Under The Chupa

Baynonim is complaining about weddings including the singing under the chupa.

Singers who won't coordinate: A friend of the couple, usually, is chosen to sing the two boruch habas and, perhaps, an Im eshkochaich too Does the singer/friend ever meet with the band beforehand to discuss pacing and keys? Does he even let the band know the tune he'll use? No. Of course not. He just gets up and starts to sing; after a few chords the band picks it up and fills in a few weak background notes. How hard would it be to do it right? How hard could it be to make it look as if this wedding element was given some thought?

In my experience, some type of conversation about which melody is being used does frequently occur during the smorg, but the point still stands. Its better to let the band know in advance --meaning before the affair -- so that if it's a song they either don't know or haven't played in a while, they can review it and/or bring the sheet music.