I met with a disc jockey in Maryland last week for a paper I was writing for my music class. He works as a wedding DJ in Maryland who was nice enough to educate me on the technicalities of his job and to share his vast experience in deejaying. We started off with a tour. He compared jockeying with writing, saying one has to completely immerse himself in both professions to fully understand their essence.

Disc jockeying is classified into two categories: The first would be the music channel while the second is the type of music being performed.

The first category covers radio jockey, club jockey and music video jockey. Radio jockeys play music that is broadcasted on AM and FM stations while music video jockeys are those that we see on television playing requests or top of the charts songs. Meanwhile, club jockeys are the ones who play live music in party clubs and bars.

The second category is divided into two: the Reggae jockey and the Hip-hop jockey. The Reggae jockey tells a story thru the music he plays. He sets the party mood and expresses the theme of the occasion thru his choice of music selection. A hip-hop jockey in contrast plays random vibrant music to awaken the crowd. His selection of songs is mainly for club dancing.

Today, disc jockeying has evolved to include mobile disc jockeying. As their title implies, mobile disc jockeys are constantly on the go touring cities and countries with a mobile sound system in tow. Their play list involves a wide selection from pre-recorded music that they mix on their turntables or original ones that they came up themselves. They play in various events such as weddings, debuts, corporate parties, and even a small gathering in a bar. Lately, they’ve been offering newer features such as the mobile DJ karaoke, which stems from a phenomenon in the Philippines called "videoke".

Filipinos are singers by heart. Though not every one of them was gifted with a nice voice, singing has become a favorite pastime for majority of them. A brilliant company came up with a video software which allows a person to sing a song from start to finish without missing a word or line since all they have to do is follow the highlighted words flashed on the TV screen or monitor. Hence, the creation of mobile DJ videoke was born!

Disc jockeying as the DJ taught me, needs passion and sincerity to achieve correct music blending. More than the knowledge in using pieces of musical equipment, you must have the ear and heart for it.