Middle School Crowds

[mwalz]

So next Friday i am doing an 8th Grade semi-formal dance. It's for the school district i still attend and i cut the he 8th graders in to it. There are a few songs i know that will like the cupid shuffle. But overall any advice? It is that awkward age for some. And it may not be too impossible. Last year was rough. the year before i was in 8th grade and it was fun. I think it might have a little to do with the group of kids that night. Newer to the dj thing so any advice in general is greatly appreciated.

MCWalz

[VanGogo]

Make sure you have only clean (no profanity) versions of tracks.
Don't play all the most popular tracks too early or all at once.
Have a friend there to take requests and be a shield so you can concentrate on DJing.
Have another way to play music other than your main set up. Like an iPod connected to the mixer. In case your main rig goes down.

[mwalz]

Well the profanity thing i knew from the past 2 years, any any questionable songs i email to the principle, and backups and all that crap too, any advice for getting a crowd in to it?

[sol*los]

Any song with a dance to it. I use to do middle schools a few years back and thats all they wanted. I don't know where your at, but the kids would request local artist (hip-hop) that had a hot mixtape at the time.

[Student]

Loads of Katy Perry, One Direction, Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Beyonce and more like that. Don't know where you live but here in Europe it helps to play happy hardcore (Rainbow In The Sky for example) and loads of high tempo BPM tracks (150+) to get the kids jumping.

Make sure there's enough stroboscope lighting and smog and some Put Your Hands up samples as well as airhorns and stuff and you'll do fine.

Don't forget. Old people might find all of the above cheesy, but they are kids and for them it's brand spanking new.

[funke]

I played a junior high dance about six months ago, and I think just about everything I played was top 40 electro pop and hip hop. I left a clip board and a pen out and told them to write down their requests. They filled up a few pages in no time. Then I would preview the songs in my headphones and give my partner the thumbs up or down on whether a song was appropriate or not to play.

[funke]

Oh, and don't be afraid to throw a few slow songs in there too. Country is good for slow dances.

[IrishBlaggard]

Make sure you have only clean (no profanity) versions of tracks.
Don't play all the most popular tracks too early or all at once.
Have a friend there to take requests and be a shield so you can concentrate on DJing.
Have another way to play music other than your main set up. Like an iPod connected to the mixer. In case your main rig goes down.

this is very sound advice... if you cant have a friend to help you out, make sure you have a pen(s) and some paper, like someone else already stated, i did 2 of these kind of gigs last friday evening, the current top 40 stuff will get you through most the night,
i found (and i couldnt really believe it) that #SELFIE went down as one of the biggest hits of the night, i announced the song just before i dropped it in and the place went mental, i wasnt expecting the screams i got for it, then all the kids started taking out there phones taking selfies with each other, it was pretty cool to see, but i was kinda bummed that i didnt think at the time to take a selfie of myself with all them in the background taking selies of each other,would of been perfect too, as i was up on a stage, that pic would of been so cool to have from a gig, but maybe before you drop it, you could announce that you want to do something like that and get a great pic (share with us if ya do)

[funke]

I had the same result from the "What does the fox say" song. The kids went ape shit. Whatever is the popular trend right now is what you want.

[mwalz]

I got requests from them already, 4 pages of songs. Some of them that are on there i cannot believe are on there, and they got about a dozen tally marks behind them. #SELFIE will certainly do the trick. It's a stupid song but will just have to play it by ear for the crowd. Maybe they like more electro music and club style than other stuff.