4:07
Why nobody dances straight after the food
On YouTube this video is called Mobile DJ Advise, WHY Don't People Dance After Food?
What this lesson teaches
Prompted by a reader's account of their first paying gig, at a restaurant, which did not go well - lost on the way, cocktail music during the meal, disco straight afterwards, nobody dancing, and the hostess coming over all night to direct the music.
He picks out the part that was not the DJ's fault.
Nobody dances after food
The meal ends, the coffees and the mince pies go round, and the disco starts. And nothing happens.
Because they have just eaten. His analogy is the right one: after a large Sunday lunch or a Christmas dinner, do you want to get up and run nine miles?
This is a physiological fact and no amount of good selection overrides it. A DJ who starts full blast straight after the plates are cleared has set themselves a task that cannot be completed, and will then spend an hour concluding they are bad at this.
What to do instead
There is a transitional stretch between eating and dancing, and it is part of the job.
Music with energy but no demand - something people can talk over, that raises the temperature of the room without asking anybody to stand up. Louder than dinner, quieter than the disco. Fifteen or twenty minutes of it while the food goes down, the bar does some business, and people start moving around.
Then the first dance or the first proper record, into a room that is ready.
That stretch is invisible work. Done right, nobody notices it happened; skipped, the night starts forty minutes late.
The other half of the email
The hostess directing the music all night, which is the thing that makes a gig miserable.
Worth saying plainly: at a private function, the person paying does have a say, and some of their requests will be right. The skill is not resenting it - it is getting in front of it. A conversation before the event about what they want, when they want it and who the room is removes most of the interventions, because the answers have already been given.
When it still happens, the client being on their feet at your table usually means they are anxious rather than displeased, and the fastest cure is playing one thing they asked for.
And getting lost
Also in the email, also not trivial. Arriving late means setting up in a hurry in front of people, which puts you behind for the whole evening. Leave early, and know where you are going.
Contents of the video
0:00 I just had my first paying gig on Sunday at a restaurant
Right folks, I had an email from someone and I think there's an appropriate video to do on the particular subject. Alright, first of all, I'm not going to say who it is but I'll give you a general idea of the actual email. I just had my first paying gig on Sunday at a restaurant. A lot of things didn't go well. First of all they got lost on the way which doesn't really help because it doesn't do you any good. Then they arrived, they played sort of cocktail music, smooth jazz, mellow stuff etc. Then when everyone had finished eating they started off playing disco to get everyone excited. But no one was dancing, the hostess kept on coming up to the table, started giving me directions for most of the night on what I should play etc. Now first of all, I'm trying to read in between the lines here. Here's the deal. I've done many functions where they've been eating and then the music started. But what I have never done is I've never started full blast the music straight after they finish eating. In other words...
1:23 They need to relax and chill out
They finish eating, they've had teas, coffees and the mince pies or biscuits and then all of a sudden, bang with the disco. Do you know why? Because they've just finished eating. No one but no one is going to want to dance if they've just finished eating. Alright, there's probably some people who are going, oh yeah, well they did it in my gig. Well then, you're just a strange person because let's be honest, just after you've had your Christmas dinner or a huge Sunday lunch, do you want to get up and go for a nine mile run? You've got to wait for your food to go down. Of course, possibly the reason being why people didn't dance straight away is because, like I said, they've just finished eating. They need to relax and chill out. So if you have someone come up to you and say, we want you to start the music as soon as they've finished eating, then you must, you must say to them, well, here's the deal. Give it 20 minutes or so. In other words, think about it from a three-tier situation. One tier is you're playing background music while they're eating.
The next one is you're playing a little bit more lively music, you're getting them in the mood. In other words, laid back classical cocktail music while they're eating and then maybe a bit of funky stuff, old retro funky stuff to get them maybe boogieing or tapping their feet while they're sitting down. And then, music down, possibly introduce yourself or all of a sudden your lights on and then bang, come in with the proper event. Now also they said that this lady kept on coming up and hassling, I think it was the hostess, yeah. Alright, we've all had it because in every single function you've got 10 DJs out there. 10. Who think... 2, 3, yeah, 10. Who think they know better. Well that is life. I'm afraid you're going to have that in life anyway. You will always have people who think they are better than you and oh, let me take over, I know what I'm doing. You've just got to put up with that. That's basically the equivalent.
2:48 They don't actually understand the philosophy behind all of this
Thank you for watching. But here's the deal, that's probably why you didn't get people dancing straight away. Because you went like a bulleter gate, straight in there, and of course the trouble is then, you see, everyone sitting there just eaten. They don't actually understand the philosophy behind all of this. So they're probably looking at the dance floor thinking, there's no one dancing, this is terrible. The DJs clapped, the DJs started, and look, the floor's empty. Well of course it is! You've all eaten, you plonkers! So, just relax, take it easy. For just, you know, 20 or so minutes and then get the ball rolling. Very quickly as well, start off with a certain kind of music and if that doesn't work, then maybe try something else, try something else. If you do get these DJs, these would-be DJs coming up to you, just be polite and say thank you. Have a little pen, write down their requests, see how it goes. Alright, try that, practice and enjoy.
This transcript was produced automatically from the audio of the video and may contain mistakes.
