Collage
I JUST found out that we were awarded the Oregon Bride Magazine Best Ceremony Musicians for 2010!
Check out the new issue! …. more soon - we had a GREAT weekend with our weddings and I really want to share some highlights with you but right now I have to run off and get a copy of the new Oregon Bride!
Maybe you’ve seen our contract, maybe you haven’t - either way, I want to explain what our deal is with “adequate shelter” and why it’s so incredibly important to us.
First, understand that most of us (the musicians of Collage) are from Oregon! We are happy to get wet, get dirty, muck around in the mud, get sunburned on that ONE day of the year, etc etc.
BUT, our instruments.. now that’s another story. Read the rest of this entry »
Sometimes I feel like I really need to clarify how our groups work. So, I’ll give it a shot.
I. String-based groups
For all of the following groups, repertoire for both ceremony and cocktail hour/reception will be primarily or entirely classical, with fairly equal representation from the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic eras. Flute and violin are interchangeable within these groups, so the repertoire does not change when a flute is present.
A. String Quartet (2 violins, viola, cello)
B. Flute Quartet (flute, violin, viola, cello)
C. String Trio (2 violins and cello)
D. Flute Trio (flute, violin, cello)
F. Flute & cello duo
II. Guitar-based groups
For these groups, prelude and ceremony repertoire is primarily classical, though we also have a number of beautiful Celtic pieces and early to mid-20th century popular songs and show tunes.
Cocktail hour/reception repertoire will be primarily vintage swing jazz (1920’s - 1930’s), unless otherwise requested.
Special requests for popular/contemporary songs are often more easily accommodated than with string groups, and will almost always sound more like the original version of the song.
Saxophone and flute are both played by the same musician, and there is no additional charge for bringing both instruments. Vocals are available with all except cello/guitar duo at no additional charge (depending on my availability).
A. Collage Quartet - flute/saxophone, violin OR mandolin, guitar, cello OR bass
B. Collage Trio - flute/saxophone, guitar, bass - our most popular ensemble of all!
C. Toscana Trio - flute/saxophone, mandolin, bass
D. Flute & guitar duo
E. Cello & guitar duo
I will be adding to this periodically; thought I’d start somewhere. I might put it in alphabetical order eventually…
Ensemble - a group of musicians
Processional - the entrance of family/honored guests and the bridal party at the beginning of the wedding ceremony, accompanied by music. The processional may be one piece of music for everyone entering, or it may be divided into distinct groups, each with their own piece of music.
Recessional - the exit of the bridal party upon completion of the ceremony, also accompanied by music.
Song - a piece of music that was originally composed/written with vocal lyrics (whether it gets played as an instrumental or with a singer singing the words).
Piece - a piece of music that does not have words.
Style - the way a piece of music is treated in performance. For example, many early jazz songs can be played in the style of a slow ballad, or in the style of a mid-tempo swing.
Genre - the overarching category to which a song/piece belongs. Those early jazz songs, regardless of whether we play them as ballads or as mid-tempo swing, all belong to the jazz genre. Sometimes the words “style” and “genre” are used interchangeably.
Classical - the genre of European art music, which encompasses several sub-genres. These sub-genres are defined by the time period in which the music was written.
· Baroque (1600–1760)
Example pieces: Canon in D, Air on the G String, Spring from the 4 Seasons. Example composers: Bach, Handel, Vivaldi
· Classical (1730–1820)
Example pieces: Eine Kleine Nachtmusic, the Elvira Madigan Theme. Example composers: Mozart, Haydn
· Romantic (1815–1910)
Example pieces: Ave Maria, Wedding March, Bridal Chorus. Example composers: Schubert, Mendelssohn, Wagner, Saint-Saens, Puccini
Jazz - the genre of American popular music from roughly the 1890’s through today which enjoyed mainstream popularity from the 1920’s through the 1960’s. There are a few important sub-genres of jazz:
· Swing (1920’s - 1930’s) - fantastic at weddings. Recognizable songs, good up-tempo rhythms, whether vocal or instrumental. Audiences love it - and it’s very danceable!
· Bebop (1940’s) much harsher, not danceable, and we never play this type of jazz at weddings.
· Cool Jazz (1950’s) - think Miles Davis’ “Kind of Blue” - great stuff, but a bit too mellow for a party.
· Bossa Nova/Latin Jazz (1960’s) - We do occasionally play this at weddings - audiences really like the energy and grooviness. Almost always instrumental.
· Smooth Jazz (1980’s) - think Kenny G. We don’t play in this style for weddings (except for a specific song request).
