Your idea sounds good but I can't figure out the logistics, would you let people sing at different intervals, would you make it into a contest ?
or have the open mike for an hour after food would be eaten ?

how about a sing along ? or karaoke ? you would need a designated space where everyone can stand/sit and listen .

would you let the guests wear shoes in your house ? just kidding, lol............

Mitch!!!!!!!! I was gonna ask the SAME question! hahahahahah!!!

We've been to several Karaoke Parties lately and they are So much fun.

Sounds like fun. I love karioke,but only if everybody else is doing it. I'm very shy, but with a few drinks in me and pleasant folks, I'll come out of my shell. . .

Sounds like my kind of party! I play piano (mostly popular music rather than classical). Many of our friends have pianos in their parlors that are never touched except for a dust rag. At parties, I sit down at the piano & start playing old folk-music favorites that I'm pretty sure everybody knows the lyrics for...stuff like 'On Top of Spaghetti' to the tune of 'On Top Of Old Smokey' & working up to more more complicated & longer songs. People seem to really enjoy the sing-a-longs. I get about 75-80% participation & the rest are either dancing or laughing.

Periodically, I'll play solo just to get things livened up a bit. My favorite to play at these parties is 'La Bamba' because absolutely NOBODY can either be in a funky mood or stand still while listening to 'La Bamba'! After a few rousing rounds of that...everybody's ready to sing!

One that I've found people enjoy singing is the theme to Dukes of Hazard...

Just the good ol' boys,
Never meanin' no harm,
Beats all you've ever saw,
Been in trouble with the law,
Since the day they was born.

Straight'nin' the curve,
Flat'nin' the hills.
Someday the moutain might get 'em,
But the law never will.

Makin' their way,
The only way they know how,
That's just a little bit more than the law will allow....hmmmm, hmmmm, hmmmm

Have Fun!!!

/tricia

I can lipsync very well, but karaoke is scary to me...............

sing alongs are fun; tricae, you must be a joy to have around at parties !!!!!!!!

I wish I were invited! Sounds like fun.

Don't invite any "eye-rollers" to this one.

mitchdsj,

My Dad was an entertainer & I was on-stage with him by the time I was two years old. He had his own radio show in Portland, Oregon back in the day. So, music is as much a part of me as my hair or eye color. I played professionally for a time but found the grind to be more than my health could bear. Playing for friends/family is great!

To the OP...

If you or someone invited to your party plays piano...you can purchase "Fake Books" inexpensively online. There's about a hundred songs in each book. I've played since I was four years old & have a repetoire of several hundred songs but still always have Fake Books in my car. Here's a few songs I've found people love to sing-a-long to:

Let The Sun Shine/Aquarius
Hound Dog
Jailhouse Rock
Gypsies, Tramps, & Thieves (the old Cher song)
Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue
Baby Face
Harper Valley PTA (takes a couple rounds til people learn all of the lyrics but then they really get into singing this one!)
City of New Orleans (big favorite!)
I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing
Me and Bobby McGee
Take Me Home Country Roads
Battle of New Orleans (this seems to get better after people have tossed down a few drinks lol!)
Crocodile Rock (most people don't know all of the lyrics but they sure sing what they do know!)

Just about anything of Willie Nelson's is always a big hit also.

The best though, if you've got somebody who can even just play right hand melody...get a good round of 'Friends In Low Places' going & guaranteed people will be hootin', hollering, & singing at the top of the lungs!

'Course, if you are thinking more like Fur Elise...well, I'm not the right person to be offering help. My motto has always been...if you can't sing or dance to it...why bother?! :)

Please let us know how the party goes...

/tricia

We do this a couple of times a year....We play everything from Piano to low brass and have all sorts of instruments among the family memebers and extended family. I send out a small packet of music plus there are a lot of things that we already know. We get together, eat and play music...it is really fun!! Another group that gathers regularly likes to sing and we do everything from hymns to "Sneaky Snake" and all the kid songs!!

PS: my GD's always request Fur Elise and Moonlight Sonata as they are going to bed...fortunately I know them by heart as the piano is in the LR where they sleep, and all the lighting we have on is a night light ;^)

That idea sounds really good, and fun.

When my kids were in highschool we had a "home band"...piano set at an angle and stashed behind were lead guitar, bass guitar, acoustic guitar, flute, sax, and a trombone....and friends would come with the drums, the trumpets etc...
Noisy but I loved it!

Here's something that might be fun as well. Once everyone has arrived there-divide them into 2 teams. Team 1 sits on one side of the room, team 2 on the other. Up front where the musician is going to be playing-have a small stand on both sides & place a bicycle horn on each table...(the bulb kind). When the musician begins..the 1st person who can "Name That Tune" within the first few notes..would run up & blow the horn & give their answer. The team would get a point for being correct-if wrong..the other team gets the point! Then let the musician start over & play his song with no interruptions. Winning team and winning soloist gets a prize.

We have some friends who have had parties like this twice and they were both hits -- there are a lot of us without musical talent - some opted not to do anything, some made up entertaining songs about mutual friends and got up and sang off key - -while others did amazing violin, piano, vocal, sax, etc solos and duets -- it was really fun.