Is there such a thing as a school disco playlist? I'd say chart is the place to start... and probably it's the place to end too.
Digital DJ Tips reader Nick Bohannan writes: “I have been asked to be the DJ at a school disco, and remembering your advice to play gigs as soon as possible, I took the booking!
“Thing is though I have only just started, I have the new DJ Instinct by Hercules and I have literally only got a couple of songs so far. However, the disco is next term which gives me six weeks to pick good songs.
“I’m not that bothered about the mixing (again mainly because of the advice on here that the music you pick is far more important than how you mix it). It’s a year 9 disco (ages 13 to 14) and the thing is that I do not know what songs to put in my collection. What do you guys think? PS I have checked out SoundCloud, and there’s little of use to me there.”
Digital DJ Tips says:
OK, step back a sec. Firstly, you’re assuming everything correctly. Yes, the songs will be paramount. No, mixing won’t matter. And in my opinion, yes, six weeks is more than enough time to prepare. (In fact, How To Digital DJ Fast teaches in just four weeks.)
You need to put yourself in your audience’s shoes. What would you want to hear? There’s your starting point.
Now music-wise, you need to put yourself in your audience’s shoes. What would you want to hear? There’s your starting point. I suggest SoundCloud and places like that are definitely not the right source to look for school disco music, as you’ve discovered.
Start with current chart and also big chart hits from the past four years (your audience will have been too young to care about pop music much earlier than that). They should form the majority of your set. Look to get about double the amount of music you’ll need, to give you a choice on the day.
And as to where to get them from, iTunes or Amazon are about the cheapest for this type of stuff – and please don’t go down the road of trying to steal music. Be careful about what you buy, and do it legally. You’ll get guaranteed good quality files, and you’ll learn from the off to value your music.
Please come back and let us know how you got on.
Have you played school discos? What is your recommendation for getting the music right at such events? Do you agree with me that it is best to “get out there” and do it as early as possible? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
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Tags: beginner digital dj tips, building a collection, buying music, first gig, school disco
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As usual, Phil’s advice is spot on – think about the music that your audience wants. And have lots of it to choose from, even 3 times the amount you need. It’s amazing how often you wind up thinking you have nothing even though you have hours of tunes. The more you have, the more comfortable options you have to explore different musical directions. And maybe even script your first half hour, to give you the time to get comfy enought to start experimenting. Good luck and have fun.
[ link ]I would check out Mobile Beat web Site,they have pretty good list of recommended clean songs.Think its under School play lists.
[ link ]Having done school dances a lot (it’s where I started dj’ing), I can definitely say that they want to hear mainstream pop radio. If you’re not sure exactly what to play, i’d say to check out the promo-only site. you can go to their mainstream radio section and normally have whats hot. also good is just to check out top 40 charts for the last few months. You may get a few weird requests, but nobody’s really going to ask for edm or anything. If they seem to just be standing around, throw on a classic line dance, like cha cha slide, or cotton-eyed joe. that’ll get them moving, and they will have a lot more fun.
[ link ]I would go further to say cotton-eyed joe will make just about any type of party especially if the crowd is fairly pissed or crazy, I casually put it on at a house party last year and walked away from the computer, carnage is the word
[ link ]Cotton Eye Joe is one of THE de-facto bangers I use. Whether it’s to take the crowd to an epic dancefloor peak, or to get a crowd ON the dancefloor, I use it regularly. GREAT SONG….even if it IS horribly cheesy.
[ link ]Do you have brothers, sisters or any relatives of that age? ask what they are listening to at the moment.
[ link ]The best deal I’ve come across is to be part of a good record pool site for mp3 files (http://www.franchiserecordpool.com). Download from the ‘mainstream bin or do a unique search and try to get super clean and instrumentals (the instrumental is a quick way to get a crowd response)of each songs you download. For hard to get songs use,Itunes, Amazon ect. For the more advance music seekers, you can use a Youtube to mp3 converter (make sure the audio is of good quality) and this will save you some bucks.
[ link ]Whilst Phil is perfectly correct is suggesting to stick to the new and more well know chart hits of the last four years, I DJ’d a ninth grade prom (16 years olds) 2 months ago with a set that would been fine gracing the dance floor of Amnesia.
