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Sing Along Tunes at Solo Piano Gig


Cabo

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I've been asked to do a solo piano gig for a 60+ group of people. I only play instrumentals -- no vocals, but they've told me that there may be requests that they can sing along to near the end of the night.

 

Has anyone been in this situation and can offer some songs I should have ready?

 

Yamaha Montage M6, Nord Stage 4 - 88, Hammond SK-Pro 73, Yamaha YC-73, Mainstage, Yamaha U1 Upright

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If the age range is 60 upwards, go for obvious things like well known swing standards (think Sinatra, Nat King Cole etc), maybe a bit of Elvis and other earlyish rock 'n' roll, bit of Beatles. That should cover ya.

Yamaha: P515, CP88, Genos 1, HX1

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How about "Brick House"? LOL

 

Seriously, bring a varied-genre fake book. Like Hal Leonard's "The Ultimate Fake Book". Bring an iPad, too, because they're not going to know the words.

 

Wes

 

 

Hammond: L111, M100, M3, BC, CV, Franken CV, A100, D152, C3, B3

Leslie: 710, 760, 51C, 147, 145, 122, 22H, 31H

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Gee, that really depends on the "type" of people.

 

Some people here on the forum will probably laugh at me, but I suggest having a backup of older country/western stuff too just in case, i.e. "They Call the Wind Mariah", "You Are My Sunshine", "the Yellow Rose of Texas", etc. Maybe some easy-listening stuff, like someone else suggested.

Yamaha: Motif XF8, MODX7, YS200, CVP-305, CLP-130, YPG-235, PSR-295, PSS-470 | Roland: Fantom 7, JV-1000

Kurzweil: PC3-76| Hammond: SK Pro 73 | Korg: Triton LE 76, N1R, X5DR | Emu: Proteus/1 | Casio: CT-370 | Novation: Launchkey 37 MK3 | Technics: WSA1R

Former: Emu Proformance Plus & Mo'Phatt, Korg Krome 61, Roland Fantom XR & JV-1010, Yamaha MX61, Behringer CAT, Kurzweil PC4 (88)

Assorted electric & acoustic guitars and electric basses | Roland TD-17 KVX | Alesis SamplePad Pro | Assorted organs, accordions, other instruments

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I agree the average age of the crowd is helpful to know. Think about songs that are popular at karaoke bars and dueling piano bars. Perhaps it is anticipated some of the group will have loosened up after a few cocktails, in which case I think of songs like New York, New York.
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American Pie and Piano Man are two surefire singalongs, very easy to play and they also kill a lot of set time!

Rich Forman

Yamaha MOXF8, Korg Kronos 2-61, Roland Fantom X7, Ferrofish B4000+ organ module, Roland VR-09, EV ZLX12P, K&M Spider Pro stand,

Yamaha S80, Korg Trinity Plus

 

 

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Thanks for the suggestions.

 

I'm just wondering if most people would really know the words to these tunes. I've had people try to sing along with Piano Man before, but they tend to trail off during the verses, but maybe that's okay.

 

Also, I'm not singing, so it will probably be a bit different than a piano bar- type situation.

Yamaha Montage M6, Nord Stage 4 - 88, Hammond SK-Pro 73, Yamaha YC-73, Mainstage, Yamaha U1 Upright

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I too don't sing, but this sort of thing unexpectedly happened when I was playing at a small reception for some teachers who were being honored by a public school system. I was only hired to do cocktail piano but toward the end, when folks became more socially lubricated, one of the teachers asked if she could sing a song so we kind of brainstormed and ended up doing "We Are Family" by Sister Sledge. She had a fantastic voice (and charisma), and recruited a few other teachers to accompany her at the microphone. It went over gang-busters, and nearly the entire crowd ended up doing a conga line around the hall. So it may be helpful if you can identify a "ring-leader" with singing ability and then take it from there.

 

Thought of a few more sing along tunes:

 

Brown-Eyed Girl

 

Louie Louie

 

Hey Jude (ending)

 

Gloria

 

Wild Thing

 

 

"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing."

- George Bernard Shaw

 

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John Valby has a few catchy sing-along tunes, check him out.
2 Korg M3-73's, Korg WS AD, Radias, , Kurz PC3LE7, Alesis QS6 + QS7.1 used for MIDI controllers. Omnisphere, Alchemy, Painoteq, Spacestation Amp and Berringer 14" sub
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