All in One

Music Online is a product of the Alexander Street Press and it is the largest resource available today for the learning of classical, jazz and world music.

It combines a variety of music forms in one interface. It includes music videos and audios, scores, reference content, biographies, opera videos and images. It is the broadest collection of music material in a digital form.

Video Music Lessons

GarageBand, a new music editing software released by Apple, allows people to enjoy music lessons online for as little as $4.99 a lesson.

Some artists, such as Norah Jones and John Fogerty, are already teaching people online how to play their popular songs on the guitar. 

Pandora Radio and The Music Genome Project

Pandora Radio is a free online radio.  Pandora users can write a key word or an artist name and get results that are related to their search. 

Pandora Radio uses the Music Genome Project, a huge collection of songs and music elements which are analysed in order to help connect search words with the appropriate musical results.

YouTube Orchestra Concert

YouTube orchestra performed for the first time last week. After online auditions, 100 musicians were selected from 70 different countries. They all met for a few days of rehearsals and played a concert together in Carnegie Hall on Wednesday last week. 

This is for sure a big change in the music world and in the way by which an orchestra is assembled. Perhaps this will change the dreadful orchestral audition process. After all it is faster and cheaper both for the candidates and for the orchestras to hear musicians from all over the world on line than to have them all come to NY to play their 7 minutes auditions.

Pay What You Wish

The rock band Radiohead is realising its new album "In Rainbows" as a digital downloadable file which will only be available through the band's website. 

The interesting thing is that the band, which recently ended its long term contract with the record company EMI/Capitol, is allowing fans to pay what they wish for their album. 

Surprisingly the pay what you wish deal is worth while for the band. Radiohead sold many more records than they did for their last three albums. 

Free Music?

The legal system provided copyright law in order to protect artists' creative output. This applies to artists, scientists, teachers or anybody that created something. 

The problem is that many people disregard copyright law,  and this disregard is made worse by the fact that the law is not always enforced. Even though some people have been sued for downloading copyrighted music from the Internet, millions of people continue to do so.

What does that tell us about the law? Is it any good if it is not fully enforced? And why do people choose to obey certain laws and ignore this one? Their behaviour suggests that people demand music to be free.

 

On the other hand the many people who use iTunes do pay for their music online. Maybe it's because iTunes presentation is and functionality is attractive to them.

Vevo

The popular online video site, YouTube, and the biggest music company, Universal Music Group, join forces. The two decided to create a joint online site for music videos called Vevo.

Universal will contribute high level content to YouTube ab d YouTube will contribute its large audience to the equation. Combining these two elements can make for a very attractive platform for advertisers, which will increase the two companies' revenues.

MySpace and Jadakiss

MySpace was one of the sponsors of a rap concert which was broadcast to 70 million MySpace members.

The rapper Jadakiss performed a free concert at the Highline Ballroom and was communicating with both his loyal fans at the concert and his MySpace fans, who were watching the concert from their homes.

Combining New and Old

The conductor Esa Pekka Salonen, is going to conduct his last concert as the music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

He has been the L.A. Philharmonic's music director for the past 18 years through which, thanks to his young and innovative spirit, he combined old and new music in almost every concert played by the orchestra.

He actually created a special series of the orchestra that performed music by living composers. The series was called the "Green Umbrella" and Mr. Salonen last concert as the music director of the L.A Philharmonic is one part of the series.

Treat Yourself Well

Professional athletes all receive massages regularly before and after training and competitions. Musicians on the other hand, who use their muscles for many hours every day since a very young age, rarely have their hands and back messaged and when an over use or repetitive motion injury happens they tend to be ashamed of it and hide it.

It is very important as a musician to educate yourself about how to prevent and how to treat injuries. There are a number of websites where musicians can read about it. It is important to stretch before and after practicing and there are many exercises a musician can do in order to strengthen his hands and body.

Imagine how good orchestras would sound if they had a hand therapist and a masseuse back stage. Why is it so common among professional athletes but not among musicians who suffer so often from repetitive motion injuries?

Here are some helpful websites:

Musicians and Injuries

Musician' s Health

Musician's Injuries

Getting to Work

Yesterday I went to the first meeting of the group "getting to work". It is a group that was created by Cheryl Metzger who is  a student at the Strategic Communication program in Columbia University. The group comprises people from the Communications field who are currently unemployed and are interested in doing some pro bono work for new non for profit organizations.