It went down great, the teenagers loved it and I was asked to do next years prom before having even finished this years.
I think giving the youngsters a real taste of what is out there gives them the feeling that they are not kids anymore and can look forward to experiencing more great music the older they get.
[ link ]Yeah, I’ve been doing the ones at my school for a couple of years now and you are right! The first time I played more pop type tracks and it was okay, but once i started to play more house and electro house tracks people started to go crazy! I never expected the kids at my school to enjoy house and especially not hard electro house.
[ link ]Just try diffrent genres out and see how people react, thats the best advice I can give you.
I’m a school teacher by day, DJ by night and I agree with all the above comments. Kids just want to hear the very latest chart songs and big hits from the last few years. The girls will most likely want to hear One Direction so unfortunately you might need to get that!! I would also play some commercial dance music (think Levels, Pursuit of Happiness, anything by David Guetta) and a few party classics (Nutbush, Macarena, Grease Megamix).
Teenagers are very easy to please and school dances are a great experience because the kids are basically there to dance and have fun.
I would also advise you to check out the venue and see what gear you will be using. All the school dances I’ve been to have been in large school halls where the whole hall is used as a dance space (unlike private gigs where the dance floor is a small area at the front of the room). So you usually need a big sound system to make it worthwhile.
[ link ]Totally agree with Brett. I am in similar situation- teacher by day, and i dj school discos. Be ready for the screams of the girls when you play One Direction (seriously, it’s a taste of what it must have been like for the Beatles). And yeah levels (avicii) and bangarang (skrillex) go off right now. Brett’s also totally right about the classics. And definitely some Michael Jackson too.
[ link ]Since you have some time, you also might want to give them a chance to submit requests, which will give you a rough idea of what they want. And then make clear on the night that there will be no requests then, otherwise you will be dealing with kids wanting their song played next all night…
Agree fully with Brett, his selection is spot on. I set my cue points for proms around the chorus or the most easily recognisable part of the song. Youngsters have quite short attention spans and just wish to hear the bit they know. I often play less than two minutes of each song.
Also, have fun and cruise across styles. It’s the only time you get to play Bill Hayley, Jessie J & K C & Sunshine Band in one set. Stuff like Bon Jovi also works remarkably well.
Remember too at this age, the girls like pop & the boys like to show they are more knowledgable about indie/rap/ etc.
Think about how you are going to finish the night too. I use the traditional Auld Lang Syne and mix it out into Glee’s version of “Believing” which ends with a bang.
Can feel the irony, in this is the first time I have replied on the forum and I am talking more about the Top 40 & not about Deep House sets!
Good Luck.
[ link ]All of this is advice is good. If you can, get a Facebook page set up for requests or post something up in the school whereby the students can tell you exactly what they want, it helps to ensure a more personal service.
[ link ]In my experience the music selection varies depending on the area.
Have fun!
For Year 9′s definately pop mainstream stuff is key, your set should be dominated with it. Another great idea is remixes of commercial songs (be sure they have the main lyric parts still) so if you enjoy more house-y or dubstep-y stuff, everyone wins. Find good ways and spots to incorporate the pop songs, like try dropping a well known song every second song, at least they’ll be on your feet. Even if beatmatching isn’t going to be happening much, just a simple fade from song to song will be fine (they’re year 9′s).
Now, for future reference, if you play older gigs (10-12, I have a 10-12 ‘rave’ coming up soon) you can get away with alot more. Older students have tendencies to enjoy music other than plain old pop, and they enjoy a bit of a dance too. But this isn’t to say don’t play any commercial stuff, still definitely do, except the set can be more widened to more genres. Students really wanna feel like they can get out there more and just dance to whats dance able, if you know what I mean.
[ link ]You gonna play charts, so its gonna be all kind of categories, mixing is difficult. R&B, Club, Rock…it can all be played as long as the songs are popular. It will be really fun! Dont forget to have slowdance songs too for the final dance
[ link ]Start of with a really well known dancesong (like Ai Se Eu Te Pego in Sweden will get all going)and just keep on.
