Even though we’re professionals, we have often faced a very difficult, split-second decision while performing, and struggled with it every time:
Do we stop the music? Or do we go on?
Here’s what happens: sometimes the DJ starts a song too soon and we’re not ready. Sometimes the DJ starts the song too softly and we can’t hear important opening cues. Sometimes the DJ even plays the wrong song!
And that’s when the decision must happen – we either continue, struggling past the first few beats, trying to find our place in the song, or we signal a quick stop and hope the DJ gets it and starts the song over.
We generally aren’t excited about the idea of stopping the performance and starting over, but forging ahead, sometimes off the music, sometimes struggling to regain our sense of composure and presence, has always proved a much poorer decision. After enough experience having made both decisions, we’ve come to a conclusion:
Stop the music. Calmly start over. The thing is, the audience will forget what happened the moment the song comes back on and the dance begins. The audience won’t forget if the evidence of the mistake is happening right before their eyes: a performance that lacks something, a look in the performer’s eyes, a moment of disconnect with the song.
So here’s our advice:
1) TALK TO YOUR DJ. Confirm that the right version of your song will be played. Confirm the starting cue. Where will you be standing when the dance begins? Ask for a sound check beforehand so that the volume is set properly. And make sure your DJ also knows when to stop the music. You’ve worked so hard on your first dance for your wedding – you definitely want the end to live up to the beginning!
2) If, for any reason, something goes wrong anyway, don’t be afraid to start over! Calmly stand still, smile at your guests, give the DJ the sign to start over, and then proceed.
We’ve heard too many stories about DJ’s marring an otherwise perfect first dance – make sure you take care of every detail of yours! Coming soon – a story or two from our students about what they did and how it went.