I just booked a 50th and was asked if I could do some rock n roll and the Electric Slide. She said altho there will be no children, there will be nieces and nephews. Be prepared to do it all. You might want to ask in advance if there are any 'favorites'.

Be sure to have extra business cards... do a bang up job and it should be a great PR opportunity. Good luck.

Glenn

Steve ... you've got mail ...
t.

GlennT
Thanks, I will be sending the client a song list and will leave a section for her to list some songs they would like played.

RMepstead, Same here at least with my generation we all know the words to Beach Boys, Beatles, Elvis and Beegees stuff.

Tony, you got mail too, great suggestions

No matter what age, Elvis songs are always popular.
DonM

If by "Dance music" you mean quicksteps, waltzes etc then an DNJ says tempo is everything. Get the tempo correct and people can dance to almost anything.

If by "Dance music" you mean informal stuff, then a useful rule is to play stuff that was popular when they were aged 15-35. So for a 50th party then anything classy from the 40's to the 60's should do, like Glenn Miller, Brenda Lee, Alma Cogan and of course Elvis.

Also mix up the tempo, don't go mad with uptempo stuff because they'll tire easily.

So have a selection of ballads, slow waltzes and maybe beguine handy as well!

good luck

Yes, more informal material is probably what I'll do.


Great point on not overdoing the up tempo material. Thanks for the comments. I'm putting everything together now. I've also found web sites as mentioned here at the forum on what the correct dance tempos are.



[This message has been edited by Stephenm52 (edited 02-07-2006).]

The standard ballroom dance tempos are:
Waltz 90
Quickstep 200
Foxtrot 120
Tango 132
ChaCha 120
Samba 200
Rhumba 108
Jive 176

Thes all came from a ballroom dance teacher of long standing.
For ballroom dancing one of the most made mistakes is playing a waltz too fast.
Country waltzes are played faster.
Slow Balads go about 75 to 90.
If you start with these you won't go wrong.
Of course Rock & Roll, Boogie Woogie, Blue Grass, ETC, are a different matter. Maybe someone else can jump in here.
Good luck,
Walt