Aprylle and Reed, Flute and Guitar.
Imagine playing music at more than 250 venues, all over New England. If you have been playing music since 1993, at over 1,000 weddings, you certainly know every style, every type of bride, every venue’s layout and the in’s and out’s of all things wedding.
Aprylle and Reed, Flute and Guitar, have been playing music for years and the description of being able to play under many conditions and still deliver top-quality music would define them quite well. “We love so many different styles of music and, as I write all of our arrangements, I only arrange tunes that we want to play. For ceremonial pre-music as the guests are arriving, we like to play English Renaissance music and gentle, traditional Irish tunes. This music goes over tremendously well—we always get multiple compliments from guests thanking us for the ‘beautiful’ music. Why? First, 99% of the guests have never in their lives heard this type of music. The music speaks for itself: it isn’t only some of the most beautiful music ever written, but it is also very elegant and soothing. It sets the atmosphere for the day, which is precisely what the pre-music should do.
“During the cocktail hour music, we’re just all over the place, playing show tunes such as music from Phantom of the Opera, to jazz standards, to ’70s, ’80s, ’90s popular music, lots of Beatles, contemporary Brazilian, tunes from Andrea Boccelli, tunes from movies like the Hunger Games, etc. To pick one tune that is our favorite to play would be hard, but I would have to say a favorite would be a really hot arrangement I wrote of the Beatle’s In My Life.”
When asked what instruments both play, Reed says, “Aprylle plays all of the flutes—normal, alto flute and piccolo and a little piano. My major instrument is guitar, but I can also play the lute and, at one time in my life, was a very good French horn player.”
The duo is well schooled as professional musicians. Both began music studies at a very early age. “We both excelled in music during high school, and both went off to conservatories, Aprylle to the Dijon Conservatory in France and I to the Hamburg Conservatory in Germany,” says Reed. “Aprylle finished her undergraduate studies there, then earned a Masters degree in education at Keene State College. I finished both my Bachelor and Masters degrees in guitar performance and pedagogy in Hamburg, then my Doctorate in Bremen, Germany.”
But don’t be intimated by that resume of musical education. The duo are as down to earth and friendly as anyone, and their reassurance on a wedding day when a nervous bride needs extra support is simply part of who they are as people. “We have played at over 250 different venues all over New England and we have played a number of times at every significant venue from The Balsams in northern NH, all the way down and through the Lakes Region, from the southwestern corner of NH, across the state to the coast and the coasts of MA, NH and ME, from Ipswich, MA to Portland, ME. And a bunch of other places scattered around the MA North Shore. We also have battery amplification which has allowed us to play in such places as on the top Canon Mountain, ocean beaches from Hampton Beach to York Beach, lake beaches, in the middle of big fields, etc.”
For couples (and others) inquiring about wedding music performances, at the present, there are three ways to reach Aprylle and Reed. The primary contact is reedd@worldpath.net, or 603-753-2950, or find them on Facebook. Reed adds, “In a month or so, we should have our new website up and running: AandRmusic.com.”
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