And when you change style (from perhaps R&B to Club) youll get new energy with other people on the floor.
Spotify on computer + phone and you have a perfect dj setup. Create a playlist and go for it. If some song is missed its easy to find. Spotify is the future in a way, perhaps a club/dj songs spotify and its perfect.
[ link ]A lot of good advice has been given on here so I won’t repeat that (hopefully).
What I would advise is also find out if the kids have been involved in any school show production as quite often the songs do become popular at these events regardless of the era the song originates from.
One thing I do disgaree with (but only if you already have a fairly extensive music collection) is that taking reuests is fine as long as the kids understand that you will play their song if you have it and when you think the time is right.
if it’s a UK Gig think about having a cheesy collection of the party dances played in these venues as they will be popular from family holidays etc. and highly likely that they will know the dance moves.
Finally, don’t be afraid to say no about any unsuitable material. That’s coming from yet another teacher by day/ DJ by weekend!!!
[ link ]Enjoy!
I agree with the above comments, i did a gig similar to this a couple of weeks ago, and it was top40 & Cheese all the way.
Am more used to Djing in a club environment, and this might not be my prefered style of music but….. watching a a 100+ people doing the macareena in front of you…. its a wiered feeling haha
[ link ]I can totally agree with the advice to get familiar with chart songs, even from my limited experience.
I played a wedding in January 2012 and I knew there would be young teenagers there. They were very uninhibited (whilst being polite) about asking for songs and I downloaded (from Amazon) and filled the floor with Katy Perry, Olly Murs, Gaga, Rihanna and Flo Rida.
It was a lot of fun – I just had to be aware that some of the requested tracks were flagged on Amazon as having ‘parental advisory/explicit lyrics’. Got to think fast when making those choices. Good luck!
[ link ]Be prepared for some students bringing out their iPod etc. and asking if they can plug it in to your system play their request from there if you say that you don’t have it in your collection. Risky from a number of aspects!
[ link ]I have been DJing at for a Youth Group for a similar age group once a month for the last 3 months. The first time I was so worried because although they were requesting loads of songs and jiggling in their seats nobody got up to dance. Until I played the Macarena! Then we did a few silly games, limbo, conga, locomotion etc until they were in the mood, then I played all the chart/dance songs they had requested and they kept dancing! I also use lollies to bribe them onto the dancefloor. If you get the latest Now compilation a lot of the songs they request will be on there, but as Alan says the boys will request things you won’t have ever heard of to show off their knowledge. Here are actual requests from the nights ( I got them to write them down!) LMFAO, DJ Fresh, Laserlight, Starships, Titanium, Wild Ones, Avicii, Last Friday Night, Firework, I Kissed A Girl, California Girls, We No Speak Americano, Cupid Shuffle, Call Me Maybe, Drive By, Domino, Price Tag, Bad Boys, Earthquake, Dynamite, Greyhound, I Gotta Feeling, Time Dirty Bit, Cher Lloyd, Forget You, Give Me Everything Tonight, Moves Like Jagger, International Love, Oopsy Daisy, Mama Do the Hump, Stronger, Stereo Hearts, Party in the USA, Call My Name, What’s My Name, We Found Love, Where Have You Been, On the Floor, She Makes Me Wanna, Heart Skips A Beat, Love Story, Someone Like You, Rolling In The Deep, Marry You, One Direction, Justin Bieber
[ link ]Have fun, I love DJing for kids!
this is kinda off topic but hows the vmoda crossfade lp? i’m planning to buy one
[ link ]Kind of off topic? Lol.
We’ve got a review of them coming in next 2-3 weeks.
[ link ]Im 14 and I started to dj around a year ago. At my first gig for a bunch of 13 year olds. I played edm and the whole party was a flop. I eventually got another gig, and played a good 15% rap/hip hop, 15% edm, and 70% top 40. The party was great! Here in miami kids my age would probably not dance to cotton eyed joe (lol) but songs like teach me how to dougie, cat daddy, two step, and soulja boy (hip hop dance music) are great to bring people to the dance floor and helped me a lot.
[ link ]Top 40 + dance hits from the eighties = success. No remixes and no edm.
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