Great Tips for Becoming a Successful Event/ Wedding Singer
With the weather breaking and getting warm it’s now time for the wedding season. The most popular months for weddings usually span from March – August. One of the most sought after elements of a wedding is the entertainment. Whether a live band is hire. Or a DJ is chosen to play a favorite playlist. Everyone looks forward to good entertainment. One of the most highly anticipated forms of wedding entertainment is hiring a live singer. Hiring a singer for the reception and actual ceremony is very common. If you’re a professional singer or independent singer you may be familiar with performing at weddings. However, you want to make sure you’re a success. This is why it’s important to read our 7 tips on how to become a great wedding singer and/or event singer.
1) Be professional
The most important tip to become a great wedding singer or any event singer is to be professional. This may sound cliche but it’s very true. You’d be surprised how many performers miss this, or don’t realize how crucial it is. There are also many singers who aren’t aware of what’s considered professional and what’s not. Some are unintentionally unprofessional, some aren’t. Either way it’s important to have a thorough understanding on how to conduct yourself as a professional wedding singer. This means being polite, easy to work with and punctual. Whoever was in charge of hiring you as the wedding singer needs to be your main source of communication. You have to make sure you make it to all rehearsals. You have to make sure your meeting the requests of whoever is in charge of entertainment. You also have to keep in mind you’re there to entertainment the wedding party and guests. This means you have to be willing to meet their commands. If they want a particular song performed or performed a certain way you have to be willing to do it. You would hate for your clients’ big day to be delayed or gone wrong due to something you did as the hired singer.
2) Sing with a band
nother great wedding singer tip is the ability to sing with a band or live instruments. Many performers who are great singers aren’t comfortable singing with a band. He or she may only be used to singing with the instrumental or recording. However, in order to be a great wedding singer you must be comfortable singing with a band. Most wedding performances include a live band. If you’re the professional singer hired for the wedding your voice has to be able to accompany the band. This makes your performance more raw, unique and impressive. Doing a stellar performance with a live band is a great way to capture the crowd. It also shows your vocal ability. If you’re an event singer who’s aspiring to do weddings, and never performed with a band start now. Simply link up with a local musician and start working with him or her. It’s better to start out with simpler songs that can be sung with an instrument accompaniment and then build up to more difficult songs. This way by the time you get booked for your next wedding, you now have experience performing with live instruments.
3) Know music theory basics
This may seem unnecessary but to become an amazing wedding singer it’s a good idea to know music theory. You don’t have to know everything about music theory. However, you should know the basics. If you don’t know the basics already you can always learn them in time for your next singing event. You want to be able to understand what the following music elements are and how they work together. Below are the music theory elements you should have some basic knowledge of:
The reason you should have basic knowledge of music theory to succeed as a professional wedding singer is due to improvising. If you’re performing with fellow artists and musicians 9 times out of 10 there’s going to be a lot of musical improvisation. Sure you guys will practice and have a set list. However, some things will be spontaneous. You’ll want to make sure you’re in unison and tune with anything sporadic that happens. If the pianist or guitarist transitions to another song or switches up a chord progression you want to be able to flow with him or her. This advances you musical knowledge as a singer. It also makes you a true professional. If you want to take your music theory knowledge a step further, invest in learning how to play an instrument. There are plenty of entry level and self-taught resources for learning how to play instruments. The 2 most popular being piano and guitar. Below are a few sources for how to play the piano or guitar by ear:
- Piano playing basics – https://www.true-piano-lessons.com/how-to-play-the-piano.html
- How to play the piano by ear – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3-w8GTq7Rw
- How to play the guitar by ear – https://beginnerguitarhq.com/how-to-play-guitar-by-ear/
4) Singing different genres
Another factors that makes a great wedding singer is someone who’s comfortable singing multiple genres of music. A well-rounded, professional singer can sing many genres of music. This is a skill you should have as a singer for any event you play, especially weddings. The reality is different people from all walks of life get married. This means they’ll be all types of music requested to perform. To ensure you’re a skilled, professional singer you have to make sure you can accommodate all requests. If you’re use to singing just 1 genre of music it’s now time to broaden your horizons. Try practicing multiple songs that are different genres. As you rehearse add in 1 song for each genre. Do something like:
- 1 R&B song
- 1 Pop Song
- 1 Oldies song (Motown, Doo-Wop)
- 1 Country song
- 1 Jazz standard song
This way you have a well-rounded, professional, versatile catalog you can work with when you perform as the wedding singer. This will help you connect with all members of the audience no matter what type of music they like. This will establish you as a professional and more than likely you’ll be hired again for similar gigs.
5) Comfortable with large crowds
Some weddings are very small. However, some weddings are huge which means there will be a huge crowd. In order to succeed as a professional wedding singer or any type of event singer you have to be comfortable singing in front of large crowds. Some singer have amazing voices but aren’t comfortable singing in front of huge crowds. The only way to truly succeed as an event singer is to be relaxed and comfortable singing for large crowds. The best way to get accomplish this is to simply start singing in front of smaller crowds and letting the audience size grow. It’s something you have to get use to. You also have to have a substantial amount of confidence to get comfortable singing for a large crowd. It’s very important to not be nervous. If you are nervous you have to find a way to tune it out so the audience doesn’t pick up on it. Confidence is everything.
6) Connect with the audience
Another great event singing tip is knowing how to connect with the audience. When you sing yes it’s about technique, stomach and mouth movement. However, it’s also about emotion. No matter how good you are as a singer if your performances lack emotion you’ll never be great. You want people to feel what you’re singing. You always want to sing from your heart not your head. At an emotion filled ceremony like a wedding, the audience would want the wedding singer performance to touch them. You can’t perform it like it’s another singing gig. The performance has to have passion, emotion and most importantly tell a story. The best way to accomplish this is with 2 tips:
- Practice the song like crazy to get technique and sound mastered.
- Find a way to relate to the song. Even if you’ve never experienced the story find something similar you’ve been to or imagine yourself in that story.
7) Enjoy yourself
In the words of The Jacksons 1976 hit simply “Enjoy yourself” when performing as a wedding singer. One of the most important things to remember as a singer and performer is to have fun. A lot of time we’re so focused on singing perfect and doing everything right we forget to have fun. Yes performing at someone’s wedding or event is a gig. However, you don’t want to come off as robotic or bored. You still want to get lost in the music and your performance. If you can’t have fun while you sing what’s the point in being an independent or professional singer. This is your moment to shine and have an amazing time.
With these simple yet productive events/wedding singing tips you should be able to nail your next singing gig. I’m sure your public performances were good but applying these tips will only make them better which makes you great. The better your performances are the more you’ll impress the crowd and also be asked to do more singing related events. No matter how experienced you are these amazing singing tips will only make your more accomplished.