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#300570 - 12/09/10 07:21 PM
Re: What do I do for an One-hour show?? Help
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Senior Member
Registered: 12/08/02
Posts: 15563
Loc: Forest Hill, MD USA
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John, If it's a Christmas party, the selection is pretty easy. However, you don't want to do an hour of JUST Christmas songs. Mix in some of the 50s, 60s and even 70s tunes you normally play--that's why they hired you to begin with. One hour performances are fairly easy, even when performing for seniors. The place I played this evening was a Christmas party job at an upscale retirement community. The job was supposed to be for two hours, but I had the place really rockin' and five minutes before I was supposed to finish the AD whispered in my ear and asked me to stay an extra hour. Consequently, I picked up a substantially larger paycheck, the crowd actually increased in size with several young people showing up and dancing with the seniors. Keep things upbeat, throw in some slow songs for those that really want to dance but have some physical impairments, and you'll have no problem at all entertaining them. Good luck, and let us know how things went, Gary
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PSR-S950, TC Helicon Harmony-M, Digitech VR, Samson Q7, Sennheiser E855, Custom Console, and lots of other silly stuff!
K+E=W (Knowledge Plus Experience = Wisdom.)
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#300574 - 12/10/10 11:17 PM
Re: What do I do for an One-hour show?? Help
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Senior Member
Registered: 11/25/00
Posts: 1211
Loc: Queretaro, Mexico
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Hi Bruno:
For dinner/cocktail background music, you can play things, like Ipanema, Misty, Wave, CLose to you, A walk to the Black Forest, How insensitive, some waltzes, Spanish Eyes, It had to be you, Something Stupid, Where is the love, L.O.V.E., Secret Love, etc..Some of the nice show tunes, nothing to LOUD or to much Rhythm, people has the trend to keep the beat, and if they are eating, you want to keep the dynamics, medium, Slow, Medium fast, etc.....go for a Medium Foxtrot(110-130s), Ballad or Waltz(90-109), Fast Fox (140-150s), Rhumba 105, Ipanema 130s, Memory (Cats) 70s, All of me 130s, Yesterday 80s, Poor people of Paris, keep variety of tempos, 40s to 80s, from Sinatra, Beatles, BeeGees, Willie Nelson, Jobim, Neil Diamond, Miller, Basie, Steve Wonder, Straisand, Dion, Kenny Rogers, Lionel Ritchie, etc.... If is a dinner event, I stay away from Polkas, Rock, Boggies, Sambas (Unless the slow type around 100 or less BPM, could play CUando Cuando, Orpheus Samba), you can be rhythmic but in the soft side, so pick styles that do not have to much BOOM BOOM.
I recommend to "Shuffle" tempos, never play 2 or 3 songs at the same tempo (unless is a VERY short medley), if is to long, it becomes lethargic, Change Keys, never play 2-3 songs in the same key, if you have to, use the transpose button, so, keep changing tempos, music eras, shuffle, American Standards, Latin, Country, Waltzes, Pop, Show Tunes etc. Hope this helps.
------------------ mdorantes
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mdorantes
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#300575 - 12/11/10 04:03 AM
Re: What do I do for an One-hour show?? Help
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Senior Member
Registered: 06/04/02
Posts: 4912
Loc: West Palm Beach, FL 33417
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Gary, Tony, Eddie, Dnj and Mdorantes thanks for taking the time to help. Your thoughts and ideas are appreciated and motivating, great.
I have said “Yes” to the one-hour-shows – something new for me. Fears and doubts brought me to thinking of a large audience and putting on a stage show, funny how the mind works. I am smiling, at 79 I am going to do something new and I know I will enjoy it.
Thank you my friends, John C.
PS, I have added a singer/guitar player who is younger than I am, he is comfortable with 50’s 60’s and 70’s. It is nice playing and sharing with another musician. The magic that happens with two or more rarely happens with a single. He also plays a bad alto sax, I guess we will leave that until the last part of the job. (smile)
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