Karaoke Forums

That's the kind of solid advice that's good to hear!  :worship:  
A lot of singers do pay close attention to their position in the rotation and they don't like to be bumped for no apparent (to them at least) good reason.

First I would like to thank all of you who provided advice, without the rude undertone. I guess my problem with Miss Tone Deaf is not that she misses a few notes (lots of singers have that problem). If you didn’t know the name of the tune she was singing, you would never be able to guess. There is no melody. No amount of effects can fix that. She also has no personality. Many of those who can’t sing, but do so because of a dare, bribe etc. have fun with it. She stands there like a statue. Now this isn’t like she sits in the corner gathering courage to sing and does one number, she puts in multiple requests. I wouldn’t have a problem with her except every time she sings, people leave! That violates what I was hired to do. I will try lowering her mic and maybe encourage others to sing with her.

As far as the rotation goes, I try to keep it fair. I have a couple of people who when they arrive will drop fifteen CDGs at the table with preprinted request forms. I see no problem putting the new folks towards the front of the line since it encourages more people to sing. I also see no problem with moving people about in the rotation, one or two songs, to keep the evening flowing. Maybe I’m wrong (and I’m sure you’ll let me know), but I see my job as keeping everyone in the crowd entertained and happy.

Paul

I believe you are wrong. I am a singer and not a KJ, but I can tell you right now that if the rotation is random (from the singer's point of view) you will lose your good singers. They usually know where more shows are, and they will go where they are treated well.

Most people aren't paying such close attention as you are to what is going on with the overall evening's progress  -- but they do pay close attention to how long it has been since they sang. If they get frustrated at not knowing what is going on, they will leave and take their friends with them.

It seems you would like more good singers -- I am intuiting this from the apparent effect one bad singer has. I have been to hundreds of karaoke nights, and I can tell you I have heard bad singers. They don't have any effect if people know they are going to get some good singers coming down the line. If it is an unending stream of mediocre to bad singers -- or a singer feels they have been shafted in the rotation -- they will leave and Ms. Tone Deaf is just the straw that breaks the camel's back.

I am betting that if you keep munging the rotation, your better singers will leave and not come back. They want to sing, and they aren't interested in the "flow".

Different rotations work in different areas.  Usually for me the first two rounds are not as busy as the nights goes on.  All new singers go to the end for the first two rounds.  After that as new singers come in, I sandwich then in between those that have already sang.  One new; one old, etc.  The new singers like it and my regulars agree and understand why I do it.

Bottom line, is what ever system you choose to use.  Make sure it's fair and be consistent.  If you do that you shouldn't have any problem.

Kelly

Whooa?  I have been a KJ on and off for 17 years and this is a new one on me.  If I read some of the posts right, some of you are running rotation like this.
Smith
Jones
Field
Johnson

Johnson being at the bottom of the current rotation.  Does that mean you add the new singer behind Johnson even if he is currently singing?  So the new singer would be up next?  Or did I misunderstand?

UPTOWNE,
When hosting a karaoke show one of the cornerstones of a being a good KJ is a sound rotation policy.   All things considered GREAT singers get their turns just like BAD singers.  You would be best keeping the rotation to follow how singers sign up and hand in their requests. Rotation management is one of the toughest parts of the job. On occasion you may find the need to mix it up a little - Sure if 10 singers in a row have just sung slow country ballads and the 11th  singer the same --- BUt the 12th singer requested a ROCKING SONG... You may want to swap 12 for 11 as longs as 11 sings next. ( you get the idea).  You really don't want to SKIP singers as a policy but YOU have to control the tempo of the  show when YOU can.

New singers need to wait their turn also...It is just a fair practice.  Some KJ's slip them in between "old" singers  some pu them at  the very end of the rotation.
It all depends on YOU but the main thing is once you find what you like to be consistent!!!....  Handling Duets are another evil for another time !!!

ps - Most people on this site are good people willing to help when they can
just like life..others are just  :wave:  :wave:  :wave:

Not sure I understand your question.  If that is all you have in your rotation I would think that the new one would go after "Johnson."

Kelly

That's pretty much the system I've been using. What about duets? Does it count as both singers spot in the rotation? Last week I tried something new. After I had a half dozen duet requests, I did them all at once in a block. Since almost every singer in the crowd was involved in a duet nobody seemed to mind. I really try to keep everything fair to the singers, while at the same time keeping the non-singers entertained.

got to be somebody's spot....usually the turn of the next person in the rotation belonging to the duet,....I assume that's when you'd let them sing....same for three or more....one song....one spot used up......I'm sure someone will disagree with this method..... .....to each his own....

 To elaborate:
Smith, Jones, Field and Johnson all come into the place at once and since they came early they are the only ones in the place. The have each sung once and they have all put in requests for another song except Johnson who is currently singing.  So your original singers list was Smith, Jones, Field, Johnson and Johnson is just finishing his song.  So here comes NewGuy and puts in a request.  You have a current singer list of Smith, Jones, Field.  So does NewGuy cut in front of Smith who was due up next?  Does anyone run it that way?

