String Quartet Disasters and How to Avoid Them: A Basic Guide for the Beginning Wedding Player
You’ve started playing recession, and the entire bridal party gives you a frantic “not yet!” appearance. You wonder, “Could I have prevented this?”…
Those concert disasters have happened to everyone. Well, except for YOU, since you’ve only been playing weddings since last Tuesday. I’ve been playing string quartets at weddings for over two decades and have learned, sometimes the hard way, how NOT to have that awful moment when the focus shifts from the happy couple to the mortified violinist instantly. Let’s do it!
The God’s anger
I was playing an outdoor wedding and the weather was perfect. 70 degrees, sunny blue skies, exactly what the bride expected. We had finished the prelude and the entrance of the wedding party, and we began the wedding march. It was new to us; love actually had just been released in theaters and it was the first time we played All you need is Love. The bride began to walk down the aisle, and a HUGE gust of wind, the first on a previously quiet day, blew all of our music out of the stands. We had rehearsed it before, thank goodness, but the guests still enjoyed the sight of our violist madly chasing eight pages of sheet music while the rest of us furiously improvised. We did it, but it was close.
Weather can happen very quickly. Pages should always be in binders when playing outdoors, and pages should be securely fastened to holders. Music stores sell long spring-loaded clips just for this; I use clothespins from the dollar store. (They’re cheaper, and I don’t care if they get lost or broken.) Either way, WEAR SOMETHING! It may seem like an eternity between the bridal party and the bride’s entrance as you secure the clips, but unless you’re the cellist in Pachelbel’s Canon, it’s better than having your book closed or off the stand in between. . Also, make sure you’re sitting somewhere where, if it starts to rain, you won’t have to run undignified. It’s fine in my ceremony contract, “…the quartet requires a sheltered place to play in case of inclement weather.” (You have a contract, don’t you?)
We are playing WHAT?
At one of my first wedding concerts, back in college, we had a bunch of music on loan and stuff we got from the college library, including two Handel’s Water Music albums. During the prelude, the best man came over and told us that the bride needed five more minutes for whatever brides need five more minutes, and could we play one more song? I said, “Okay, Handel’s flute!” We quickly pulled it out, found the Hornpipe, started playing…and quickly realized there was a Hornpipe in BOTH books! For about two bars it was pretty raucous as we figured out what was going on, and we got some amused looks from guests in the front row.
Keeping good wedding books takes time and effort, not to mention money. First, you need a list of wedding music essentials. There are hundreds of them online; I will not waste time on this essay. Once you figure out what you need and where you’re going to get it, you need to organize it. The best string quartets I’ve played with have single-volume books, categorized and numbered. Mine are divided into wide sections; Classical, Wedding, Cafemusik, Tango, Rock/Pop, Ragtime, Jazz and Pop Culture. Each section has a colored tab and the pieces are numbered. Yes I want it Eine Kleine Nachtmusikthat is “blue chip, number 1.5”. By a head is “orange 6”. It makes finding music quick and easy, and keeps everyone on the same page. I probably have a dozen Minuets or Menuettos in the books; this ensures that we are all on the same page!
NOT YET!
So what about that premature wedding march I talked about earlier? Well, there was no good way to hide it. I interrupted the foursome, gave the bride an embarrassed “I’m REALLY sorry” shrug, and gave a big comical sign when the priest gave us an equally comical “OK, NOW!” wink.
The best defense against this kind of thing is to get to the concert early. Very early. I usually arrive at weddings at least 30 minutes and sometimes up to an hour before the prelude music starts. If it’s a long trip, I give it more time. If it’s outdoors or I’ve never been to the venue, extra time. This ensures that I have time to do several things:
*Review the physical setup and make sure we have chairs, adequate space and, if outdoors, adequate shade and/or shelter from rain.
*Find the wedding planner and ask him about the number of people in the wedding party, are we playing for something we haven’t figured out yet? (I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard “Oh, we’re doing a sand ceremony, can you play something for that?”) and most importantly, who will give us the cue to start the entrance music. It’s usually the wedding planner, but if there isn’t one, it could be Aunt Mathilda, who may need a little training on how to signal a string quartet along to a cathedral church.
* Lastly, find the officiant or celebrant (whoever is celebrating the wedding) and find out what is the last thing they will say before the new couple walks back down the aisle at the end. It is usually, BUT NOT ALWAYS, the introduction. (“I now have the honor to introduce, for the FIRST TIME, John and Mary Whatchamacallum!)
Awesome! I’m ready to play wedding!
Well maybe. There are always things that appear. In fact, a bride decided, on the day of the full church, that today was not going to be the day. How do you handle that? (I’ll tell you. You play Mozart until the guests have left, and then tactfully ask his father for the balance of your fee.) Preparation only goes so far. At some point, the experience will kick in and then you’ll find that playing weddings is a pretty good way to make a living…
…unless you’re the cellist and it’s Pachelbel time.