If Johann Pachelbel was still alive today, he probably would have a heart attack after hearing many versions of his famous Canon, and all the debates over that piece.  I have many clients, mostly brides, who  ask me to explain to them what Canon is. First, here is the definition of a Canon from a musician’s point of view.

“…Pachelbel’s Canon combines the techniques of canon and ground bass. Canon is a polyphonic device in which several voices play the same music, only enter one by one, each after a delay. In Pachelbel’s piece, there are three voices engaged in canon (see Example 1), but there is also a fourth voice, the basso continuo, which plays an independent part.  The bass voice keeps repeating the same two-bar line throughout the piece. The common musical term for this is ostinato, or ground bass… “

Now, to the simple version for non-musicians.  Let’s use the string quartet as a basis, since it is one of the more common group combinations that the piece is performed by. I will dissect the piece as follows:

1) First, the cello comes in with a bass line, playing the same eight notes throughout the piece

2) First violin comes in with the main melody

3) Second violin comes in a few seconds after the first violin with the same melody

4) Finally, viola comes in a few seconds after the second violin, again, with the same melody.

Thus, we created a “canon”, or a round…  

The reason why I bring up the issue at all, is I just played at the wedding where the bride had requested the Canon for her entrance. It was played only by two instruments, myself on viola, and a cellist. Afterwards, I spoke to the bride, congratulated her. She was really grateful that we were there since it was a last minute wedding, and she loved the music. She also mentioned that I was right when originally I suggested for her to hire three musicians, not two, especially because she wanted to include Canon as her processional piece. She did say it sounded “..sort of empty, not like a round..” 

I usually don’t like to push my opinion on people when it comes to hiring musicians. I will tell my clients what I think would work best for them, but the final decision is theirs. I don’t like sounding as if I am pushing more musicians so we can get more money. However, in this case I tried to insist on at least three instruments because of  bride’s choice of wedding music. So, please keep in mind that if you decide to hire a duo as opposed to a trio or a quartet – some of the pieces that you might love and want to use for your wedding ceremony, might not sound anything like you expect them to. My opinion? The best combination is a trio – violin, viola, and cello,  unless you have a very large wedding. You may still use two musicians for a ceremony, but then think about omitting some of the pieces that will not sound “full” with only two instruments…