Karaoke Forums

Situation calls for a dance set, if you have five singers that is roughly 20 to 22 minutes, run two rotations 40 to 45 minutes then do a 10 to 15 minute dance set then get your singers back on stage and repeat. But as you said the non-singers were dancing to the karaoke singers so let them dance to the karaoke singers it is a kick for both the singers and nonsingers.

"have it their way" Makes it sound like your non-singers have attended a karaoke show for the purpose of turning it into a non-karaoke show. Most of the non-singers I know that attend karaoke shows do so for the live singing show. They enjoy the karaoke as much as the singers do! It's a mistake to assume that just because a person isn't singing that person would rather the singing stopped.

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KNOW THYSELF

Nah the way I see it is they are dancing & having a good time already to the songs being sung. No point in putting in 'dance' music.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

For the record, I play filler dance music between my singers. I only pick songs that have a good beat at the top of the song, and play about 30-45 seconds of each while the next singer is on their way to the stage. I also play about 4-5 full dance songs throughout the night when I need a bathroom or stretch break.

We don't need to go back into what a "sin" this format is at most of your bars, but it works great for me. My non-singers outnumber my singers about 5 to 1, and both singers and non-singers have a great time, and typically stay from start to finish every night.

BTW, even with this format, I still average about 50-55 karaoke songs a night in a 4 1/2 hour show (about 10-12 an hour), which I think is a pretty good pace.

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C Mc
KJ, FL

You know, I played devil's advocate just to provoke a response and it always works. We as professional music providers do so in a way that is best suited to our situations. There are no two identical rooms, with identical people with the same expectations and same music taste. For heaven sakes, if you have a group of 20-somethings who love Usher, and nobody is singing Usher, and the rotation has started to ease up on a week night because people are going home, then it is approrpriate based on MY KNOWLEDGE OF MY ROOM AND MY SINGERS to throw on an Usher tune. Not every show, certainly. Nobody dies if I play an Usher song for everyone to dance to.

If you create a party atmosphere, which is extremely important when you have non-singers in a room full of singers, then everybody is happy. Don't get lazy, though, and throw music on because you don't want to move your rotation around a little to avoid a series of three boring-as-heck songs in a row.

Each of us is hopefully capable of reading the room, knowing what is successful and what is necessary. My gigs have longevity and there is a reason for it...it's what I do. Read the room, read the people, read the bartender for heaven sakes.

There is no fail-safe equation for a successful karaoke show..success lies in creating the show from all the components - room, singers, nonsingers, owners, etc.

Did you just suggest you'd move the rotation around a little to avoid a series of three boring as heck songs in a row? Did you dare suggest when playing to a room of both singers and non-singers, that one should play the occasional dance tune?

Haha.. I think half the readers on this board must have steam coming out of their ears at the very thought of such heresy.

ah, such is life. Actually, I make suggestions to singers of a different song if it starts to drag -- most of the time they're thrilled to think that I can come up with a song for them to sing - that I'm actually CATERING TO THEM. Oh yah, Usher and Nellie ... Tilt Ya Head Back...Hot Tottie....bring it on. Wanna see little girls dance?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_9XqyB7 ... 9Yc3pv-uI0

Filler? Great stuff when you have certain types of singer in the crowd...

example -- "Duane" is a good singer and a regular customer, but he's also a pain in the (@$%&#!)...

Pam finishes singing....

Me: "Wow! Give it up for Pam! Did she nail it or what?"

Crowd goes wild for Pam

Me: "Ok, folks let's have a warm welcome for our next singer, Duane!"

Duane - cooly sits at table finishing his drink.

Me: "Bill you're on deck, Tina you're in the hole."

Duane -- cooly takes a drag off his cigarette

Me -- "Don't forget Twisted Sisterz is featuring Jaeger Maester for only $3 tonight"

Duane proceeds to finish his cigarette.

Me -- "Duane, you didn't get cold feet on me did you buddy?"

Duane slowly saunters towards the stage...

Me -- "Don't forget the waitresses are working hard to make sure you have a great time tonight -- be sure and tip them well"

Duane finally reaches the stage, but turns to talk to some friend.

etc.

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Now... I don't mind filling some dead air, but if I get more than one or two Duane's in the room, the filler music sure comes in handy.

While I know that there are different types of shows ands things are different from one area to another. I just want to make a comment here that may or may not mean anything to anyone.

My shows depending on the venue run anywhere from 5:1 nonsinger to singer down to 1:1, alhough not related to crowd size. What I have noticed is that on shows where I do dance sets, the ratio for nonsingers is always higher than pure karaoke shows. (the crowds are actually better at the pure karaoke shows than they are at the mixed shows)! The fact that some run dance sets for the nonsingers may actuially affect the atendance of karaoke singers, so it becomes self full filling as to what you end up with at a particular venue. As the karaoke "purist singers" will look to other shows and your attendance of singers slowly drops off until you have a DJ dance show and it is no longer a requirement to setup mics and monitors (not a bad thing and I had this happen to me in a club a couple of years ago).

