This article will explain some of the basic principles behind spinning at a dance. This article will focus on theory and will touch little on techniques such as mixing.
Music Selection
Arrange a diverse music selection. Before you can even begin to play music at a school dance it is important to have a large selection of music prepared ahead of time. If you are not taking requests the general rule of thumb is to have at bare minimum enough music to play the event, plus an additional hour or two so if certain music is not working well you have enough additional music to fall back on. (NOTE: One Hour = Approx. 12-20 songs). If you will be taking requests it is important to have enough music to make the odds of you having the requested songs pretty good. One way of doing this is taking the Billboard Annual Top 100 charts for the last 3-5 years and trying to obtain all of the songs listed plus at least one other single from each of the artists.
Choose music that is appropriate for the theme. When you accept the gig be sure to ask the event coordinator what type of music has been played at these events in the past as you want to ensure you have the appropriate music for the venue and the crowd. For example: If you know the dance is a Ho-Down themed event it is important to be well-stocked on Country music, if the event is a Valentine's Day dance extra slow songs may be in order, etc. Make sure to bring a variety of musical styles however just in case the crowd becomes tired of a certain genre or you start getting requests for something different.
Do radio edits. Always ask the event coordinator how much tolerance there will be for objectionable language. Many schools will allow a small amount of inappropriate language, others will allow for none. Search out songs that have (Radio Edit), (Radio Mix), or (Clean) in the song title this will tell you that the inappropriate content has been censored or removed.
Dealing With Requests
Do No Repeats : It is never a good idea to repeat a song twice in a night, this is lazy and unprofessional. Be sure to save the more popular songs for later in the night when there are more people there.
Don't play everything : You can't blame a cleared dance floor on the person who requested the song, you can only blame yourself for playing it. Use your crowd reading to decide if a song will work and when it will work. Although you should try to play as many requests as possible, if you keep everyone dancing and having a good time they will remember you as a good DJ even if you don't play everything they requested.
Play it when it's appropriate : If you are planning to do a set of dance music in 30 minutes save the request for Sandstorm until you do it. Don't feel you need to play a request as the very next song.
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