Church music

Carraig77

Hi
I'm getting married in Kerry this autumn and I can't get over the cost of church music. I have been quoted€400 and €500. Am I the only one that thinks this is crazy? I would br lucky to earn that in 1 week and I spent 4 years in college.
Apologies to any professional singers out there but my 2 quotes were from people that have full time jobs and do this at the weekend as a way of earning extra money.

All I can say is I'm in shock!

Penny Dreadful

Carraig77 wrote: »

Hi
I'm getting married in Kerry this autumn and I can't get over the cost of church music. I have been quoted€400 and €500. Am I the only one that thinks this is crazy? I would br lucky to earn that in 1 week and I spent 4 years in college.
Apologies to any professional singers out there but my 2 quotes were from people that have full time jobs and do this at the weekend as a way of earning extra money.

All I can say is I'm in shock!

That is about the average price I think. I got married at the end of June and had a string quartet for church music. One of the girls also sang and we paid them €650.00.

They were very good though and I didn't think it was overpriced for what they did. Maybe thats because I can't sing to save my life, really wish I could and so am always in awe of those that can.

Sleepy

It's fairly extortionate when you consider that the members of your reception band are probably making 300 - 500 each and they play for much longer, have far more equipment to transport and are working unsociable hours.

I'd say to contact the local church choir or try and find a friend who can play / sing for ye. Nothing saying that the church music has to be a string quartet or an opera singer. Some friends of mine got a band they're friendly with to bring their guitars and they did the church music as their wedding gift for the couple.

Acoshla

Sleepy wrote: »

I'd say to contact the local church choir or try and find a friend who can play / sing for ye. Nothing saying that the church music has to be a string quartet or an opera singer. Some friends of mine got a band they're friendly with to bring their guitars and they did the church music as their wedding gift for the couple.

Sounds grand except some small churches (like the one I'm getting married in in Kerry) don't have a local choir, and we don't have any musical friends or family so that's also out, our options for music are pay a fortune or use a cd/mp3 player. I have found that in Kerry the musicians have a captive market as it's so far from Dublin etc so they can charge a bomb, the quotes I got were much higher than the OP mentioned. I actually found a string trio in Dublin who would come to Kerry and play for cheaper than it would cost me to book a Tralee based duo, now that is mental.

Carraig77

And it is cash. I really feel like writing a cheque just to be contrary!
I've no family or friends who are musical.
It's crazy money.

Acoshla

What type of music are you looking for?

Sleepy

Maybe check if there's an orchestra / choir in the IT? Or even UCC? Can't imagine a few students turning down €300 for a morning's work.

Acoshla

There's Kerry School of Music, but I don't know how to go about contacting students, just the actual tutors who play for weddings.

Sleepy

Post on the school's Facebook?

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kerry-School-of-Music-and-Performing-Arts/241021802593978

Carraig77

Re Facebook page that's a great idea. I'll try that. Re type of music I don't mind. I'm not musical. My whole family is tone deaf!
My h2be is having a fit. He thinks I should just pay the €500. I know it's a big day but I would struggle to justify that kind of money.

Acoshla

Depending on the type of music you'd like and where in Kerry the wedding is you could just try some local musicians? There are some great guitar players/singers in Tralee, there's one guy in particular that's brilliant that I would love to book if we decided against string music, if you want to PM me I can let you know where you'll find him, don't have his actual contact details but know where he plays.

Dostoevsky

We paid a lot less for a professional soprano, who sang most of the songs in Irish and the remainder in Latin and Italian (Con Te Partiro instead of 'Time to Say Goodbye', for instance) songs beyond our wildest expectation. Amazingly, she then took a break from singing and played traditional flute for Tabhair dom to lámh and An Chúilfhionn. I think in total we had something like seventeen songs/pieces of music. She mastered all the Ó Riada pieces sublimely.

Of all the people whom we paid for our wedding she was far and away the most amazing. She raised the entire church ceremony up. Personally, I wish we had her and the string quartet playing all night and ditched the noise of the rock band. Much deeper and much more spiritual - and much cheaper! Win-win. Rock bands are ridiculously expensive compared to what a good church singer or musician can bring to your memory of the day.

Páid

I'm getting married in Kerry this autumn and I can't get over the cost of church music. I have been quoted€400 and €500. Am I the only one that thinks this is crazy?

You don't say what kind of music you are requesting, number of musicians, or any kind of info at all.

What people don't realise is that the cost doesn't just cover the performance in the church. It also includes things like travelling expenses, time spent learning pieces of music, instrument maintenance, etc.

The most extreme example I can give is where the bride wanted 3 musicians to play 16 pieces of music (some instrumental and some sung). All of the 16 had to be learned in advance which meant about 10-20 hours of rehearsal before the ceremony.

Acoshla

Páid wrote: »

What people don't realise is that the cost doesn't just cover the performance in the church. It also includes things like travelling expenses, time spent learning pieces of music, instrument maintenance, etc.

I do realise this, as I work in a business where people underestimate my own costs all the time. But what annoyed me personally was I was being quoted €700 for two musicians to travel 20 minutes out the road, no matter what time spent learning etc they had that was a ridiculous price, when I had a quote of 3 coming from Dublin for €600.

I always try to see that side of things when I'm getting quotes, each price is based on a particular skill that involves lots of aspects that lay people don't understand, but sometimes people do just take the p*ss, like with what I was quoted!

Sleepy

That sounds quite unusual. Were these 3 musicians professionals? I know when a wedding band are starting out they have to learn a decent sized catalogue but the set-list builds up over time as they become established. I can't imagine that all 16 songs would have been new to a group that were together any real length of time, particularly when you consider how restrictive the RCC is regarding musical choices...

If a 5 piece wedding band with a good set-list can charge €1,500 for playing for 3 hours at the reception, I can't see why a soloist could charge any more than €200 for an hour's performance at the church...

Páid

Sleepy wrote: »

That sounds quite unusual. Were these 3 musicians professionals? I know when a wedding band are starting out they have to learn a decent sized catalogue but the set-list builds up over time as they become established. I can't imagine that all 16 songs would have been new to a group that were together any real length of time, particularly when you consider how restrictive the RCC is regarding musical choices...

If a 5 piece wedding band with a good set-list can charge €1,500 for playing for 3 hours at the reception, I can't see why a soloist could charge any more than €200 for an hour's performance at the church...

You are talking about two very different things. A wedding band has a set list of mostly popular music that they use for virtually every performance. About the only special request you would give them would be the couple's first dance.

The bride in question wanted very specific obscure pieces of music that had to be learned and arranged in advance. The only piece the majority of people would have known would be Mise Eire. I did say it was an extreme example but one we were willing to do for the bride because it was her special day. For most weddings I've played at the bride or groom would pick from a list or cd I give them.

2 musicians fro €700 seems very excessive.