I got married this weekend in a lovely place called Dumaguete on the South China Sea in the Philippines.
We arranged for two classical guitarists to play before and after the ceremony and again after the lunch.
It was a great day and after we had all had lunch someone suggested we each sing a song accompanied by the two guitarists. It was great hearing people sing, people you would not imagine would have the courage to sing in front of an audience - but they all sounded good.
I took the opportunity to play my guitar and sing (American Pie), not sure how it went, but it felt good and then I accompanied one of my guests.
The two guitarists were very supportive, asked my if they pprepared a simple classical piece would I join them some time!! And they did not want to take any payment for their playing - said they wanted to do it free for a fellow guitar player!! And at 58 I have only been playing two years. I really am not that good, but comments like these help your confidence a lot. Of course I insisted on paying them, after all they had helped make my very special wedding day into a wonderful day.
The star of the show was of course my bride - she was lovely. Some days you just feel so lucky. (Makes up for the other says!)
Anyone else played at their own wedding?
I'll be a lot more impressed if anybody plays at their own funeral. :lol:
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
Congrats man!
I've talked to my bride to be (because I really like the idea), and she thinks it's better if we wait until the fun reception to do anything like that. We're having a big church wedding, and I already hired someone to play there. However, at the second reception there wont be nearly as many people, and there'll be like 6 or 7 of us that play some instrument or other (and probably will).
I'll be a lot more impressed if anybody plays at their own funeral.
I never thought of that, but I may consider it now....just record some stuff and request that the CD be played ;)
Our songs also have the standard pop format: Verse, chorus, verse, chorus, solo, bad solo. All in all, I think we sound like The Knack and the Bay City Rollers being molested by Black Flag and Black Sabbath.
Kurt Cobain
I never thought of that, but I may consider it now....just record some stuff and request that the CD be played ;)It's been done. Not quite the same as live music. :lol:
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
Nah, I didn't play at my weddings... but I played for my youngest brother's - in a duet with his wife's cousin, who is the principal cellist in a major orchestra.
Her playing sent chills up my spine when we did Ave Maria.
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Played at my little girl's wedding last year. I had hired my guitar teacher's band for the reception and he and I worked on something for me to play. I had a great time and it was the only time I ever felt good about making her cry.
-- John
"Hip woman walking on a moving floor, tripping on the escalator.
There's a man in the line and she's blowin' his mind, thinking that he's already made her."
'Coming into Los Angeles' - Arlo Guthrie
Jimscafe,
Your wedding sounds great! It must have been a delight to be able to play along like that. :D All the best to you and your new bride.
I'll be a lot more impressed if anybody plays at their own funeral.
I never thought of that, but I may consider it now....just record some stuff and request that the CD be played ;)
Maybe we should compile a list of "Songs to Play at Your Own Funeral"?
Monty Python's 'Always Look on the Bright Side of Life' sung by myself would be a natural to include. What else?
Something by the Grateful Dead perhaps... :wink:
'Down Under' by Men at Work...
And...??
Congratulations, it must really be something to play at your own wedding.
I hope eveyrhting goes well for you
Her playing sent chills up my spine when we did Ave Maria.
That must have been something special to hear, and extra special to be part of. :)
I've got a version of Schubert's Ave Maria with Mischa Maisky on the cello and Pavel Gililov on the piano, so I dragged it out and am listening as I type. Cello is such a beautiful instrument.... aaaahhh.... :D
I love cello - if I didn't play guitar, I'd probably be a cellist.
I get to listen to cello live quite often. At the music school where I each on Saturdays they have a cello teacher in the studio right next to mine. And this summer, I did a jazz date with a cellist as the lead instrument - monster reader, that girl was :)
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Congrats on the marriage, and the playing :)
As for the list of funeral songs, I'd love for "Only the good die young" to be played at mine.
I think I'm gonna do the guitar premier of Cage's 4'33" at my funeral :)
(watch me hold that fermata at the end - you won't believe how long it goes!)
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I think I'm gonna do the guitar premier of Cage's 4'33" at my funeral :)
:D :D
There's a coincidence! It's the first item on my morning practice schedule. :wink:
It was my first attempt at transcribing a piece to a version for guitar, so I'm quite proud of it. The only difficulty was deciding what dynamic marks to use. Fermata would have been best, but as I'm not really fully confident with my fermata yet, I settled on p x p (Pianultimo...).
Many years ago a friend of mine attempted to perform the piano version in the qualifying rounds of a local Australian TV talent quest. Of course, none of the people running the show had ever heard of Cage, so Bruce's performance was greeted with bewilderment, and a fair bit of increasingly agitated discussion about when he should begin the piece.... Sadly, he was eliminated before he'd even completed his recital, let alone reached the televised finals.... :cry: (true story).
nice story
the closest Ive ever been to being on tv is when the daily news had a firemen vs policemen stick ball game next to metrotech (polytech university)in downtown brooklyn they had lots of news coverage, while I was watching
I got married this weekend in a lovely place called Dumaguete on the South China Sea in the Philippines.
Congrats!! Best wishes for you and your bride.
Geoo
“The hardest thing in life is to know which bridge to cross and which to burn” - David Russell (Scottish classical Guitarist. b.1942)