Contemporary Music - this is really a difficult thing to define, because it means different things to different people. I generally think of “contemporary” as meaning “in the same time period that is now”, so that would define contemporary music as whatever is being written and performed this year. Or, in the last few years. But, contemporary also seems to be a relative term; i.e., the Beatles are more contemporary than, say, swing jazz.
That said, every time the term “contemporary music” comes up, I feel a need to get a clear sense of what that means. Most of our wedding repertoire doesn’t fall under that loose category, mostly because of two reasons:
1. Contemporary music (and the somewhat related term “popular music”) usually hasn’t stood enough of a test of time to guarantee an appeal to a broad and sometimes unpredictable audience.
2. In musical training, formal education exists in the broad genres of classical and jazz. But the ways in which contemporary and popular music styles are learned and performed are much less predictable, so there is no standard for performance practice. This can make it difficult to ensure quality performances.
This doesn’t mean we can’t or won’t play contemporary music; it just means that it’ll require a bit of extra time on our part to figure out how to play it. Usually this means we have to write it down somehow, in a way we can read, and then probably rehearse it. Often the writing-down part can take a few hours (per song), especially if we have to do it by ear; hence the fee we charge for special requests.
Biggest day of the year, no doubt. Y’all have good taste in dates! That’s only two days before our anniversary!
For this weekend, I’m looking forward to playing at the Aerie at Eagle’s Landing for the first time. I personally haven’t been there yet, so it’ll be interesting. And I get to play with Skip and David! The flute/guitar/cello team.
Team Strings will be downtown at the Hotel deLuxe and they have some interesting music to play - our bride here is a big fan of the romantic classical, and Andrew Lloyd Webber, so I’m envisioning some lush gorgeousness.
Then on Sunday the 4th, the stringers will be it again, this time at the Art Museum for both the ceremony and cocktail hour.
More soon!
We were honored to participate in the 3rd wedding ever at The Woods - a really cool new live music/event venue in Sellwood. It was originally a funeral home before the current owners converted it to its current incarnation - but trust me, it’s totally not creepy.
Here’s some copy from the Woods website:
Portland’s newest venue, The Woods, is located in historic Sellwood in a former funeral parlor. The classic Mission-style building, built circa 1929, served the community for years as a place to honor and venerate those who have passed on. Renovations have breathed new life into the space, transforming it into a mid-size, comfortable and reverent venue to see modern music, where quiet is the new loud. The hardwood floors, chandeliers and spacious elegance evoke the lobby of a Western hotel, reborn as a music hall and art nouveau lounge. It’s a place to sit and have a glass of wine in a serene environment, entertained by renowned local and national musicians and performers.
The 3000 square foot venue houses a beautiful chapel area for performances, as well as several smaller lounges and outdoor seating, including a covered smoking salon.
The atmosphere is part club-house, part secret society. Patrons will feel they have stumbled upon another world: candle-lit, eccentric yet stately. Karaoke, avant stand-up comedy and movie screenings are scheduled regularly on non-musical performance nights.
And weddings, too!
This particular ceremony was really cool. The bride and groom were already legally married, so they devised a lovely way to publicize their union in the presence of their family and community. There were four attendants on each side (and the women each wore vintage dresses in varying shades of light green which was complemented by absolutely wonderful floral arrangements utilizing maidenhair ferns and other light green foliage); each attendant in turn related a positive aspect of their friendship with the bride or groom, and then charged them to sustain that particular positive aspect within their relationship to each other. To which the response was “I will.” This was much like the way the officiant normally charges the couple in a traditional ceremony, e.g.: “Will you love, honor, and respect this wo/man?”
The bride and groom then stated their vows to each other, exchanged rings, and possibly a kiss? I missed that part. At the end, the entire bridal party intoned together, “We now pronounce you man and wife!”
I loved it. Oh, and what did we play? Our bride had mentioned about a week before the wedding that she particularly loves the soundtrack from the movie Krull. If you’re not familiar, it’s a sci-fi/fantasy flick from 1983 with music by James Horner (who also did the Titanic, Avatar, the Legend of Zorro, Braveheart, and many more).
With little time, she knew it was a long shot to ask us to transcribe and arrange something from a huge orchestral film score, so she left it up to us entirely to decide on her processional music. And I could NOT resist… I chose the love theme and made a quick arrangement by ear with the help of my dear husband who is amazingly good at this. And did it work out? Yes! Not only did the timing end up absolutely perfect (we played the final bar as the bride arrived on the stage), but she also told me later that it almost made her cry when she realized we were playing it.
Ahhhh… music. If I can have a positive effect through music on even one person, then I call that a perfect day.
-S.
… is unquestionably the Old Church. I love playing there because for whatever reason, the room really does IT for the flute. I mean, everything sounds great in there but especially flute!
