.
For example, I like to help a bride-to-be planning for wedding landmarks like “Ceremony Music, “First Dance”, and “Last Dance”. Or a company event planner preparing music for annual banquet landmarks like “Announcements”, “Toasts”, and “Awards”.
Helping people plan party music and wedding music is something I do nearly every day. People reserve my band to entertain at their celebrations. And as the date approaches, I’m happy to help them plan their music.
Believe me, the process is a lot more pleasant than trying to retrieve lost email.
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Thanks for reading this article. I appreciate your interest and hope you get a few good ideas here. Got one or two? I'd love to hear what you liked. Please write me a little COMMENT below. Start a conversation -- I'll reply. Promise.
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Meanwhile, 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.
How can I help you? Call 408-245-9120 or use Robbie@MagnoliaJazz.com. Planning a celebration? Ask about our availability.
Losing emails would stink! I have no good backup system unfortunately.
I’m helping a bride plan music (and more) right now- she has a jazz band and a variety of other musicians – some playing and some singing. It’s a bit complicated but are people she knows closely (musical family!) and it’s going to be personal and special.
Thanks Anita, Let me tell you, losing email, or any important files, is definitely a drag. If you don’t back up yet, I recommend you begin before disaster strikes. ASAP sounds about right, OK?
It’s great that you’re helping a bride plan her music. Hope you’re having fun with the job. How’s it going so far?
I can imagine how losing all your data could be! However, I will tell you that I do not have a lot of important info in emails.
I usually use what I have there, transfer in docs etc if important, and otherwise completely discard. Maybe try this system for the future, just a suggestion 🙂
Thanks, Delia. Good suggestion, and that’s what I’ve been doing. InboxZero, saving important docs, pdfs, agreements, receipts, etc., and backing up on a separate location and in the cloud. Would be a perfect plan, if only restoring from a backup were foolproof!
OH man… that must have been awful! I have an external back up drive for what’s on the hard drive because the “blue screen of death” had come up! Ran to Staples THAT day! 🙂 For me, it’s the pictures!
Thanks, Carrie. Ohhhhh… I hadn’t even thought about my pictures. Yep, I just checked and they’re all here. Thank goodness! Like you, I’m backing up everything to an external hard drive on my desk, and also to my account in the Cloud. Are you using both, or just the external drive? BTW, that’s a great expression — “blue screen of death”.
Thanks Robbie, we always assume it won’t happen, I have no major back -up plan but will change that now after reading your blog!
Thanks, Naomi. Glad I helped. A computer crash probably won’t catch you today, but it definitely will catch you someday, and definitely sooner than you expect. The idea behind backing up is like what my dentist tells me: “Floss only those teeth you want to save.”
BTW, I really enjoy browsing through your blog. Used to be a science teacher myself.
I know a girl who planned everything for her wedding except the music… it’s a good idea to know what you want as early as possible!
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Thanks Andrew. I hope her wedding was a memorable celebration. Whatever happened with her music?
We all know people who plan ALMOST everything. Thank goodness there are experts around to help them fill in the blanks and tie up the loose ends.
So how are you getting help with CommentLuv? Got a board of expert advisors? Don’t tell me you’re anticipating, planning, and doing all the work all by yourself…
Robbie Schlosser recently posted..Where Will the Band Set Up at Your Wedding or Your Next Party?
Awesome article!! I like your article.This article is totally based upon children dancing.Thanks for your amazing article!!!!!
Yes, its true that many a times we have to plan music in parties or in weddings.I think it’s better to plan party music and wedding music by your own instead of hiring any DJ or music planner because it will be costly for you.Instead of that you can use your Personal computer system for party music and can make a list of good party songs on which everybody can start dancing. So, this blog is useful for the people who organize parties on weekends…..
In my opinion, I think if you are planning for a party at your own house for a small number of people, then you can easily manage the music and other arrangements on your own. But for the big parties and the wedding receptions, its better to hire a DJ or a music planner to organise everything for you. I usually go out for weekend parties at London Darbar specially for their event “Aaja Nachle” on the last Friday of every month. If you visit this event, you will fall in love with the ground shaking music played by the DJs over there.
Planning wedding music or parties music is a very essential task that have to be planned before organsing a party or wedding at home. Wedding music is perhaps the most important element of making your guests go home saying, “Man, that was a fun wedding”.Isn’t it ? No matters how large or small the ceremony,live music creates special mood.A DJ or band is usually hired for receptions, though acoustic guitar works perfectly for smaller receptions.If you prefer to a blend of live acoustic music and your favourite tunes, I offer the perfect solution” You-be-the-DJ”.You can program a playist for your iPod and music through speakers. I think it’s a great idea to plan party music by your own without paying to any one or hiring a band or DJ for party and wedding.
You know, iPods are kind of outdated now that there are streaming music services, tethered phones, and other advances. We wrote what we think is the complete guide to providing music at an event like a wedding reception. Not everyone can afford a pro DJ, but that’s okay. It’s easier than ever to program good lists and set up equipment.
really nice tip. i love it.
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Great tips. Gonna think of them the next time i plan a party. Really helpful. Probably took you a long time and a lot of parties planned to figure them all out right? lol. Great article. Thanks. Bookmark!
Thanks, Tim. Glad you enjoyed this article. Plan lots of parties? Which is your favorite tip?
Robbie Schlosser recently posted..Customize Wedding Music for Gamble Garden, Palo Alto
We are trying to make a wedding party for the best music. We have seen that our plan is not best like you that’s why we have taken your music plan to the wedding party. I hope it is great one. Thnaks!!
I couldn’t even imagine losing that much or how I would react to it . Bless ya!
-Ken
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