Play List Formula?

Rllink

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I'm doing a gig at the end of the month and my wife has decided that she is going to join me. She is a very good singer. I'm not the most organized person. I have a playlist of thirty or so songs that I belt out. It grows and shrinks over time. They are just in a folder, and they are in a random order. They span a period starting probably in the thirties, all the way to now. A lot of them are sixties and seventies. Some eighties rock, some folk, some old protest songs from the sixties, some Bob Dylan, and a couple of popular right now songs. Just a bunch of songs that I like to play and sing.

I have three or four of them that are pretty easy to sing cold, that I warm up with, then they just sort of find their own way into my performance. It depends on what mood I'm in. My wife, who is super organized, wants to arrange and organize them in some kind of order so that we aren't paging through them trying to decide what to play. She thinks that maybe there is some rule of order for organizing playlists. I'm not looking for songs, I have plenty of songs. Anyone actually have experience in putting together playlists for gigs, and is there some formula for success?

Okay, just a warning you, if you give me something, I'm going to ask questions, like how you came up with it, how long you have been using it, and why you think that it works. Thanks all.

RL
 
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All i know is that the order of songs can make a concert into something much better or less better.

Order your songs in a conceptual sequence. This is how curators work in art too which i know more about. But i've watched our excellent choir leader put together numerous concerts and I really admire her programming skills.

Basically you'd want to pick your opening song carefully to set the right tone for what follows.

Each song should be connected to the next one in some way - be it style or thematic content. You don't want to style and content to be jumping all over the job in a disorganised jumble.

The overall tempo or atmosphere of the show should have some sort of rising or building to it. Think of hte program as having a beginning middle and end just as you right a story. The climax in a show is usually at the end. But you don't want to start off slow either, ie with your weakest songs.

Pick your songs carefully as to what to include or exclude. Each song should be there for a reason.

A good place to start with all this is to come up with a theme for your concert. This will create a more powerful affect in the audience.

These are only partial notes. I don't want to write an epic post. If your wife has come up with this idea, maybe you should let her be in charge of the program with input from you when required or from time to time. But as mentioned in the video above, if you've got a singer, the program should revolve around her. If you've got instrumentals, they can have their place too.
 
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Rule #1: Know your audience and play music they can relate to.

BTW, where is your gig?

On the 29th, we have the downtown music walk. Many of the stores in the "Historic Downtown Business District" stay open until nine, and they have music in their stores. Then I guess that people can vote on which store has the best music. Someone recommended me to one of the stores so they asked me to play there for the music walk. My wife thought that she would like to join in, so I thought that it would be fun. So we'll do two sets over two hours. People walk in and walk out. I would guess that most people will be down there to shop as well as listen. It is pretty casual.
 
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open with your warm up songs and then let your wife organize the rest of the set list.
 
open with your warm up songs and then let your wife organize the rest of the set list.
Well, considering she suggested that I get on the internet and see if I could find something, I should probably make an attempt. If it was just up to me, I'd just sing them as they come to mind, but I think we're striving to be a little better. Anyway, it is my gig, she's along for the ride. I'll figure it out.

Rule #1: Know your audience and play music they can relate to.

Then follow these suggestions. Good luck.
This guy has some good advice when you have a singer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4UmEhNCLL4


Check these out too:
http://blog.sonicbids.com/how-to-create-compelling-setlist

http://diymusician.cdbaby.com/music...-choosing-the-right-songs-in-the-right-order/


BTW, where is your gig?
Thanks, I checked those out, and I think they give us some ideas to work with. We'll sit down tomorrow and see what we can do.
 
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Anyone actually have experience in putting together playlists for gigs, and is there some formula for success?
RL

Talk between the songs are very important for fork and country singers. If we play as band, it has variety of sounds but if we accompany only with ukulele we should add nice talk in the gigs. Many singer song writer talk about songs they play. I make playlist along with talk and story.
 
Here are a couple of things I think are important. Hit them with one of your best songs right off the get go. Also I suggest varying your play list with tempo, don't play all the up tempo or slower ones in a row, and lastly vary your list in the keys you play in. Playing several songs in a row in the same key can get monotonous.
 
Talk between the songs are very important for fork and country singers. If we play as band, it has variety of sounds but if we accompany only with ukulele we should add nice talk in the gigs. Many singer song writer talk about songs they play. I make playlist along with talk and story.
I'm pretty good at chatting it up between songs. But you are right, stage presence is as important as the songs you sing and how you sing them. My wife is quiet, so I'll get to do the talking. Another thing that I have done in the past is that I take copies of all our songs and put them out where people can come up and take one. I encourage people to sing along. In fact, I talk them into singing along. That has been popular in some of the coffee shop gigs I've done, and I think that might be particularly popular in this venue.

Here are a couple of things I think are important. Hit them with one of your best songs right off the get go. Also I suggest varying your play list with tempo, don't play all the up tempo or slower ones in a row, and lastly vary your list in the keys you play in. Playing several songs in a row in the same key can get monotonous.
I think you are right. Those sites that johnson420 sent me to hit on those same points. I'm not sure about the best songs right off the bat. I think that people will be coming through, not necessarily sticking around for a whole set. Anyway, there are a lot of "best" songs in the list, so we'll spread them out.
 
