Wedding Blog

hello reader! i used to be in an orchestra in houston, and i know for a fact that some dallas high schools have great orchestras. i would look into which highschools have won state awards, and then ask the students to play. we used to get paid 25 bucks an hour per person. most professionals will charge minimum 100 per hour per person. and just because they are high schoolers, doesnt mean you wont get great music. if you find a high school with a great reputation for its orchestra, you will definitely get very talented musicians. wedding/funeral music is very easy to play (unless you have something specific in mind) and its standard for people who do gigs.
good luck!!

Ask heads of music departments at local universities, or the strings professors at the same. They know a ton and can direct you to students and/or amateurs who will be less expensive but very good. (Having been a music major myself, I know how it works ;-)) Good luck! (and it’s just Canon in D, in case you need to ask for that, by Pachelbel, I don’t know a canon in d minor but I’m sure it would be beautiful too ;-))

haha i was going say what jennifer said: d maj

i go to juilliard and i know for a fact that we don’t charge very cheap esp cuz it’s a professional school.

a lot of cities have a “youth” orchestra that already have some people in quartets and trios. i would look up those and then contact the director to see if there are any quartets, trios/duets that are avaliable for weddings. most of the youth orchestra members are in high school or middle school but the very best musicians in the entire area. i was part of one ever since 5th grade and it was considered the elite of the entire state.

best of luck to you!!

I’m part of a student quartet in California and we usually take whatever our customer gives us, usually around $25 to $60 per gig. One way to tell whether a group is good or not is to drop in unannounced on a group practice (say that you’ll be checking them out in the future, but don’t specify when). You can ask them to play Canon in D (Pachelbel), Mendelsson Bridal March, Sheep May Safely Graze, Ave Maria (Bach OR Schubert), or Entrance of the Queen of Sheba. All of those pieces are pretty standard and any good quartet should know them. Also, I would personally recommend a quartet over a trio if you want a full sound.

mrs ladybug yes we do it on the side but we charge almost as much as professionals

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions, and to Mrs. Ladybug for putting in some research. I was able to find a trio for $350. I haven’t signed the contract yet, but this is the best price I’ve seen so far and I’m so excited!