As a part of our service as wedding musicians, we work with our clients on “building” their wedding music programs.  Usually, a client will provide us with a list of their choices of music for a wedding ceremony and at that point we can edit it as needed, giving our suggestions, making sure that their wedding music selections are suitable for a ceremony.
     Here is an example from a client who sent us an e-mail with her choices for the ceremony. We are looking at the pieces chosen for the processional, before the start of the wedding ceremony: 

Groom’s mother – Trumpet Voluntary

Bride’s mother – Amazing Grace

Pastor and bridesmaids – Canon in D

Ring Bearer, flower girl – Arioso

Bride and Father – Bridal Chorus by Wagner

    At a first glance, the choices seem to be excellent, providing plenty of processional music for the wedding party walking down the aisle. However, here are a few negative points on the above music selections that might not be obvious at first.
 One:
Having that many wedding music pieces for the processional IS quite unusual and can be overwhelming, not for musicians but for guests. For musicians the only issue might be is changing pages from piece to piece, leaving “gaps” between the music as a bridal party is walking down the aisle.
Two:
A very obvious contrast between the two wedding music pieces for mothers: Trumpet Voluntary is a happy, upbeat  wedding music piece, whereas Amazing Grace is a mournful, solemn piece, most commonly played at funerals, not weddings. Hence, it might not be a good idea to play them side by side, they might sound odd.  
Three: 
Another issue with Trumpet Voluntary is its’ style.  The most “prominent”, spectacular piece of music during the wedding ceremony processional should be reserved for the entrance of the bride, not the bridal party.  Trumpet Voluntary IS very bright, loud, attention-attractive piece, used very often as a bride’s processional piece. Even though Bridal Chorus for the bride is a perfect choice, it clashes with Trumpet Voluntary.  Either one or the other, but not both.
Here is the solution we came up with for the bride in this case, altering the wedding music choices as follows:

Groom’s mother and bride’s mother – Arioso (same piece for both, gentle yet very pleasant piece of music, easy to fade as needed)
Pastor,bridesmaids and the rest of the bridal party – Canon in D(very beautiful, well known piece, and long enough for a large wedding party)
Bride and Father – Bridal Chorus by Wagner (as in the original selection; very appropriate choice of a wedding music piece that will especially stand out after softer sounding Canon in D)

This place has just moved up on our list of “Pittsburgh jems”. I was in absolute awe of the beauty that I saw in the Chapel of this artistically hidden school in Coraopolis.  The preserved architecture, wood work on the inside, the feel of the histrory back to the 1930’s is incredible! The outdoor surroundings are straight out of utopian perfect world! The people we worked with fit right in with their kindness and appreciation for our music. 

Once again, police forces and classical musicians come together.  Our Pittsburgh string quartet performed at the Embassy Suites of Pittsburgh for the Allegheny County Police 80th Anniversary Banquet.  It was a big event with many active and retired police officers in attendance, as well as some political figures of our state.  

Unlike for weddings, string quartet musicians for this gala put together a music program that somewhat strayed away from classical music, leaning towards a different genre – oldies and pop style music.  The musicians played selections from Beatles, Volare, In a Sentimental Mood, On Top of the World..

As far as the place itself – a hidden paradise in Pittsburgh! Who would have thought of having a fish pond in the lobby of a hotel and surround it with a picturesque jungle, adding quite a bit of magic to the place?!  The staff working with the musicians and the police was amazing, accommodating any need, however small it was. What a fantastic place and a crew of workers!

 Probably the most common combinations of players that we are hired for are duos and trios, with string quartets being reserved for very large weddings with many people in attendance where three wedding musicians just won’t be enough to be heard.