Start with something that both will be well known by your target audience and you know inside out and backwards so you can get off to a good start. Finish with something lively. Include songs that the audience can join in on. Vary the tempo, feel and key of your songs. Be aware of the time you've got and always have more songs than you have time for and identify clearly those you can leave out if time is running short. Have an encore in reserve in case you get asked for one.
 
I'm repeating what's been said because I don't think you can stress the "know your audience" rule enough. That doesn't mean that you have to play cheesy songs you hate but I save the obscure or quirky music for home or with friends. It doesn't go over in mainstream crowds. I have a gig on Sat. where our leader has chosen the music. I committed, before seeing the set list. I now dread going. The set is 15 songs with such limited appeal to the mixed "family audience" that I am sure we will bomb. I think only one song (a corny one) will be at all familiar to many of our listeners. I think the average younger crowd will fall asleep during songs like "Moonglow" and "Sentimental Journey". Don't get me wrong, nice songs, but snoozy and unfamiliar for the type of audience I'm expecting will be there. So, of course, play what you like, but very carefully consider your audience (if you'd like to be asked to play again). P.S. I wish my gig was outside, so I could wear sunglasses to hide.
 
Start with something that both will be well known by your target audience and you know inside out and backwards so you can get off to a good start. Finish with something lively. Include songs that the audience can join in on. Vary the tempo, feel and key of your songs. Be aware of the time you've got and always have more songs than you have time for and identify clearly those you can leave out if time is running short. Have an encore in reserve in case you get asked for one.
It seems that "know your audience" is a common thread. In the past I've done some coffee shop gigs, and my audiences have been people who liked my music. I can't say as I have been in a situation where I had to adjust my music to someone else's taste, yet. I think that we have a handle on that here, because the person who recommended us to the store owner has heard us perform, and the store owner said that she was looking forward to having us there. But I think it is important to remember, and I'm not sure from the comments if people understand that this is a "music walk". There will be a dozen or more groups. Everything from solo artists, to all out bands, and people come downtown to walk from one place to the other to listen to them all. So I am guessing that my audience will be varied, to say the least. I don't know how one would even attempt to know their audience in this particular case. All I can do is play to the kind of people who go to that particular store, and I think that they asked me to play there because they like what I play. If that makes any sense.

But that does lead me to another question. I have about thirty songs. When I play at the coffee shop, I start, I play, I joke around, I take a couple breaks, and it is done when it is done. People hang around, and then we pack up and leave. So in the case of this music walk, I don't imagine that anyone would come down there and stand in this particular store to listen to us all evening. From my experience, which is from the audience side of it, people come through, listen to some songs, leave and maybe come back, but usually don't. Plus, like when I'm busking at a festival of some kind, people will come by that we know, or even that we don't know, and they'll want to chat it up a little. So I'm thinking that if we go through our thirty songs, and if we have to, we just start over. That's what I do when I'm busking. Also, I think that people might come by and want to hear songs that we've already played. Seriously, I've had to play Gilligan's Island three times in a row. Don't even ask. But what do you all think? Just start over, or expand the list?
 
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Don't even ask. But what do you all think? Just start over, or expand the list?

Just start over. Or if someone comes back and liked a song maybe do a repeat of that song. Like you did with G. Island.
You are in a unique situation where your audience is changing and moving.
 
If you are doing a gig, like busking, where people stay for a bit and then move on, I don't think you have to worry about a set list. Just pick 5-6 songs that you are comfortable with and rotate thru them. As you said, folks don't stay that long.
 
If you are doing a gig, like busking, where people stay for a bit and then move on, I don't think you have to worry about a set list. Just pick 5-6 songs that you are comfortable with and rotate thru them. As you said, folks don't stay that long.
I could do that I suppose. It is interesting because that is probably what I would do on a street corner, but this isn't a street corner, and it isn't like a coffee shop gig either, where you have most of the audience most of the time you're playing. It is going to be interesting. But I think that I'll stick with all the ones that I have, go through them, and then just wing it after that. I know all but a few of those songs by heart, if there's not pressure or distractions that is, and I can fly through them with the music in front of me. I might as well just do them all, if only for the practice of performing them for an audience, and to get them organized for the next opportunity to play them.

So yesterday I worked on them, took the tips from those sites that johnson430 gave me, and I think that it polished things up a little. I found four more songs that I added to the mix. Just old ones like "Ol' Susanna, Ain't no Bugs on Me, and Clementine. Never can tell. When people were advising to know the audience, I thought that maybe some kids will come through, and we can sing those for the kids. But I think that it is going to be worth the effort to arrange them with a little thought. I really appreciate the advise from everyone. It sounds like there are going to be some well established local groups there, so lots of competition. I need all the help I can get. My next step is going to be to get in the store sometime before we play there, to see if I'm going to need to amp or not.
 
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