How can I hire a live band?

We get a lot of people telling us that they are glad they came across midsummer music because they had no idea how to hire a live band for their wedding or party. They are familiar with booking a train ticket but have no idea how to book a Ceilidh band or a hire a String Quartet. Most people have never booked a Jazz Band until they come to get married or have their 40th birthday party, so it's something that people are just not familiar with. So let's have a look at some of the things that people have searched for:

hire this barn dance bandAlthough most people will search for sensible things, you do get strange things like ‘hireaband’ or ‘bandsforhire’ ;  not even a word, unless it's an americanism? (Americans are great at inventing fantastic words). Darius in any case some difference in interpretation between the words higher and book. If you hire a band you are paying for it services to be supplied to you at some time or other, but the time and place is not necessarily defined. If you book a band, then this is something a bit more definite and crystallised. When you book a service then the time, place, date and all things of this nature are defined. That is why one comes cross booking services 4 things like aircraft flights and train tickets theatre tickets, because this is not as nebulous has the concept of a higher. Having said that, one thinks in terms of car hire tool hire. Tool hire is understandable  because it is generally not a very precisely defined service. You collect that sometime when it happens to be available and you return it whatever time it is you finished with it and pay for the usage that you've actually had. In terms of hiring a taxi is fine, because you hail the taxi as it happens to be passing you and you use it only for the period until it managed just to get to your destination. It's a bit more puzzling when it comes to something like car hire for a wedding, where the date, time and location are absolutely critical. Perhaps it is just a matter of usage. Here are the dictionary definitions of Higher and Book.

Verb: Book (as in how can I book a string quartet)

reserve (accommodation, a place, etc.); buy (a ticket) in advance.

"I have booked a table at the Swan"

synonyms:

reserve, make a reservation for, arrange in advance, prearrange, arrange for, order;

charter, hire;

"Steven booked a jazz band to play for their wedding anniversary at their favourite restaurant"

Synonyms: arrange, programme, schedule, timetable, line up, secure, fix up, lay on;

e.g.

"we booked a ceilidh band for the main event in the Wellington Festival"

Noun: Booking (as in How do I go about booking a jazz band for my wedding)

an act of reserving accommodation, a ticket, etc. in advance.

"the hotel does not organise string quartet bookings"

Verb: Hire meaning 1. (as in Hire a Barn Dance Band)

obtain the temporary use of (something) for an agreed payment.

"I want to hire a barn dance band for my 40th birthday party"

Verb: Hire meaning 2. (as in I want to hire some good musicians)

employ (someone) for wages.

"The wedding planner said they would hire a top rate sting quartet for my wedding ceremony and reception"

Noun: Hire meaning 1. (I will hire this jazz band)

the action of hiring someone or something.

"jazz band hire is recommended as better for the wedding drinks reception than just playing a CD"

Noun: Hire meaning 2. (the jazz band will hire a new drummer)

a person who is hired; an employee.

"newly hired drummers have to attend six rehearsals before they can appear at a wedding evening reception"

Some people may be booking a marquee for their wedding or party from a  wedding and event hire   company and wonder whether they may be able to hire a band from the same place. Whilst some marquee hire companies will have contact with bands or music agencies like ourselves, mostly bands are hired directly from the bandleader, or more often from a  band hire company who have a range of artists to hire.

Adverts for bands for hire

If you look in wedding magazines or on the Internet you will often find adverts offering a band for hire. If it happens to be the right band for you, then your problem is solved, but more often it won't be quite what you're looking for. Perhaps you want to hire a band for a wedding and have very specific ideas about what you are wanting for each part of your wedding day,  perhaps a string quartet for the church ceremony or civil ceremony, a jazz band for the drinks reception and meal, finishing off with a barn dance band for the evening reception. So you are looking to hire three completely different music ensembles. You can search the wedding magazine adverts and Internet for individual bands, but this can be time-consuming and problematic as information about the music groups is presented in completely different formats.

You may see adverts  about bands to hire for parties.  The question then becomes, is a bad this is advertising to perform for a 40th birthday party for 50th wedding anniversary suitable for a big events like a wedding. Sometimes they are, and sometimes they are not. A wedding is a much bigger occasion than most birthday parties and requires a  very professional band who can be relied on to be ready on time and knows how to handle the environment and personal of a large wedding venue. On the other hand a birthday party maybe a very laid back of affair and might not  matter too much  if a jazz band turns up a bit late or gets in a bit of a muddle setting up. So  knowing what sort of band you're going to get is an important consideration.

So you will get bombarded by adverts for folk bands for hire; piano players for hire; brass band hire; electric violinist for hire; the list goes on forever. But another consideration is where on earth are all these bands located? For example we get lots of requests for the vitamin string quartet, or some piece of music that someone who has heard played on YouTube by the string quartet, and wondering if we can arrange for the quartet play at their wedding. The only trouble is that this string quartet is based in Los Angeles in the USA. This isn't immediately obvious when they're found on the Internet,  and you're more likely on average to find a Jazz Band or string quartet who are based at the other end of the country from you or outside the UK all together, as you are to find a band within a sensible distance from you. 

Hire a string quartet in your local area

The UK might be a relatively small country, but if you find generic adverts for ‘bands to hire uk’,  you can be fairly certain that on average 90% of them will be too far from you to be relevant.   What you are wanting are bands to Hire in Your local area. Sure, sometimes people will book and hire a Scottish band to play in Hampshire, some people have the luxury of having money to burn,  however there a few of us who have the cash to be able to do this as the overall price would be at least 6 times what they need pay for a geographically better placed band of the same quality and type. What most of us normal mortals are looking for is a good selection of string quartets, jazz bands and ceilidh bands within a sensible travelling distance from our wedding or party venue, giving us enough choice to find something that really appeals and connect with us.

Hire a jazz band in your local area

Bands are all different and personal preference in music is as varied as there are people, so finding a good match needs a wide choice to select from.  So instead of wading through the plethora of adverts to hire a violinist; extolling Band hire for wedding; suggesting wedding hire ideas;               claiming to be on everything for everybody wedding hire company; just minimise the effort to hire a band;   surely have plenty of other things to do . You're interested in some form of easy route to local band hire. This is where the midsummer music agency and other good agencies like ourselves make it easy for you. When you are doing your search on Google or Bing and typing in all the things like swing bands for hire; local bands for hire; band to hire; hire bands; wedding reception hire; hire band for wedding; amongst the mass of individual bands you will find a number of music agencies. Some are very good and regrettably some are definitely less good, some will appeal in style and layout, others won’t. If you want to make life easy for yourself then go for an agency that has a good selection of the music style that you are looking for. Some specialise in jazz bands others in ceilidh bands and barn dance bands a few cover all kinds of music including classical duos and string quartets, (though rarely with as much real selection in each genre.)  So what are you looking for -  bands for hire; violinist wedding hire; hire for weddings; hire band;       guitarist for hire;   big band hire;  swing band hire;    Book Folk Bands for Hire ; The list of things that people search for is almost Infinite, So go for an organisation that has done all the speed work for you, I found the band, has put them into a common format and can handle your booking and questions efficiently and painlessly.

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