Some weddings are easy.
“I want Pachelbel’s Canon in D, Clair D’Lune, & that one song by Shania Twain…”
“From This Moment On?”
“Yes! You know that one?”
“Yes, yes I do.”
Those are the easy ones. Pieces everybody knows and has played since their first wedding when they were in their early teens. Seriously. Everybody knows these songs.
Sometimes, a bride has a somewhat strange request that’s still easy to learn because you know there’s a piano piece.
I’ve been asked to play The Theme from Transformers, The Pink Panther Theme, and Reflections from Mulan, as well as The Theme from Forrest Gump. These are simply found online, purchased if necessary, and the fingerings were changed. Not a big deal.
And then there are those brides whose husbands have bright ideas about music. “Do you know any N’Sync songs? How about Linkin Park?” I kid you not, people have asked for these – multiple times!! Regina Spektor has also made the list, as well as my newest I-really-wish-there-was-a-free-arrangement-of-this pieces I am arranging myself, “Kiss the Girl” from The Little Mermaid.
Now, I suppose I could buy an anthology of Disney songs so I’d have most of the ones people will ask for. But when you have no money, you have to improvise [literally, I'm afraid] and just…pull it out of the strings.
So that’s my project for next month – thank goodness the wedding was booked in advance!
I like making my customers happy as well as getting the chance to learn new music, but picking out a melody and harmony that sound remotely like the orchestra Disney used to perform their beautiful music…that’s a little tricky.
My advice to anyone who ends up in this situation: FIND THE SHEET MUSIC. Listen to a YouTube of the song while you play. See if ANYONE has arranged it. [And make sure the bride/whoever is paying for the wedding pays you for purchasing the music - you're doing it for them, after all!] And write down your arrangement, copyright it, and start selling it to the rest of us who are searching everywhere for it!
Wish me luck.
