I was wondering if anybody had a good idea of what a fair rate is for a whistler/flautist playing a wedding. Assume a professional performance and sound setup, wealthy clients, and the fact that I will be playing over all the major parts of the wedding, including the ceremony and all of that. We are playing most of the “New World” soundtrack. The piano player, who is assembling/leading the ensemble, is asking us to name our own prices. I’ve played a lot for free, or have been given a rate in advance. So, if anyone here has played some weddings, let me know if there is a kind of good or standard rate for whistler/flautist playing through the major parts of a wedding.
I would see if I could get $1,000,000. Pat Plunkett would be your man. There are lots of variables to your question that I think would matter.
Where is the wedding? (rural, city, big city like New York)
How much have they spent on the wedding already? (Did they spend $10,000 or $500 on the flowers, I think factors like that would matter)
Are these folks friends/family or is this a strictly professional arrangement? How did they get your name?
How rich are they? Are we talking Martha’s Vinyard rich or do they own the local hardware store?
Is the piano player a local professional? That person may be able to tell you the deal. If not, call up a few of the local professional wedding pianists and find out what they charge. Wedding planners would have their phone numbers if you can’t find them in the phone book.
Good Luck! This may be the beginning of a good opportunity for you. If this goes well, you might want to give your name and number to some of the local wedding planners. I’m not in the business. I just like brainstorming.
Not sure why mutepointe dropped my name, but I agree with most of what was said… When I do weddings (with trumpet), I usually get $150, but that’s usually for only a few tunes. My advice would be to try to get one of the other musicians to “fess up”. In fact, the price is usually dictated by the keyboard person, so see how much they are paying in total. I guess if I were you, I’d ask for $200 and see what happens…
Hi Brendan, I take it you are in Australia although your profile is silent about which bloody country on the planet you’re in.
I think the base here is about $100 for a minimum call out of 3 hours. If you play less than that amount of time you still get the minimum rate.
You can charge an extra $10 for each instrument that you play over the first one (or main one) and if you provide your own sheet music ther is a minimal charge you can add for that.
Try and get them to send you a petrol voucher to cover your travel costs on top of that.
I guess I need to clarify some things. Its kinda complicated.
The piano player is a local professional, but he is also a good friend of the family and he is doing it for them for free, but he is asking us to name our price, because he wants us (flute, violin, cello) to get paid for our help. I did ask the piano player for his suggestion on a rate, but he was at a loss for a whistle/flute player. He advised me to ask someone who would know, so I’m going to the chiffboard and to a professional drummer friend of mine who has played a wide variety of gigs, including weddings.
The wedding is at a very nice establishment outside of Nashville, the Opryland Hotel.
The families are very wealthy. Think international celebrity level of richness on the groom’s side of the family, and the bride’s family is just plain old rich. Not international celebrity rich, but I’ve been to their house and… yeah.
The number that has been floating around in my head is $300 to $350, but I have no idea if this is highway robbery or if I’m still low-balling it. Remember, we’re playing almost an entire soundtrack, and we’re playing over the big parts of the wedding too.
I said Plunkett because I’m bad with names. I was meaning pancelticpiper. He’s from Kanawha County, West Virginia too but lives in Orange County.
Like I said, I’m not in the business but I think $300 is low. I’ve been given $100 to play at a funeral. I returned the money because of ethical conflicts. It was an honor to play at the funeral.
The going bottom rate around here (California) for pipers to play at weddings, funerals, etc is $200. Most are charging $300 nowadays I think.
It matters not whether you’re playing one tune, or playing music for every part of the service… it’s a one-hour-minimum thing.
At a recent church Christmas service I played uilleann pipes and whistle and they paid me $250.
I know some harpists who make their living doing weddings and I think their going rate is around $500.
You mentioned that the people have money. My advice (and I’ve been doing weddings for 30 years) is to get paid in CASH up front. For some reason the more money people have, the harder it is to get paid. One of the wealthiest weddings I’ve ever played at stiffed me. The reception used EVERY ballroom at a very swank hotel, each room with its own full band. The whole thing must have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. The rich old Mother of the Bride wouldn’t pay me at the event, and right after the event changed her phone number! I think she stiffed everybody.
