Galas and award nights
Music that works around your program.
The emcee steps toward the podium and the music has already stopped, and the last honoree reaches the stage on the final bar of their walk-up. A gala runs on a program, and the music’s job is to know where every cue is: a reception act as the doors open, dinner music the tables talk across, silence for the emcee, and a dance floor after the last award.
Nonprofit galas and fundraisers, association award nights, chamber annual dinners and company award ceremonies book it, and the cues below are written so you can forward them to whoever signs.
Trusted and booked by
Video Clips
Hear the jazz duo at reception volume.
Guitar and upright bass on a standard, at the level a gala’s doors and dinner run at. The dance floor after the last award is a different act on the same contract.
Doors to dance floor
What the band does at every cue in the program.
The run of show is planned with whoever is running the program, and on the night the bandleader watches the emcee.
- The doors
- A reception act is already playing when the first guest walks in, at a level the check-in table can hear itself over: a duo, a solo pianist or a Spanish guitarist, depending on what the evening should feel like in its first ten minutes.
- Remarks and the welcome
- The music stops while the speaker is still steps from the podium, and the speaker gets an announcement microphone of their own.
- Dinner
- The band plays at the level of the conversation from the first course to the coffee. A trio usually does this better than a full band turned down.
- The video
- The band goes silent, with the handoff to the house audio planned in advance, and comes back in on the applause.
- The auction and the paddle raise
- Silence through the bidding unless the auctioneer wants music low under it, and a short piece as each lot closes if the program calls for it.
- The walk-ups
- Each honoree gets music from the moment the name is read to the moment they reach the podium, cut on arrival, never faded over their first sentence. We take the names and the order ahead of the night.
- The turn
- When the last award is given, the night gets loud on cue: a dance band or the DJ through the same system, with no changeover the guests can see.
Who plays each part
A reception act, a dinner act and a dance floor act, on one contract.
They can be the same musicians all night or three different sounds. The contract and the sound system stay the same.
- As the doors open
- The jazz duo on upright bass and guitar, a solo pianist, a Spanish guitarist, a string quartet for a black-tie evening, or Last Consulate for an evening that wants to sound like this decade.
- Through dinner
- The jazz trio with drums played with brushes, or the Americana trio when the gala is a ranch, a barn or a mountain evening.
- After the last award
- The soul and R&B band on a ballroom floor, the yacht rock band for a crowd that wants to sing, live band karaoke when the committee wants the after-party to be the thing people describe, or the DJ on its own or with a live musician over the set.
Ideas for the whole evening, music and otherwise, are in gala entertainment ideas. The hour after the program has its own page.
Related evenings
When the award night belongs to a company rather than a cause, the corporate page covers vendor setup and purchase orders, and client dinners have their own page. When it’s the last night of a retreat, the retreats page covers the mountain evening.
Questions
Gala and award night questions
Stage sizes and power for every act are on the technical page, written so you can forward it to the venue as it stands, and more booking questions are on the planners question list.
- Do you play during the live auction and the paddle raise?
- Only if the auctioneer wants music low under the bidding, and most don't. The usual plan is silence through the auction, a short piece as each lot closes if the program calls for it, and the band back in when the auctioneer hands the microphone back. The auctioneer gets a microphone of their own.
- How loud is the music at dinner?
- Quiet enough that a table of ten talks across it, and the band stops for every speaker. After the last award it plays like a dance band, up to whatever the venue allows. Let us know the venue's sound limit and curfew when you book and we'll plan the night around them.
- What do you need from the venue?
- A dock time and an elevator window if it's a hotel, one or two dedicated 20-amp circuits depending on the size of the act, the sound cap and curfew if there are any, and the run of show with the program's cues on it. We can send whatever paperwork your venue or your finance team needs.
- Do you work with our emcee and auctioneer?
- Yes. The run of show is planned with whoever is running the program, the emcee gets an announcement microphone of their own, and the bandleader takes cues from the emcee on the night. If your emcee is a board member doing it for the first time, we're glad to walk through it with them before the doors open.
- How far ahead do galas book entertainment?
- Whenever you're ready. Committees usually settle the venue and the honorees first and come to the entertainment after, and we're glad to hear from you at any point in that. Tell us the date and the venue, and we'll come back with a recommendation and a price.
Send us the run of show and we'll plan the music around every cue.
Live music for your event, from a solo musician to a full band, with sound support that’s the right size for the venue and a personal contact for the night.