Rotation is a circle.  At some point it has to be cut.

Kelly

At the places around here (most of them), yes... that is what is done. That's how they do it where I have started to KJ, and I'm keeping it that way. Wether a new singer sings immediately, or waits an hour,  depends on what point in the rotation they *just happen* to walk in.  When I go out to sing..... I've walked in and been absolutely next, and I've walked in and had to wait a bit before I get up.

Other places though, I've seen a KJ put new singers up right away, to give them their first shot up on stage. Hard to say what is more fair... since those seated in the crowd have already been waiting their turn.

.

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

I have been agonizing over this since before I was a host and wanted to know why I was waiting so bloody long to sing....

My rotation is best likened to a chef cooking a souffle- there are EXACT ingredients that need to go in, but how is done by feel.

I will try to explain.

The night usually starts out slow. I will use #'s instead of names to try and make sense. I get slips from 1, 2, 3, & 4 in that order. While 2 is singing, I get 5, 6, & 7. Then while 4 is singing I get 8, and while 6 is singing I get 9 & 10. While 8 & 9 sing, I get slips 11, 12, 13, & 14.

Here's the new math part- After singer 10, I go back to 1. Then 11. Then 2. Then 12. Then 3, ect. The new singers are not brought up "Right away", but they do have some kind of priority.

This system is almost impossible to duplicate, and as I have found, the more singers over 15 or so it gets impossible to be fair to all.  I guess my branch question is this, can an audience be re-trained after getting used to things being done 1 way?

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Let's Kick the Tires and Light the Fires!

I still like our way of doing ROTATION. Its called Rotation by Table.

Start from T1 and end with T25.... max singers per rotation is known.

One singer per table per rotation.

Tables with no singers (or empty) are by-passed.

Duet ... used up the slot of the Table who request it. The partner may come from the same table.

New/late commers will be slotted to sing depending on where thay are seated. So if the current singer is from T10 and the new singer sit at T9, then he will have to wait a full ratation, but if he is seated at T11 and have handed the slip he will be next.

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I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

Uptown...do you mind if I piggy back on your thread with a unique situation that's related?  I'm sure you've probably encountered it before yourself.  What do you folks think about this?

Night starts out with singers a,b,c,d all lined up ready to go.  You have them perform their songs in the order you received their slip.  Each singer brings up a new slip when they come and sing their first song - except for singer c.  After singer d performs (and hands you their slip for their next song) you go back to singer a to start over again.  In the meantime you have a few additional singers come up...we'll call them singers e and f.  (no jokes please...)   In the meantime after singer c gets a beer and quits chatting with his friends he brings up a new slip.

Question is:  do you put singer c back in his/her spot behind singer b even though singers e and f have already turned in their slip?  (and possibly other letters of the alphabet by then) or do they go to the end of the line?  

I've always wondered what most kj's would do!

Myself, being  KJ, would "hold thir spot in the Rotation for 2 rounds of the full rotation.  After that, they are they are removed from the rotation, and if they brng up a slip, they are treated like a newbie.

My rotation works thuslly....

If the rotation is under 8 people, newbies are added in at the END of the rotation.  So if someone come in when singer #7 is preforming an puts in a slip, they get to sing afer #8 (2 songs away).  If they put in a slip when singer #1 is singing, they have to wait 7 songs to sing.

If the rotation is 8 or more people, newbies are added in the 4th spot after the current singer.

so someone brngs up a slip......
singer#1
singer#2
singer#3 CUREENTLY SINGING
singer#4
singer#5
singer#6
singer#7
         <<<<<Newbie goes here.
singer#8
singer#9
singer#10
singer#11

I will adjust to howw many spots a newbie has to wait to sing depinging on the crowd/ammount of singers

I like your idea Twan!

I rarely sing at other people's shows and then only when I'm really drunk so I thought I was just losing track of time when they called my name quickly.  I must have gotten in near the end of the rotation.  I think if I used such a system I would have been shot long ago.

I just keep a list and a new request always goes at the bottom.  If the current singer has another request in, it is added to the active list if not  he/she has no place in line.

Duets:


      If it's slow, no penalty, but twice at the mic max per singer, preventing the same singer dueting with everyone.   Once the night gets rolling, Duets count as both singers' turn.

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

The thing with duets which slightly irritates me is when a girl wants to do a duet but has nobody to do it with, the KJ will often ask me to do it (as it's usually everybody's favourite duet <koff> Paradise by the Dashboard Lights - and he can't sing it).

I don't mind doing that, except it's usually near the end of the night and my next slip is the big song that I've been saving for my last one of the night and I'm now not gonna get to do it.

Ah well.