This was probably one of the most unusual and fun job for our musicians – a wedding proposal at the Mt. Washington.  The gentleman proposing was organized with the  smallest details, from musicians to cameras, to videographers and setting up a tent for us.  We JUST missed the rain by minutes – it started coming done pretty hard right after his proposal! The only downside – it was cold, but she did say “YES”!

This is a very beautiful retirement community, situated in the heart of South Hills in Pittsburgh.  Our musicians have played here for a special dinner event for selected guests.  It was a very regal/”classy” atmosphere, with the utmost friendly staff and a very appreciative audience.

A very nice location for a wedding, but a very long drive for musicians. Our string quartet musicians played here at a wedding ceremony which was very short, but we had to charge a lot just for traveling fees.

There are times when the musicians are asked to make the choices for the wedding ceremony music, deciding on pieces for the bridal processional, the piece for the bride’s entrance as well as the rest of the ceremony, including the recessional music.  That usually happens when the bride tells us that she is not familiar with classical music and would prefer for the musicians to make the choices.

Overall, we, as musicians, do not mind choosing the wedding music on our own.  Usually, our choices are based on the number of bridesmaids in the processional, whether the wedding ceremony is outdoors or indoors, and other factors. 

However, there is possible negative side to allowing musicians choose their own wedding music.  

For one of the wedding ceremonies, a bride has requested for the musicians to choose the wedding music for the ceremony. After selecting several pieces, one of them being “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”, I have emailed the selected choice to the bride for her confirmation.  She emailed me a few days later, saying she had listened to the pieces on the internet and loved our selections.  The musicians proceeded to play the chosen pieces during the wedding ceremony. 

As we were packing to leave after the ceremony, we were approached by the father of the groom, who seemed somewhat upset and agitated.  He told us that we should not have played  “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” during the ceremony.  Turns out this piece was played during his mother’s funeral and it brought back negative memories for him, whereas a wedding should be a happy occasion, and by the musicians’s neglect we have ruined it for him!  

The musicians have extended their apologies to him, attempting to explain that the wedding music was approved by the bride, but it fell on deaf ears, since at that point he was already aggravated and upset.

Granted, this was an isolated incident, but it is something to keep in mind for musicians and brides.  There is no way to please everyone but we try to come close and sometimes unexpected happens… 

The neat thing about being a musician is the diversity that comes with being one.  One day you are playing with a symphony orchestra, the next – performing for a wedding in a string quartet, and for most of us – we teach private lessons several days a week. I think that last fact is what makes us happy when we see children involved in classical music. The young flute player in the photo below is a family member that was playing along with our string quartet during a wedding ceremony in Pittsburgh.  Quite often, when musicians hear that a family member will be playing with them – musicians cringe and expect a complete disaster sound wise, depending on how good of a musician that family member is.  In this case, however, the girl did an amazing job! She had requested the needed wedding music from us months in advance, and it was a flawless performance on her part! It also helped that our musicians were very supportive of her beforehand, instantly transporting themselves into “teaching mode”. We are always happy to see kids perform and will help them in any way we can!

It is a conveniently situated hotel, in the very busy area of Pittsburgh.  The only issue we had is trying to call the hotel front desk : the musicians needed to know in which ballroom the wedding was taking place. It was very hard to get through the automated system and get a hold of a human being – the phone call was transferred out of state! No one was answering the phone at the front desk, and then the phone was transferred to the corporate office out of state. It was a twenty minutes ordeal for musicians to find out an answer to a simple question…

This is a string quartet version of a theme from Mozart’s Symphony #40. It was a bit hard to perform due to the audience being on the loud side! 🙂 I wonder what Mozart would have thought about this arrangement…

A private German club situated on the North Side of Pittsburgh, with a wonderful history of German culture.  Our string quartet have played here on several occasions, such as Christmas concert and a private dinner event.  Our last performance lasted over two hours with the musicians performing classical, pop and some german folk music.  The only downside of the last concert – the microphone was off for the first two hours! 🙂

This enchanted park is deceptively close to Pittsburgh – it took our string trio musicians less then thirty minutes from Pittsburgh. It is an absolutely wonderful setting for an outdoor wedding with a gorgeous view of a pond and a bridge. Very peaceful, relaxing.. perfect setting for classical music!