I used to run into wedding musicians who demanded cash up front, when they arrived at the wedding, before they played a note, and I used to think that they were a little too hard-nosed, a little too mercenary. Not now. Now I do the same. Once you’ve played, the client has got what they want and the musician can’t take it back! There is absolutely no incentive for the client to pay you once the service is over, other than innate honesty, and frankly that’s a rare commodity. The overall pattern is, the richer the people, or the bigger the institution, the harder it is to get paid. I’ve been stiffed by the Department of Defence, the Roman Catholic Church, and two rich familes in my 30 years.
Beyond getting totally stiffed, there’s often trouble after a wedding or funeral tracking down who has your money. Don’t be surprised if you get the classic “oh the money is in my other purse/pair of pants back at the hotel!” or the equally classic “oh I think Uncle Bob has your money…let me check around…I think he’s left already!” etc.
As a highland piper in the South (USA), I rarely gig, but when I do get $150.
Among classical musician, string players typically get more than wind, brass, or percussion. The least I’ve heard of people getting paid for a gig (other than gratis) is $75. The most (here in the South) is about $250 (for a run of the mill professional, not a celebrity).
As a professional Highland Piper I regularly play weddings and funerals. For Funerals I get $235 and that includes piping at the church and the cemetery and for weddings services I get $240 for the ceremony and if it also involves the reception I ask for $80/hour additional. I don’t think these rates are unreasonable. Basically, it’s $80/hour with a 3 hour minimum charge.
Good luck
These responses are really helpful. I was already thinking around $300, and a professional musician I’m friends with locally also suggested $300. That seems to be a dominant suggestion here too.
A rather prominent Irish musician I know once told me that he basically made about as much doing his day job as he would likely be able to make if he played music full time. He also said it would involve being on the road 48 weeks a year. As it is, playing gigs, teaching and other music related activities basically is a nice supplement to his income and I get the feeling as a result he enjoys the music more. There is a reason why with very few exceptions (The Chieftans prior to Derek Bell’s death being the most prominent example) most Irish Music groups tend to either only last a few years or to have at least one or two members change every year.
Dunno about its US equivalent, but the Musician’s Union in GB has minimum rate guidelines for this kind of stuff… which even if you aren’t a member would give you a baseline to work from. I bet the US equivalent does something similar - try checking out their website. Also info on contracts etc.
Rates for American Federation of Musicians members are set at the local level. There is no national standard scale. In my local the scale for weddings (also the same for conventions, rodeos, ice shows, strolling mercantile events and fashion shows) is $75 for two hours or less, $100 for three hours, and $40 per hour after three hours. These are side musician rates. Leaders or contractors get double scale.
My brass quintet gets $1200-$1500 for weddings if you pick from our standard repertoire list. If you want something outside the list we negotiate a higher rate based on purchase of the music and rehearsal time required to learn it. If you want something arranged, we can do that as well. This gets trickier because we have to negotiate performance rights with the copyright holder.
Pat’s suggestion about finding out what the organist is paid is an excellent one. An even better suggestion is pancelticpiper’s about getting paid before the service starts. Be sure you have made arrangements beforehand on who will be holding your money. There is an awful lot of confusion both before and after weddings.
While weddings are a staple for a lot of professional musicians they are usually not fun gigs. You’re in the middle of a production that is generally putting a big emotional and financial strain on people. Believe me, you do not want to be the one to introduce the slightest flaw into what is supposed to be a “perfect” day. A trumpet playing friend of mine was attacked by a Mother of the bride wielding an umbrella after chipping a note in the processional. If you harbor any uncertainty about your ability to perform to a high standard under pressure you might consider politely declining.
I used to play in a classical trio–our rate was $150/person for the first hour (minimum 1 hour), and $100/person for every hour after that. This was in a relatively affluent rural area 1.5 hours outside of NYC. I have never since made that hourly rate gigging. Does the Nashville proximity mean you get more, because it’s music city, or less, because there’s lots of competition?
In a less spendy part of the country, I did some wedding gigs with a guitarist, and we charged less…I think we might have charged a flat $100 or so/person for the ceremony. For a couple of hours of Irish music at a reception, I think we might have earned $150 or so/person total. (These were also less polished ensembles than the trio, so that factored into the price.)
Tough to say whether Nashville makes is it more or less spendy. There are oodles of guitarists, of which I am one, but there is a high demand and low supply of whistlers (of which I am also one) in this area, so that probably helps.
I’m going to talk to my band leader about a rate, and it’s probably going to depend on how long we are playing, but I am definitely thinking no less than $150 at this point, and most likely something like $300. Thanks all.
