I am looking for a new opening piece for my show, I was wondering if any of you guys had some pieces that would fit the bill?

Pete

It depends on the general mood of your show. Generally I select baroque music. Organ is also a good idea but can sound a bit too impressive or creepy.
Haendel's Sarabande, Schubert's trio in e flat po 100 (also called Andante) and Saint Saens'Danse macabre are perfect according to me.
Good luck !

Clubbed to death sounds great. I used to use this to build a crowd in the streets of London.


Myke

Teardrop by massive attack.


Myke

And, only time by Enya.


Myke

Nox Arcana has some fantastic pieces that you should check out.

Darren

Nuvole Bianche ludovico einaudi is a brilliant piece of music!

Kieran

Why not make it part of the opener? leave a kazoo on everyone's seat and announce that you'd like them to introduce you via a tune of some sort then they all start kazoo'ing the same tune... it leaves them hands free to clap too... I'm sure you can think of a method to do it..

sorry for turning kazoo into a verb...

EDIT - and obviously have the tune predicted too, maybe right at the end of the show...but had been in full view from the start....

Anonanimal by Andrew Bird.. I love literally everything he does. This has a very mysterious/reveling at human kind sort of vibe.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CRiR52YtjE

Everything in it's right place by Radiohead.. It's ambient, dark, awesome. Lyric from this song? "There are two colors in my head."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OddXCja1N4E

In the Waiting Line by Zero 7.. It's groovy and sets a cool mood
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tZlu4wP4p

or Mozart's Requiem- for the more.. dramatic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi8vJ_lMxQI&feature=related


Of course everyone's examples probably fit their OWN onstage mood and personality. These are the songs I would personally open my show with.

Cheers,
Cooper

Ensure you use royalty free music only unless you get a license or the venue has a license. Fines can be expensive. ASCAP came out to a venue I use to work at. I dropped using music after that.

^^ Yes, that is a REALLY important point!

What about he opening 'heartbeat' sequence to Pink Floyd's "Breathe" from Dark Side of the Moon?

I'm amazed no one has mentioned the legality of playing music in shows. If you haven't cleared it and/or the venue doesn't have a blanket licence you can be fined and the venue will suffer too.

In Leicester we have performed at PRS licensed venues and played tracks that were in copyright - hopefully that was OK, but...
If I was working on a commercial act that I could take to any venue though, I would probably start with this site:
http://incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/......undtrack
The stuff is Creative Commons licensed, so you have only to give him a credit (I actually quite like the idea of saying "and thanks to Kevin Macleod who composed tonight's music") although I would click the 'donate' button on his site once his efforts had helped me make some money.

What is great is that the music is very filmic, and that particular section of the site has stuff in it that is specifically appropriate for film scores. Its a great resource.

Phill

That is a great link. Thanks for sharing.

Asking other mentalists to give you music for your show.... It seems like we are just asking to create cookie cutter mentaliam shows.

It's your show...you must spend the time searching through music...exploring and finding the correct tune that punctuates YOUR performance....not, hey, don't want to do any work on this looking for this music stuff...give me your ideas or music.

How about "What's on your mind" by the Information Society. I think that has been used by many mentalists and magicians doing a mind reading piece. It must be good if everyone is sharing it and using it.

Thanks guys, I know the royalty laws

You have all been great help!

Pete

Here's another option I've put a lot of thought into- Have somebody WRITE a piece FOR your show.

Granted, I go to a music school so this idea is very accessible to myself. However, if you've a friend or if YOU compose music, this could be a great opportunity add another 100% original artistic element to your show.


On a personal note, I'm in the beginning stages of putting a show together, and I believe this is the direction I'm going to take for the music. I plan on collaborating with some musicians to write appropriate music for a mentalism show.

Cheers,
Cooper

I wrote some music once.

Given that you are looking specifically for a short 20 - 30 second piece at most, you would be surprised what you can do with Garageband. It seems perfect for creating exciting intros that don't really go anywhere...
Phill