I am working on an event for my organization where we will be doing some “Academy Awards” style recognition at an event for about 150 people.
When we bring our awards recipients on stage, we’d like to play some music-- like they do at the Oscars. Preferably, it would be something that we could play the first 20-30 seconds or so and that people would find somewhat familiar but not overpowering. I would also like to be able to download it via iTunes, but that’s not necessarily a deal-breaker. I’d be willing to use another downloading service, it’s just that I never have used one before.
I know very little about classical music, so this task is a little overwhelming for me. So, I naturally turned here.
And, of course I need it ASAP. Gotta love these last minute details when you’re planning an event!
Someone put together an album of mp3s that has a bunch of recognizable production music from various 50s infomercials and such. It can be downloaded here.
Any of Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance marches. Even #1 would work fine, if you use just the first 30 seconds or so (before the notorious graduation theme begins).
Are you just looking for one tune or several? Will there be several people coming up to receive awards one at a time, and you need a tune for each? The same tune, or a different tune for each? Or a bunch of people coming up together?
What’s the event, anyway? The event might suggest some suitable music.
I came to say Fanfare for the Common Man, but I was beaten to the punch. I’ll second the suggestion.
How about March To The Scaffold (the part of the music starting at about 50 seconds into this video) You might get a few chuckles from people who recognise it.
There is a part in Holst’s The Planets, Jupiter, Bringer of Jollity that might suit your purpose. I really like Tomita’s rendtion of this piece also. Listen from about three minutes in here. Or, from about four minutes thirty seconds here.
