Played a song at my friends wedding

reyn · Oct 28, 2009

So I opened my big mouth and offered to play uke / sing a song at my friends wedding.

She took me up on the offer!

The wedding was in Bandung Indonesia and it was the first time i'd played or sang in front of such a big audience (over 1400 guests), but luckily a fair percentage of them were getting stuck into the free buffet!

I played Hellogoodbye's - Oh, It Is Love using my workmates soprano mana, don't really remember much of it except for when a MASSIVE fly landed on my head and refused to move. Even after I tried to brush it off it only moved to the top of my head.

Anyway my thoughts on playing

- played too fast due to nervousness
- forgot or repeated some lyrics again due to nervousness
- next time i should be more relxed and try enjoy the moment more

Here's some photos

Just before I got up, don't let the casual smile fool you, my girlfriend was holding my arms to stop them from shaking! :

In full flight, just before the fly hit:

I'll try get the video from my brother up soon.

UkuLeLesReggAe · Oct 28, 2009

thats awesome. I would be stoaked

uk_e_punk · Oct 28, 2009

Lookin cool mate! Well done

mokai · Oct 28, 2009

that's very nice of you to do... congrats on the experience!

on a side note, I'd hate to cook a buffet for 1400 people

buddhuu · Oct 28, 2009

Congratulations and well done!

Takes nerve to do a solo spot. I have total respect for people who get up and do it. I'm a coward - I always hide in a band!

Playscool39 · Oct 28, 2009

Wow man, 1400 people is a lot!Thumbs up from me!!!

existence · Oct 28, 2009

Your fly reminded me of my first time playing in front of people. It was an outdoor festival, and halfway into the second song a huge yallow jacket starting menacing me--buzzing around my head, landing on the guitar's headstock, etc. My irrational fear of stinging insects combined with the anxiety of my first gig made for a lovely fear cocktail.

The good news: I figure if I could make it through that, I could make it through anything.

Congratulations on playing at your friend's wedding...that's a nice thing to do! Nice photos too.

Captain_Lovehandles · Oct 28, 2009

Way to go! Ukerepublic and I played a wedding last weekend. It's a great honor.

GrumpyCoyote · Oct 28, 2009

Awesome - playing too fast and repeating lyrics are pretty common. I still do both on about 50% of my numbers - for much smaller crowds.

Toughing out the fly incident is harder than it seems - respect for that too.

Great job man.

ukuleG · Oct 28, 2009

i suck at remembering all the lyrics to songs.

reyn · Oct 29, 2009

Haha, thanks for the support guys!

Yeah there was soooo much food it was hectic.

Here's the video :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h865nBfOgMw

unfortunately my brother panned away just as the giant fly of death hit my bald head.

clayton56 · Oct 29, 2009

congratulations, it gets easier...

it's hard to sing when you can only inhale

- next time i should be more relxed and try enjoy the moment more

yes, but the best advice was from a pro opera singer who said, "don't try not to be nervous - just use it", meaning, channel that energy into your performance. A good performance needs energy even if you're just sitting still. The key is to be focused and if you're too relaxed you lose the focus.

built · Oct 29, 2009

nice batik!

reyn · Oct 29, 2009

interesting point clayton, so instead of focusing and stressing on being nervous try to use that energy.

thanks built, but it was almost 3 sizes too big!

E-Lo Roberts · Oct 29, 2009

Reyn's original photo before he Photoshopped it...

Congrats on the gig dude...e.lo..

RyanMFT · Oct 29, 2009

You did great, that was a tough crowd. I want to have my own roadies like you did! Nice job. I saw the band guys behind you watching and listening, that is a major compliment in my eyes.

existence · Oct 29, 2009

clayton56 said:
congratulations, it gets easier...

it's hard to sing when you can only inhale

yes, but the best advice was from a pro opera singer who said, "don't try not to be nervous - just use it", meaning, channel that energy into your performance. A good performance needs energy even if you're just sitting still. The key is to be focused and if you're too relaxed you lose the focus.

That's very interesting, and I agree. Trying not to be nervous is a bit of a paradox, since calmness is by definition something you don't "try" to do. I'm still a rookie at playing in front of people and I am going to remember this next time.

One thing that gets me is how you can play a tune perfectly when you're alone, then mess up when you're in front of people....I'd always wonder, "why oh why?" I think it's because when you're alone, you're not self conscious and you're not afraid of messing up....so you don't. When you're afraid of messing up, you're increasing your chance of overthinking it and, in turn, messing up.

But I guess the short answer is that the only way to get better at playing for audiences is by playing for audiences...

Played a song at my friends wedding

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