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Musician learning new piece for wedding

  • 01-04-2010 9:21am
    #1
    Graceomalley
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5 ✭


    Long time lurker-first time poster. Apologies if this has been discussed before. We're getting married in November and have booked a professional harpist for our civil ceremony- music only, no vocals. We've agreed a price of €300 for the ceremony plus 1 hour afterwards which I think is fair. (I didn't want to haggle with a musician for some reason). Anyway, her repertoire has lots of nice Irish stuff like O'Carolan pieces of which we'll use a few. However I'd really like if she could learn a particular piece by Badly Drawn Boy. To my ear, it sounds like the original is played on guitar and cello but I think it would sound amazing on harp. Is it reasonable to ask a musician to learn a new piece for a once off event? How much time goes into learning something new? If something is written for guitar, can it be easily adapted to another instrument? I'd like to hear the musician's perspective on this type of request before I ask her.
    Thank you in advance for your help.


Comments

  • #2
    odonopenmic
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 269 ✭✭odonopenmic


    Congrats on the wedding!

    I was thinking about this and I think it is totally fair to ask for a song to be learnt. I'm basing this on a few weddings I've played where they have wanted very specific songs (which I didn't necessarily know or like!). Ultimately, we get paid to do this and second, it's your big day so what's the difference between asking for Panis Angelicus or Badly Drawn Boy - the choice of music is yours and you shouldn't feel awkward asking for a particular piece. Most wedding musicians will be used to having certain 'special requests'.

    BUT this is where you'll run into difficulty: I hope this doesn't sound too unfair but most musicians I've met who do weddings are expert sheet music readers but rarely have an ear. It is unlikely (although you should search) that there is sheet music for harp for this piece. This means that your harpist would need to arrange the whole thing - a doddle if you can play be ear, but difficult if you can't. That'll be the crux of it. If s/he relies on reading music, I think they will see this as a big ask. If there's music, then it's just another piece to learn. Vice versa, if they can play by ear, I don't believe it should pose them much of a problem.

    Like I said, it's your big day and I never believe there's any harm in asking.

    Good luck! :P


  • #3
    pretentiouslad
    Closed Accounts Posts: 109 ✭✭pretentiouslad


    Also, if your harpist can't learn it by ear and needs sheet music then I'd be happy to write it out for her and post it on... so if that needs to happen then send me a PM :)


  • #4
    Graceomalley
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5 ✭Graceomalley


    Thanks a million for the responses. This is where my shameful ignorance about music comes in. I've found a website that has the Badly Drawn Boy piece published so I can buy it for €30 or so. But could I just hand this to the harpist and ask her to play it or does it need to be changed so a harpist can read it?
    Is all music for all instruments written in the same way or does sheet music have to be adapted for each instrument?
    And what is the difference between sheet music and an arrangement?
    It is mortifying that I'm asking this stuff but I don't want to make a fool of myself in front of this woman!


  • #5
    Susie-O-
    Closed Accounts Posts: 51 ✭✭Susie-O-


    she should be able to manage with any kind of sheet music! I mean, if she does this as a job she's gotta be fairly good at adapting to what she's asked to play, so I wouldn't say you need have any worries - just let her know in good time! Congrats!


  • #6
    pretentiouslad
    Closed Accounts Posts: 109 ✭✭pretentiouslad


    you'd want to get sheet music that has notes for both instruments and vocals so the harpist can play the melody (the tune badly drawn boy sings) with the chords in the background (what the guitar or piano plays).

    The harpist should be able to work with that and produce what you're looking for.


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  • #7
    Unwilling
    Closed Accounts Posts: 275 ✭✭Unwilling


    Graceomalley wrote: »
    Long time lurker-first time poster. Apologies if this has been discussed before. We're getting married in November and have booked a professional harpist for our civil ceremony- music only, no vocals. We've agreed a price of €300 for the ceremony plus 1 hour afterwards which I think is fair. (I didn't want to haggle with a musician for some reason). Anyway, her repertoire has lots of nice Irish stuff like O'Carolan pieces of which we'll use a few. However I'd really like if she could learn a particular piece by Badly Drawn Boy. To my ear, it sounds like the original is played on guitar and cello but I think it would sound amazing on harp. Is it reasonable to ask a musician to learn a new piece for a once off event? How much time goes into learning something new? If something is written for guitar, can it be easily adapted to another instrument? I'd like to hear the musician's perspective on this type of request before I ask her.
    Thank you in advance for your help.


    Hi - can i ask you to PM me with the name and details of the Harpist?
    We are also getting married in November and loved this idea!

    Thank you


  • #8
    off.the.walls
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,298 ✭✭✭off.the.walls


    Graceomalley wrote: »
    Long time lurker-first time poster. Apologies if this has been discussed before. We're getting married in November and have booked a professional harpist for our civil ceremony- music only, no vocals. We've agreed a price of €300 for the ceremony plus 1 hour afterwards which I think is fair. (I didn't want to haggle with a musician for some reason). Anyway, her repertoire has lots of nice Irish stuff like O'Carolan pieces of which we'll use a few. However I'd really like if she could learn a particular piece by Badly Drawn Boy. To my ear, it sounds like the original is played on guitar and cello but I think it would sound amazing on harp. Is it reasonable to ask a musician to learn a new piece for a once off event? How much time goes into learning something new? If something is written for guitar, can it be easily adapted to another instrument? I'd like to hear the musician's perspective on this type of request before I ask her.
    Thank you in advance for your help.

    If the harpist is a real musician then learning one song should be no bother to them, thats a musicians job to learn a song that their crowd or client wants. If she cant learn a song i'd suggest finding another musician.


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