So can you guess where we played a wedding today? Yep, Old Church. This was another ceremony with quite a lot going on musically. Highlights:
After that, we finished off with good ol’ “When I’m Sixty-Four” - what else can follow a Beatles tune but another Beatles tune? It was a gorgeous day, and a really delightful wedding. This bride and groom did an excellent job of putting together a spirited, meaningful, fun, relaxed, yet absolutely beautiful ceremony. Here’s to an absolutely beautiful life together!
-S.
What better way to start off the new wedding season of 2010 with a wedding that really rang true to my own heart? Today my husband David and I drove down to Woodburn and played flute and guitar for a wedding that turned out to be, IMO, amazing.
Here’s what went down, from my musician’s perspective:
Did you notice how there were two songs that were repeated? We played the vocal trio’s song instrumentally after they sang it, and then, again, we played Ode To Joy after the assembly sang “Joyful Joyful” - which of course is the same song. Repetitive and boring? Not a bit. Big win all around.
I loved this wedding.
There was something so real, organic, and righteous about the entire construction of the event. The humble little church. The bride singing during the ceremony. The groom and bride in turn reciting their vows from memory. Her ring that didn’t have a big rock on it (kinda like our own plain silver wedding bands). Everyone singing. The FOG’s charming giggle, the overall genuineness of everyone I met today.
So, all in all, I am touched, and really looking forward to the season. I’ll post more, with pics, when I can get ‘em.
-Susan
After a lovely off-season (AKA booking season) we are easing into the real wedding season again. Highlights from Thursday, May 7 (yes, Thursday!!):
Can I get away with polka dots AND fleurs-de-lis?! We’ll see if the fashion police arrest me. It’s too cold this morning to go out with bare legs, though that would be better in my book. I’m short on black socks.
Skip looked like a cellist should look. He’s grinning here because he got away with not only pinstripes, which you can’t see in this pic, but moustache wax! Ha! And don’t you just love that swirly cake?!
From our vantage point, the big tent at Abernethy Center in Oregon City looked fantastic. I wish I’d had my real camera - next time! The white and lavender paper sphere lanterns were just perfect. It sounded great in there, too - who knew a wedding tent could have such great acoustics! I attribute it to the concrete floor.
Speaking of sounding great… This is Shawn Whitemore, of Event Team Entertainment. We heard him make a couple of announcements and he played a few tunes as we were packing up. He was so relaxed, professional, and charming!
I think the polka dots came together fine. Thanks to Skip for the pic!
And I’ll leave you with this parting shot, courtesy the back window of my car:
I’ve been away from the blog for a while because we just had the busiest month of our lives as wedding musicians and have had no time for writing - nor breathing, for that matter (except when absolutely critical for playing wind instruments)!
Update time. August was busy in a particularly rad way. We had a lot of really interesting special requests for music. We did “God Only Knows” by the Beach Boys, I sang “I Will” by the Beatles at two ceremonies, we did an Eels tune, one from Angels and Airwaves, a Jim Brickman song, a gorgeous one by Sade (“By Your Side”), an instrumental (guitar solo) from the Allman Brothers, another instrumental from Tom Petty that was originally part of a soundtrack, another soundtrack number from Shelter Surf which was totally lovely. We learned the Celtic Alleluia, played Sweet Child Of Mine a couple of times, Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely”, a lot more Beatles tunes, and then just this last Saturday, we did the main Star Wars theme for recessional. Awesome.
All this unusual (meaning, not from our normal existing repertoire) has been interesting and fun, and has been possible because David and I have combined forces to make the arrangements for all these tunes. He has an incredible ear and can listen to anything and figure it out, and then I’ll add my knowledge of classical musicians and what they/we need to see on the page in order to make sense of it and play the song, and somehow out of that we end up, eventually, with an arrangment.
Meanwhile, we’ve also been striving to improve our regular repertoire. I did a major overhaul of the string/flute quartet books: took out the stuff that we never play (cause we hate it and you would too), added better stuff (including two Stephen Foster songs arranged for quartet and about six or seven Mozart quartets - great stuff for a classical cocktail hour!), color-coded the pages and reorganized the entire contents. Now we are seriously ready to RAWK with the string quartet!!
We also went to the studio this week for the first round of recording. This time it was holiday music! You can hear what we did if you go to the Collage Music homepage and click the blue banner to get to the holiday page.
Next up in the studio sessions: Our new vocal jazz trio which will involve me on vocals, sax, and flute, and Bret on guitar and vocals, and Owen on bass and vocals. This is gonna be hot! We’re also going to record a couple of vintage holiday jazz standards to finish up the holiday sessions.
I will leave you with a couple of pictures from our varied August exploits.
