Wedding March on Saxophone???

[sax@mfg]

Hi,

a friend asked me to play the wedding march (Wagner) for his wedding in the church on my sax.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFTnFErJEu4

In my opinion this tune sounds not really good on the Sax (tried Tenor and Alto).

I also tried playing it a bit jazzy/funky but i guess that does not produces the feeling that is expected if the bridal couple is coming into the church..

Any ideas what to do?

At the moment i am thinking to play an intro on the sax and let the organ play the wedding march itself...

[modman]

My wife and I perform at weddings, she officiates and I play the music and I play the Wedding March at weddings all the time on Tenor or Soprano.

This tune is not jazz and my suggestion is to play it straight as you can with a beautiful tone.

Personally I do not like the song but it is traditional and most people associate with it so I do what they want.

BTW, never play this at a Jewish wedding. As Wagner was a strident anti-semite and it is consider gosh.

In fact playing another wedding next week and the couple is trying to decide between Wedding March and I Just Called To Say I Love You by Stevie Wonder.

I hope they pick the latter but I will be ready if not.

B8-)

[hakukani]

Perhaps you could convince them to go with one of the other acceptable processionals.

Trumpet Tune-Purcell
Trumpet Voluntary-Clark

These would probably work better on Sax.

[Sasquatch]

Perhaps you could convince them to go with one of the other acceptable processionals.

Trumpet Tune-Purcell
Trumpet Voluntary-Clark

These would probably work better on Sax.

And for an avant-garde affair perhaps:

The Bitch is Back - John
The Lady is a Tramp - Rodgers

Juice harp might work for these :D

[BOPITY FUNK]

If they want the Wedding March,give 'em the Wedding March! I did it last year, i was hired-- along with a guitar playing chum--to play only flute, 45minutes in a stately home on a Friday afternoon. It was a lovely gig we did everything from Bach to Beatles inc. Pachelbel's Canon ---and Wedding March ---on flute go figure!
RegardsBF

[sax@mfg]

Thanks for the tips, especially the Trumpet xx from hakukani that i know but not by name.

I will meet tomorrow with the other musicians and than we will decide what to do.

[NissanVintageSax]

Better than what I got asked to play: Kenny G's "The Wedding Song"! But hey, I'll be getting paid for it! Wedding isn't for another year :) .

[JL]

This tune is not jazz and my suggestion is to play it straight as you can with a beautiful tone.

Exactly. It sounds fine on the saxophone and believe me, they will be very appreciative. I played a wedding with my band last summer (we rarely play weddings, but every now & then we get someone who wants a blues/swing band for the reception) and they requested this. It was my kind of wedding, no church service, no church, just a march up the "aisle" in the clubhouse, a quick exchange of vows, then the party began.

Anyway, I played the wedding march during the walk up the aisle on my horn and it worked fine. That was the only concession we had to make. From there it was just like any other party gig. Except the pay was way better! They even gave us a bonus, maybe because we met their request to play the Wedding March. Just do it.

[hakukani]

Whenever I played wedding receptions, I tried to stick the Wagner wedding march theme whereever I could during solo's. It would always crack up the band, and anyone who was Really listening.;)

[Pgraves]

"I'll Never Smile Again" ?

[Enviroguy]

Wait.....

If you really want to see if your bride-to-be really loves you, then you have to play this at your wedding.

It's the Wedding March for Tenor sax, Bass sax and Piano. And it's in RAGTIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.drakeih.com/cierra/wedrag1.mp3

I hope you enjoy. Because she won't. ;)

But isn't the bass sax part cool? Email me if you need the sheet music. And I will pray for you. :D

[NissanVintageSax]

Linky no worky :(

[Enviroguy]

Linky no worky :(

Try it again. I tested in both IE and Firefox....

[Jagigda]

Wait.....

If you really want to see if your bride-to-be really loves you, then you have to play this at your wedding.

It's the Wedding March for Tenor sax, Bass sax and Piano. And it's in RAGTIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.drakeih.com/cierra/wedrag1.mp3

I hope you enjoy. Because she won't. ;)

But isn't the bass sax part cool? Email me if you need the sheet music. And I will pray for you. :D


i was going to suggest arranging the classical version for quartet, but this just totally trumps it... this will be at my wedding definitely....(unfortuneatly, me and my future wife will have some disagreements and this will not be played...)

[hakukani]

Wait.....

If you really want to see if your bride-to-be really loves you, then you have to play this at your wedding.

It's the Wedding March for Tenor sax, Bass sax and Piano. And it's in RAGTIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.drakeih.com/cierra/wedrag1.mp3

I hope you enjoy. Because she won't. ;)

But isn't the bass sax part cool? Email me if you need the sheet music. And I will pray for you. :D

Cool, but this is the Mendohlsohn. This is traditionally for the recessional.
The Wagner is for the bridal procession.

[seattlebari]

As annoying as it may sound, I've been asked several times to do this on BARITONE SAX.
So, I change rigs from my "glass breaking" R & B setup, to an old Van Doren setup and go for it. So far, everyone has been pleased. I loved the post about Wagner.
I've also done "Someone To Watch Over Me" for several weddings, which people seemed to like.
I'd DO IT!!

[NissanVintageSax]

Linky no worky :(

Try it again. I tested in both IE and Firefox....

It worked!

My wife said "Turn it OFF! Now!"

[sax@mfg]

I met today with organ and guitar player: That's the plan (we will not have a rehearsal before the wedding in 4 weeks).

I'll play an Intro on the sax (sax only). The intro moves seamless into the wedding march. Organ, guitar and (maybe bass) will come in. I'll play the melody for the first 2/3 of the march. If the theme repeats the last time, organ takes over the melody and i play something "beautiful" above the melody ( no idea yet what to play...).

[JL]

I met today with organ and guitar player: That's the plan (we will not have a rehearsal before the wedding in 4 weeks).

I'll play an Intro on the sax (sax only). The intro moves seamless into the wedding march. Organ, guitar and (maybe bass) will come in. I'll play the melody for the first 2/3 of the march. If the theme repeats the last time, organ takes over the melody and i play something "beautiful" above the melody ( no idea yet what to play...).

Good for you. You've got to give them what they want in a case like this. One suggestion (it will save you some stress and extra time): Don't worry about dressing it up too much. Even if you just played it by yourself, just the melody with no flourishes, they would love it. If you can include the organ or rest of the band, so much the better. No need to over-arrange it or anything.

On a similar note, I can't tell you how many times at a gig someone comes up and requests "Happy Birthday" (it's their wife/husband/daughter/son/friend's birthday) and offers up $20 or more (one time $100) just to have you play that simple tune. You play/sing it once through and everyone is happy, then you can get back to your regular repertoire. It's good to be prepared for this.