Clients who have decided to hire two wedding musicians will often consider to get only one violin player even after their decision has been made about hiring a duo.  The obvious question here “ Is one musician better than two?”.  Money wise – yes. It is cheaper since you are paying for only one.  Sound wise – it is up to your taste. However, if anyone has a budget to hire two musicians – we strongly recommend to do so. Imagine a soloist singing with a chorus backing him up throughout a song, verses a soloist singing the same song without “ a back up”.  In this case the soloist can only sing the melody line – not the “decorative”, additional lines which in music terminology are called alto- tenor – bass.  As I mentioned in other posts, many wedding music pieces simply don’t sound complete when performed by one musician.  The “richness” of the sound is not present with just a violin, viola, or a cello.  With an addition of even one instrument – the sound picture changes completely.  That is, our opinion based on many years of experience and playing the same wedding music with different combinations of string instruments.  Another good judgment of that opinion is public.  We are yet to play at an event as a group where people don’t come up to us with some sort of a praise and compliments for performances.  However, there were a couple of weddings where a bride decided to hire a solo violin player and the reaction from her guests was not what we expected – the violinist was barely heard and noticed.  It was one of our musicians with over thirty years of performing throughout the country, and even he didn’t like the set up.  It was even harder due to the music selections that the bride asked for her wedding.  The famous Canon in D simply does not work with one instrument! All of the above are the reasons why we try to promote at the minimum two musicians so that your event, especially a wedding has a comfortable and a pleasant music setting which leaves both, our client and his/her guests with good memories after hearing our performance.      

Here is a video of some of our string musicians performing at a musical “The Christmas Post”. It was played at the South Hills Assembly Church, with a wonderful cast and a very patient and dedicated conductor, who led both, the cast and the orchestra.

Two of our string musicians have performed her for a musical “The Christmas Post”, not the most known and yet one of the best musicals! It was a week long production with several rehearsals and three shows.  We worked with very talented cast members, orchestra musicians and a dedicated conductor.  All of the three shows were full of audience. It was a very rewarding experience for us on a musical level, and we learned a musical that we have never heard of before! 

This is probably the most beautiful church our musicians have performed at, and it is even more spectacular during Christmas.  Our string quartet performed in here for a Sunday service. It also has a tallest Christmas tree I’ve ever seen!

 Here is a video with a duet of a violist and a cellist performing a very popular wedding piece of music called “Arioso” during a wedding ceremony at Robert Morrison University Family Chapel, in Pittsburgh, Pa.

This might seem as a very small issue, but to us it is somewhat important – where should the musicians be positioned for certain events? 

In my opinion – it depends on the event. If the musicians serve as a background effect for a cocktail hour, dinner reception, or any other private gathering, then they should not be placed in the middle of the room, or any place where people will bump into them, or where musicians will be too loud.  Also, placing them near the bar  where the drinks are served is also not a good idea.   For such events it is usually not a big issue. Wedding ceremonies, however, present a more important issue of visibility. At least one of the musicians has to be positioned in such a way so he/she may see the bridal party and the bride walking down to the site of the ceremony. That is how musicians know when to stop or fade a piece of music currently being played.   Many times our musicians were placed next to the ceremony spot  in such a way that after the bridal party walked down, they blocked our view of the bride and it was hard to see her coming down. The solution? Either the musicians should be placed where the bridal party and the bride are visible to them, or someone else (wedding coordinator or ceremony administrator) should give musicians a cue to when to stop playing.

Another issue, mostly visual. Especially for weddings, our  musicians know that wedding photographers will be taking photos of them for the bride and the groom, and having our cases, purses and bags laying around us is not a good visual on a photograph. Many times it is unavoidable due to the lack of space. Our most recent job at Robert Morris University presented just that. It was a beautiful chapel with incredible acoustics, but limited space. So, musicians ( violinist and a cellist) had to have their cases right next to them due to the lack of space. Sometimes, we ask if there is a room near by so we can leave our cases there. In this chapel there were none. Again, it is not a major issue in the big picture of wedding preparation, but it does make a photo more attractive without the clutter of our equipment!

After years of  performing as musicians in many different places in Pittsburgh and around it, I think this place has just won an award in our opinion for its’ acoustical gem! I had never suspected that this small, simple, and yet elegant chapel would have such an incredible sound. It was only two of our musicians, cellist and a violist playing for the wedding ceremony, and yet, according to many guest, we sounds as if there were ten of us in the room. It was a pleasant surprise for our musical ears…