In this situation where I see 'Duane' at the table non-chalantly finishing his drink or smoke, he gets a going once, going twice - on to the next singer! Usually after the going once, they are on stage.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

I've only been witness to FEW venues that actually have a large enough dancefloor to get people dancing to karaoke!

and 90% of them had old drunk and not-nearly-middle class overweight or unsightly singers...and were in dive bars.

NOW with that said, i do have young attractive singers who dance to karaoke ONLY WITH a group of their peers and ONLY to their songs.., and a few old overweight drunks that would dacne to literally anything......but usually people would RATHER hear the real song, especially if it's a dance song by the original artist.

I love to dance but to someone else singing, unless they're really good, to karaoke would be a hard sell to me or my friends, unless it WERE my friends singing.

But to a complete stranger or a bad singer, could i really get my groove on to that? doubtful unless i was mostly drunk..or trying to impress a lady to get laid....

A packed dancefloor all the time to karaoke tracks with good and bad singers?!

And not old unattractive severely drunk people stepping on each others feet?

WHERE would that be?

Besides a place in myrtle beach and one place in ny city, i haven't seen that but have been to many many karaoke joints.

Dancing to 1 karaoke song maybe but a full dancefloor all night on just karaoke songs?

Surely the embellishment is quite obvious here...

fairly common sight...
but more common are full dance floor when the singers sing very popular danceable songs

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I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

Personally I don't see a problem with a dance floor full of "older less than middle class" people, I have those shows from time to time and generally it is better than a bunch of drunk hot soro girls and even drunker frat boys dancing around jumping up on the stage and grabbing at the mics knocking tables over and breaking things and I have those too. I will take the middle aged half drunks everytime in terms of people dancing during a karaoke show.

As far as people dancing at full time karaoke shows I see it almost every night.

EXACTLY and his song is already playing and will not get a restart if he makes it to the stage before going one, going twice, gone is finished, still no dead air! (his song was just used as filler music )

In the same 4 1/5 hours I average 15 - 16 per hour using the fade to the next song method which is between 65 and 70 karaoke songs for the night. If I have 40 singers there most will get to sing twice instead of once for the night. My signup sheets have 15 lines and I label them with the times at the beginning of the sheet as to when that song will be sung so the singer have some idea as to when they will be up so if the show starts at 9:00 (it will start at about 8:45) the second sheet will say first singer on this page will sing at 10:00, third page will say first singer on this page will sing at 11:00, etc. this gives people just coming in an idea of when they will be onstage.

For bathroom breaks I just wait for the right singer singing the right song (singer has to be someone I know I don't have to ride herd on, song has to be at least a 6 minute song.

I was going to make another suggestion but I figured it might gross some people out, but never have to leave your board all night. The only way to fly though.

http://www.oucmedical.com/products/urol ... /pg83.html

Great feature on Hoster - I can tell someone exactly how long it is until they sing...unless I move the rotation around. People really love knowing.

Funny I had a group of 'non singers' dancing to some singing Du hast last night - they were in their 50's & 60's easy! No telling what people will dance to.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Ok. Will leave it at that!

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Ditto.

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KingBing Entertainment C'mon Up! I have a song for you!!! [font=MS Sans Serif][/font]

I don't have a long established show. I don't even have a regular weekly gig (was given one a couple weeks ago but the 4 owners don't know who's scratching and where to itch) but I get calls for a one time gig, or a gig every few weeks or to fill in for a buddy.

Without having an established long term gig like Lonnie's (where people plan their night and know what to expect) I have to play it by ear. I always converse with the owner up front so we are on the same page,,,, karaoke or karaoke/dj? If there aren't a lot of singers (and without a regular gig, it's usually a no) I set up my filler music to whatever type of music the owner wants. If he tells me to wing it, then it gives me free rein to read the crowd.

Having said this, with a small rotation I won't make a singer wait more than 15 minutes if there is only 1 or two singers. I will play upbeat music to get people hopping and in a festive mood. I will also sing upbeat songs that I've either had success getting people to dance or that I think will get them to dance. Regardless of what people think, people WILL dance to karaoke given the right song and the right singer.

This is how my filler music works for me, if it's intended for dance music or to fill gaps then it's as loud as the karaoke. If it's intended to get from one singer to the other, it's at about half volume. This could be in the same show. If it spawns an idea for a singer, so what? I've had people then sing what was filler before and no one has ever complained.

I do have a twice a month show that I just agreed to, I got the gig using the aforementioned format. I'm confident however that this is going to grow a following and there will be more karaoke than dance music. If this is the case, I will not make singers wait while I spin dance songs unless it's a short set with the typical dance songs like the Cupid Shuffle, Cha Cha Slide that I have multiple requests for. The last thing I want to do is alienate the singers and those that came to watch the singers.

I think we all have ways that work best for us, but should never be afraid to try something new as long as we don't rock the boat!

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KingBing Entertainment C'mon Up! I have a song for you!!! [font=MS Sans Serif][/font]