Wedding at the Train Depot

Holy acoustics, Batman!

If you are looking for an event venue with amazing acoustics, the Boise Train Depot is it!  This afternoon, Prism got to perform for a wedding in the Depot's great hall.  With its tile floors, wooden seats, and curved, vaulted ceilings, the building is both a historic treasure of Boise and a string quartet's dream.  We actually kept playing for a few minutes after the wedding guests had left because it was such a treat to hear the sounds of our instruments echoing throughout that huge room. 

Normally for gigs we insist on 4 armless chairs and a square area of about 10 by 10 feet in order to play.  We need the space for our chairs and music stands, plus we need plenty of physical space to play our instruments (since violins, violas and cellos are all bowed instruments, we need lots of bow room).  But, at the Train Depot, the only place available to us was an L-shaped area along the side of the room.  So, to save space we tried something new.  Dave (our cellist) was seated while the other three of us stood while playing. All in all, it was a good solution to our problem, though April did have to lean to the side a few times to avoid poking wedding guests with her bow as they walked by.  So remember, Prism always tries to be as flexible as possible to accomodate our client's needs!

For this wedding, we played our favorite cheerful tunes before the ceremony.  Some of these include: Prelude to Romance by RJ Mitchell, Lo, How a Rose, arranged by Carole Neuen-Rabinowitz, If I Fell by The Beatles, Over the Rainbow from The Wizard of Oz, arranged by our violinist Diane, Sicilienne by Gabriel Faure, and Love Me Tender by Elvis Presley and Vera Matson.

The wedding party entered to Pie Jesu by Andrew Lloyd Weber (also arranged by Diane), and we found some sections that we could repeat so we could make the song as long as necessary to ensure all the bridal party all had time to get to the altar!  The bride entered to Be Thou My Vision, an elegant Irish hymn, and the family candle-lighting ceremony was made even more poignant when we played The Prayer to accompany it.  And, after the couple was pronounced man and wife, they took their first walk down the aisle as a married couple to the triumphant Baroque tune Trumpet Voluntary.

While the happy pair was congratulated by friends and family, we kept the background music bright and cheerful.  We even got to perform a new arrangement of Diane's: A Wonderful World by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss.  Most of you will recognize that song as the version Louis Armstrong recorded in 1967.  We can't ever compete with Louis' rich voice, but our quartet rendition still makes us feel pretty wonderful.

Happy New Year everyone, and Prism hopes everyone gets to enjoy great friends and great music in the upcoming year!