Christmas gig - keeping it entertaining?

[OutJet]

Looking for advice from seasoned pros â I got called in last second to entertain a retirement community with a Christmas singalong. (someone canceled)

 

Any fun tricks, suggestions that have worked for you to transform it from "somebody playing Christmas songs" to true entertainment and fun?

 

(I normally play in church where I'm trying to keep the attention AWAY from me.)

 

Thanks!

[miden]

FWIW, when I do Xmas gigs (which I DO try to avoid) I will only play a smattering of carefully selected tunes (mix of trad and modern) and in between treat it as a normal gig.

 

Most folks at these have already been done to death with lifts, shops, restaurants et al all "piping" it 24/7...so yeah a couple of really good xmas tunes (is there such a thing?) and throw in your normal sets.

[Tusker]

For retirement communities, it doesn't hurt to travel back to the appropriate decades and pick out a few songs which bring back the memories. If they remember they will sing along, they will have a glow on their faces, and you will (rightly) feel like a hero.

[KuruPrionz]

Consider doing a couple of sing-a-longs but not too many.

 

Do not do Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree, only Brenda Lee should sing that.

 

And avoid "First Christmas" by Stan Rogers at all costs, it is suicidally depressing.

I agree with doing some other fun songs, a smattering of 50's, 60's and 70's pop and country radio hits will get you there.

[Old No7]

Start off with "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer"

 

What...

 

What did I say...

 

Old No7

[Docbop]

It's a must to play Santa Claus Please Come to the Ghetto by James Brown. Want to be cool some Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer by Babyface to get all the wife's bouncing their Planet Fitness booties around the house.

 

[video:youtube]

 

 

When I worked at the church we had a bookstore that was open everyday and played really cool Jazz and other music. So I made a Funky Holidays mix CD and would grin when I hear them playing it now and then. Especially the En Vogue Silent Night

 

[video:youtube]

[David R]

Considering the OP's gig is a Christmas singalong, I wouldn't stray too far afield from the assignment. Pick the well-known tunes, maybe come up with some interesting intros and endings, make the people happy.

 

When I was doing solo piano Christmas background music, I would also add in some winter themed standards or some tangentially related standards ("A Child Is Born," "Alice In Wonderland," "Skating in Central Park") just to fill out the repertoire and keep myself interested.

[Stokely]

I recommend Jingle Bells Rock (some interesting chords used in there) and my favorite to play has been Run Run Rudolf, we did the live Skynyrd version with a pretty difficult (for me) piano part...

 

The hardest song we tried to learn was Father Christmas by the Kinks. Not because the song is difficult, but because it has some really weird timings in it. We were trying to learn it "like the record" because we only had one practice, and when playing along, they'd have little breaks that would come out to be part of a bar, and not an even part...like between an "and" and an "a"....and each little break would be slightly different. The Kinks were together on these so they were not screwups...we ended up just standardizing them all. Over the years there have been a few songs where you swear they did things a bit weird just to screw up cover bands, that song is a prime example!

[OutJet]

You all are great - as usual, I get what I come for on this forum: a solid mix of good suggestions, ominous warnings and comedy.

 

Thanks for the help. Luckily I'm only on the hook for 45 minutes.

[Mighty Motif Max]

Singalongs don't always allow for fancy arrangements. However, having just gotten back from a relatively high-profile/stakes Christmas tune solo piano gig (university president's winter faculty reception/celebration), my comment would be that it can be nice to change your accompaniment up a little. Find some relative equivalent chords, maybe reharmonize some parts. The way I approach those types of songs in a solo setting is I know the "basic" form and melody of the song and the "proper" base chords, but I'll swap in harmonically similar chords, add a time signature change, add interludes and key changes, and that sort of thing. Maybe change the genre entirely (i.e. O Come All Ye Faithful as a rock cha-cha, Santa Claus Is Coming To Town as a ragtime/stride piece). Keep in mind that I have the basic songs either entirely memorized or learned by ear at some point, so most of this stuff is improvised around the basic song itself. People love it.