Karaoke Forums

Ahhhhhh, well. Not near as interesting as I thought.

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Mongo ain't exactly a "who," he's more of a "what".

Me too. The only exception is one guy who sings almost as many songs as I do (he is second on our CompuHost fun facts with 120+ different songs). I don't worry about doing one of his, but anyone else I will abandon the song at that venue.


Ain't it the truth. My voice teacher says she is amazed at the number of songs I do -- on Hoster it says the show length on my whole list is 16 hours and 40 minutes.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

L M A O!!!! It DOES sound kinda dirty! !

well of course its sounds dirty, I am a little bit naughty and a little bit nice

but mongo tis the types of snogs that are on offer that make it interesting

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"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

Agreed with most here. Be a good sport, learn some more songs (2 is not enough), and move on with life.

Oh, now that I like....Interesting snogs

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Mongo ain't exactly a "who," he's more of a "what".

Uh OH Ms V. Sounds like YOU got caught.

easier said than done for SOME people. You and I could easily learn more than two songs. Any KJ or singer that's THIS dedicated to talk about it on a karaoke forum usually aren't your TYPICAL regulars at a karaoke joint.

Many times, we forget what it's like to be a routine karaoke singer. I've had some regs that sing the same stuff over and over and over, every friday or sat night, same four songs. If it's a slow night, I've tried and tried to get them to try even an overdone song, just SOMETHING to expand their selections. Nope, they just go back to their starter song and go all over again!

One of the reasons I became a KJ is I was encouraged to branch out on some of my songs. Many of the ones I sang were oldies that other singers did as well. My first karaoke cdg I bought had my favorite band. Song was horribly done (Nutech), but hey, it was better than not ever having it. Suddenly, I'm on a roll, buying more and more cdgs, even getting lots of them on discounted sales (karaoke.com)... next thing you know, I have over 4K songs, and I'm NOT a kj! I would bring in my discs to my local hangout and always have to have a couple printed copies of my songs, listed by artist and song title. Many times, I was surrounded by people wanting to borrow a disc to sing that night!

The point I'm trying and failing to make is, we have to put ourselves in their shoes a lot of times, and realize that yes, some people may only feel comfortable singing just a couple of songs!

We have a regular that comes in almost every weekend. She sings the same songs over and over. Recently, she made a comment about my variations on songs depending on the crowd that is there. I told her that I have made it a point to learn a few songs in each genre so that I can modify my list based on the type of people we have. She seemed to like that explanation.

Last weekend she came up and gave me a different song and smiled. She said, I am going to try something new, but you might have to help me with it. I told her I would help her with anything new she wanted to learn and do. She came up later and did the song, with a little help from me to stay on the melody. Needless to say, she got a big reaction from the other regulars in attendance for having the guts to try something new. Now they all seem to be bringing up new songs to try out. They are getting there earlier with the intention of working on the new songs before the big crowd gets in the house.

I give each one of them a compliment and encourage them to keep learning new stuff. Everyone of them has left with a huge smile on their face and a sense of accomplishment.

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Mongo ain't exactly a "who," he's more of a "what".

I try to set the example as well. When I started, not so long ago, I only knew 3 or 4 songs really well and had a lot of anxiety about having to fill the night if I didn't have enough singers. Thankfully, it was never an issue and I have come to realize that it's more about confidence than anything. I now have over 60 songs that I know really well and don't worry too much about singing. I'm not including the ones I'm working on or the ones I can carry off if I try a little harder.
It's only been the last couple of months that I decided to aim for at least one new song a week. I've fallen somewhat short of that recently due to colds, and the busy holidays.
But I intend to get back to it.
When they commented on all the new songs I was singing, I told my regulars that I use my slower nights to try out new songs and now it seems to be rubbing off. I have a couple of guys that will be coming from a different city to my new venue close to home so that they can try out new ones. Because it's just starting up, it is understandably slow and they have finally realized the benefit of it. They get more songs in and get to try out new stuff (and possibly screw up) without all the "hot chicks" they want to impress in attendance.
On really slow nights, we even will do a kind of kamikaze karaoke. The difference is that we THINK we know the song but have never performed it and maybe haven't even heard if for years. I found two of my best songs that way.
It's been alot of fun!

Similar experience here too. I had one of the regulars over on Sunday and we fired up my system at home. I run from a laptop so I simply hit play and let it run through a certain group of songs. We experimented to see which ones we could sing that we do not normally do and discovered quite a few that we both knew and knew well.

We even discovered some that could be turned into duets with the right person.

I am in full belief that the reason some people only have a few songs they will sing is due to the fact that they just need practice and encouragement. Same as someone who has never sung in front of a crowd before. A few kind words and they blossom into someone that you can't get to keep their mouth shut.

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Mongo ain't exactly a "who," he's more of a "what".

As kj who used to sing a lot before I became a KJ I still like to sing. A lot of people have appreciated my singing, and some people that I have not seen for years often come up to me and say didint I see you sing at (insert bar that closed 3 years ago, or another bar that stopped karaoke 2 years ago). For now I generally keep myself in the rotation, if it is not too busy and I do get requests for me to sing a song every now and then.

That said sometimes I do it, sometimes not, it depends on if I like to sing the song, or if I can do it well (in my opinion). It also depends on how many people are waiting to sing. So many times I have blown off request for me to sing a specific songs.

If someone else has asked to sing the song themselves they would get to do it though If I have not already sung it (or if it was at least some time after I sang it).

I really have no idea what you mean Tex

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"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

I agree that it's easy for a lot of us to forget the issues that many of our singers deal with. I host a karaoke show about once a month but when I'm not doing that I'm performing with my band. We have enough material that we can do two complete 4 hour shows without repeating anything. But I'm in a band an most of my singers aren't.

I've also never suffered from stage fright. And I've been a professional entertainer for more than 40 years. I'm used to singing in front of an audience. Many people don't have an opportunity to do that so they never get used to it.

Most of my regular singers have a list of 5 or 6 songs, maybe a bit less or more, that they feel comfortable singing. I don't see anything wrong with that. And many of them need a couple of drinks before they can get up the courage to sing in front of someone else. I don't see anything wrong with that either.

A lot of my regulars sing the same songs every time. I haven't heard anyone complain and I know my singers are more comfortable and confident doing what they are most familiar with. That translates to a good time which is why they are there in the first place.

At my shows I generally sing the first and last song of the night unless it's slow. Then I'll sing more depending on the situation. I have a lot of material so I try to sing songs that I'm pretty sure no one else is going to sing. I would never, ever, sing something that someone had sung before me.

I frequently get requests to do one song or another. And if I think I can do the song justice I'll do it. If I know that one of my regulars is going to sing the song I'll explain that that song will be coming up in a little while but that someone else will be singing it. As someone else mentioned here, generally the person requesting the song doesn't really care who sings it, they just want to hear the song.

It doesn't happen too often but once in a while two people want to sing the same song. I let them. If the song requests come in back to back I let the first person sing the song and ask the other person if we can hold off a little while before repeating that song. Maybe I'm just lucky but I've never had a bad result from that. Everyone gets to sing what they want to sing and everyone is happy.

As KJs I think that it's our responsibility to remember why we're doing the show. It's for the singers. And the singers aren't pros. So I think it's important to make them as happy and as comfortable as possible. It seems to me that kind of attitude leads to more singer and more return bookings.

Larry

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"Life is too short for diet soda and lite beer"