Thursday, August 14, 2008

CMJ Sampler




It never ceases to amaze me how little real credit is given to musicians and the music they create in a world that would be VERY different without it indeed!

Can you imagine the lack of suspense in even the greatest thriller movie without some chilling music creating the tension? How dull the atmosphere would be in a Saturday night town centre bar without music! Many TV & radio adverts just wouldn't work without music. Are you starting to get my drift?

The truth is that without realizing it music is an extremely important part of most peoples' lives and as such needs to be given great consideration when choosing a band for an important event like a Wedding, corporate event, function or the like. Having some form of musical entertainment is almost a must to ensure a great atmosphere, but just as important is which form!

As a professional musician myself, I have vast experience in many types of ensembles, from acoustic Jazz, folk & country though to electric blues, rock, funk and pop. All these genres have their place and some of the more obscure or specialist styles are the ones a musician will enjoy the most. However when choosing entertainment for a wedding, corporate event or party usually 'music lover' genres like blues, country, jazz etc. are completely the wrong choice! "Why?", you might ask.

Well the majority of the general public aren't what I'd call 'music lovers'. Many people can't hear a guitar solo on a record, they don't know what a bass is and quite frankly they don't care. They DO, however, know ALL the words to 'Come on Eileen'; they'll sing at the top of their voices to 'I Will Survive' and will ecstatically 'strut their stuff' to 'Car Wash' and 'Celebration'! Are you getting the picture? I've known bands with some of the finest musicians in their field, some which are so famous and renowned they have guitars named after them, be 'paid off' at weddings and asked not to play their last set because they were playing blues or the like. Probably the finest music you'll hear but non music lovers will simply never get it.

So if music's so important at an event, but great music in the 'music lover' sense is the wrong choice, how does one find a band that is made up of professional highly skilled musicians, yet plays out and out dance floor-filling classic pop tunes? Surely this is a contradiction in terms almost?! Well it's not - in fact there are many bands doing just that at an extremely professional level these days, usually made up of some of the UK's top session musicians too! One example of this kind of band is the function band 'Boogie Express'. Boogie Express is made up of only fully professional musicians who've played on lots of records, CD's and so on and have all worked with some of the biggest names in the business! What bands like this have done is to channel all their years of experience in both the music business and in show business into creating an 'ultimate' party band experience.

There are many bands similar to Boogie Express out there, and if you search Google and the like with terms like 'function band' you should find many more.

I do hope you find this article helpful in understanding the best way to incorporate great music and entertainment into an event and wish you all the best - what ever your musical tastes!

About the Author:

Professional bassist for over twenty years. Experienced teacher of music and leader of a professional function band

Also runs a specific Wedding Band service.

Worked with many, many famous named musicians.

80s dance music

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