Making music for my friends’ wedding

A few months ago I got asked if I wanted to play music on my friends’ wedding that took place recently. I felt very honoured to do this, because I think this is such a special event and I got to be the person having an important role and making this even more beautiful. I really wanted everyone and especially my friends to like it.

That came with relatively high expectations to myself - though they were more my own than those of my friends (there will definitely be a post about perfectionism in the future :-D my friends were really chill and gave me a lot of freedom). In the end it was a very wholesome experience for me that challenged me and at the same time was very fun also. I learned a lot and confronted myself with some insecurities.

What fascinated me about this project (besides the joy of being asked to do this) was that it brought together some musical skills I already have and others I still want to to get better at. For my concerts I only play what I find most suitable and what I like to play, this time it was also about what my friends had in mind versus how I think I can contribute to their ideas. That gave me a little bit of a frame while still having room for some creativity. Of course there was also a certain kind of nervousness because like I said - I tend to have high expectations to myself and I really wanted my friends to enjoy their wedding.

A few weeks before we talked about the songs that I would play during the ceremony. My friends had some suggestions and I had to look into the chords and the style of the songs to see if I can make a good cover version of them. Last year I started to accompany myself on the piano more while singing (when I started to write my own lyrics) so I already had some skills that I was very grateful for. But still piano accompaniment is something that can range from very simple to very complex and I would say that although I can do relatively easy accompaniment for a lot of songs I’m still struggling a little when I want to do a more complex style. It is something that I’m also currently working on in my piano lessons because it must feel really inredible when you’re able to accompany ANYTHING on the piano in a complex and interesting way :-) (actually this is one of my longterm goals on the piano!). Anyway, in the end I found good ways to play the songs the couple chose for the ceremony and it was also really fun to think about the characteristic elements of the songs that should definitley be part of the piano version as well.

There was one song that we sang together with people from our friend group as a surpise (an idea from a close friend of the bride) and another one as a duo. In a way this reminded me a bit of my singing workshops because I had a leading role on the piano and in the rehearsals we also did voice-related stuff like vocal warm-ups and stilistic ideas. But in contrary to the workshops the group also had great ideas how to divide the different parts of the song among each other and how to create a good atmosphere when finally performing at the wedding. The singing part was not a problem at all but it turned out that inventing a good piano accompaniment (once again .. :-D ) for the group song (a song by Kraftklub) with the skills that I have was the hardest of all the songs. When I had found a good way to play it a lot of pressure fell from me and in the end this song even became my favorite of all the wedding songs. It has a great uplifting energy and was special to the bride and groom.

My last role in the ceremony as a musician was the easiest one. I was supposed to do some atmospheric background music without voice while everyone congratulates the newlyweds. Since I already have my own music program (songs from my album “behind every wall grows a flower” and newer ones) I could take some inspiration from there. But I noticed that a lot of my instrumental songs are a bit melancholic and that was definitely not the vibe that I wanted for a wedding!! So I decided to also take some of my own popsongs with lyrics and turn them into instrumental versions (most of the harmonies of my popsongs are a lot happier) which was easier said then done. Again I felt some limitations on my piano skills (although I’m wondering if I will ever not feel any limitations because when it comes to music the sky is the limit and you can ALWAYS get so much better ;-) ) but I think I ended up with versions that sound nicely and that I was happy with. The lesson I learned here was that using (my) popsongs as a “happy backup” can definitely be a good idea if it fits the occasion and it also is a great way of adding a little variety to the way I play my songs usually.

So all in all being the wedding musician was definitely a complex thing to do for me but also I am very grateful for the experience. I got to play (literally!) an important part on an important day for my friends and I had a lot of fun during the ceremony (you can also see it in the photos that were taken :-D (they’re not shown on this homepage of course)). It has become even clearer for me now what skills I want to pracrise more on the piano, and yet I've already learned so much. So if you have a similar occasion and you want me to provide the music - let me know, I am prepared!