Playing guitar at a drinks reception might seem like one of the easier parts of my job, however it still serves up an array of musical challenges for which you need to be prepared to deal with.  On the face of it, performing at a drinks reception means setting up an hour before your set, running a quick sound check, followed by 2-3 performances of 45 mins each.  As far as gigs go, it sounds about as straight forward as it can be.  Indeed, when I first began playing guitar at weddings and events, I didn’t pay it much thought.  I spoke with the client beforehand, found out if they had any specific requirements and then decided in advance what I was going to play for them.  As I’ve gained more experience, I’ve realised that this isn’t enough.

At university we often spoke of communicating musically with the audience.  I have to admit that I didn’t fully grasp what this meant.  I assumed it meant being as expressive as possible so that your audience could understand your musical intentions.  As a classical guitarist, interpretation and subtle nuances of tone are everything.  Whole guitar lessons were spent exploring various tonal possibilities and refining the shape of a single passage of music until the sound you produce fully expresses the musical idea in your head.  My scores are full of pencil marked instructions such as “harsh, defensive, yet more vulnerable”.  I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to produce a sound on the guitar which is all at once harsh, defensive and more vulnerable, but it can take a bit of experimentation to find the sound you have in your head.  In that case, those words described what I thought was required for the passage of music, and so I spent hours searching for the correct sound.  This was all so that I could express clearly, what I wanted my audience to hear and understand.

But musical communication is not always a one way process.  Communication in the concert hall is mostly a one way process; from musician to audience.  But musical communication in a less formal setting such as a drinks reception or dinner party is a different matter all together.  Whilst concert goers may attend concerts so that they can listen to what the musician has to say.  Guests at a drinks reception are there to have a good time and simply be entertained.  If the guests are not enjoying the music at the drinks reception, it’s within the power of the musician to change that. In fact, it’s the musician’s responsibility to adjust and find a way to connect with their audience.  This is no longer about listening to what the musician has to say, it’s about a two way communication between musician and audience.  Sounds obvious now, but a drinks reception is a completely different performance environment to the concert hall.  It took a while for me to understand that.

Communication At A Drinks Reception

So how do you communicate with the audience at a drinks reception?

To begin with you need to have a rough idea of who your audience is.  This will help to work out which style of music to start with.  If you’re playing to a mature audience then generally music from the classical or jazz genre is appreciated.  It’s not always the case, but it’s a safe place to start.  Playing to a younger audience usually means playing songs they will know from the pop/rock genre.  Again, this isn’t always the correct way to go, but it’s a fairly safe assumption to make.

Then starts the two way communication between musician and audience.  As a performing musician it’s your job to read the room and see how many people are switched on and engaged with your music.  The signs can be both subtle and fleeting, so you need to be aware of the room as your play.  Things to watch out for include repeated glances at you, hand gestures in your direction, moving closer to you and the ‘half turned chair’.  More obvious signs are when guests clap at the end of the song (not standard practise when playing at a drinks reception) or when guests approach you and engage you in conversation between songs.  If you’re doing really well, you might find guests turning their chairs fully so that they are looking straight at you throughout your performance.

At this point I tend to throw in a bit of variety to try and engage more people.  If I’ve been playing songs from my classical set, I might try something from my jazz set or pop/rock set.  Those guests who have been listening more intently will probably appreciate the variety, whilst other guests who have not been listening might become more interested and start to engage with your performance.  After changing styles, gauge the interest levels again to make sure you’re still connecting with as many people as possible.  If nobody seems to be listening after you’ve mixed things up, go back and play the same style as before.

To avoid boring everybody to death, it’s a good idea to add some variety within a set genre.  If you’ve tested the water and discovered that your audience only respond to music from the classical genre, you still need to find a ways to keep the music sounding ‘fresh’.  Playing every Sor or Carcassi study in the order they appear in the book will probably send most people to sleep.  It’s not because those pieces aren’t good pieces.  It’s because they sound very similar.  If you’re a die hard Miles Davis fan, you’ll probably get bored after hearing ‘Kind of Blue’ for the 10th time in a row.  However, if you  spread those tracks out and interject them with music by other artists in between, you’ll probably still be wanting to hear more Miles Davis tunes at the end of the night.  Leaving your audience wanting more is a good way to keep them interested throughout your performance.

The measure of your success is when guests approach you at the end of your performance to comment on your playing.  The more positive comments, the better.  That bit is not exactly rocket science!  If you’ve done a really good job you may even pick up the odd tip.  Playing at a drinks reception is not much different to play at a wedding breakfast or dinner party, so the advice here is valid for those scenarios too.  I’ll be writing a post on choosing the music for your drinks reception soon so stay tuned.

In addition to the drinks reception, I also offer other wedding music packages for the ceremony and wedding breakfast.  Be sure to check them out if you’re planning to get married.