There were about eight of us yesterday and we met at the Continental bar on third Avenue and 9th street. It was very interesting to meet other people from the Communications program and hear their ideas. 

Musical Passover Online

Passover is coming up this week and people are getting ready for a long reading of the Hagada. Many songs were composed to the text pf the Hagada and these songs are sung at the holiday table.

But people from different places and countries have different passover songs. So when they get together for the big holiday they can't always all sing together. A few internet sites resolved the problem and published the complete Passover songs collection online. People can now see the melody and words in front of them as they are singing and they can each choose his favorite song and sing it with all the others.

Here are some of the Passover songs sites:

Kosher for Passover

Angel Fire

Passover songs- multimedia

The Modern Classical Musician

Lara St. John is a Canadian-American violinist who has successfully adapted to embrace the internet as part of her career strategy. 

She produces her own CDs and sells them through CD Baby, publishes a number of creative videos on YouTube and combines classical and non-classical music in her performances and recordings. For example, her last CD features Vivaldi's 17th century Four Seasons followed by Astor Piazzola's 20th century Four Seasons.

Elisha Abas and Duke Amayo

As I wrote in my last post about combining rock and classical music, I came across a fascinating cooperation between Elisha Abas, a world famous concert pianist and Duke Amayo, the band leader of the Afro-beat ensemble, Anti Balas.

Abas and Mayo both believe that music is for everyone and they held a joined concert at the performing and music education space Afro-Spot in Brooklyn.

The aim was to attract many young people to hear music of all genres. Abas played pieces by the classical composers Chopin and Rachmaninoff and Amayo followed Abas' performance with a dance set of Afro-beat music.

The Wordless Music Series

The Wordless Music Series is a very innovative music series that combines rock and classical music. Its aim is to show through its concerts the continuity and the connection between rock and classical music genres.

Its concerts take place in intimate spaces such as Le Poisson Rouge or different churches and feature rock artist and traditional classical musicians playing together.

YouTube Orchestra

YouTube is creating a symphony orchestra called the Internet Orchestra. This orchestra will be meeting in April this year in New York and will perform in Carnegie Hall.

Musicians had to submit their audition videos to YouTube by January 28th. Those selected to participate will work with composer Tan Dun and conductor Michael Tilson Thomas. The performance will be broadcast live globally through the internet.

Indaba

Indaba is an online community of musicians that allows musicians to learn about each other and each other's work.

It is also a place where musicians can expose themselves and their work. They can submit a recording of their playing or of their original piece. They can find and connect with other musicians and they can chat or blog about their work or about anything that may interest other musicians.

White Nights Around the Globe

The "White Nights" music celebration, celebrated originally in St. Petersburg thanks to its northern geographic location and its large population's interest in music is becoming a world wide celebration Thanks to the Internet.

During the months of May to July, when the sun never fully sets in St. Petersburg, the city holds hundreds of concerts that start at 12:00 midnight and continue through the night. New York is joining the celebration this summer, even without sun light, and New York musicians are going to play concerts starting at midnight during this period of time.

In addition to the excitement of White Nights celebration, some New York artists are going to stream the music live to St. Petersburg and other cities, which allow people to celebrate White Nights around the clock.

Video Conference MSM and Columbia

A collaboration between Manhattan School of Music, MSM, and Columbia University changes the ability of musicians to reach their audience.

By using Columbia's high speed connection to Internet2 teachers at MSM, who are busy performers, can keep their tour schedule and still teach students by using video conference. They can also teach students in more remote places where the chance of students to study with such artists without the new technology is rare.

Performances are also streamed live and a concert played in NY can be heard and viewed simultaneously at a number different geographic locations.

So who and where is your audience now?

Music Business Radio

Here is a very interesting interview broadcast on Music Business Radio with the best selling author and advocate for change, Seth Godin. In the Interview Godin talks about the change in the music industry due to the Internet and how musicians and music industry can adapt to it.

Interview with bassist-composer Pawel Knapik

Pawel Knapik is an established double bass player and composer who lives in New York City and has performed in four continents.

When did you start playing the bass?

Pawel: Initially, I was supposed to be a physicist. While attending a special school for math and physics our math teacher, who was an avid harmonica player, suggested that my friends and I form a blues band. I was always drawn to the low register’s depth and richness, so I picked up the bass guitar. I was 15 years old then and lived in Wroclaw, Poland. As I was coming from a scientific background, I felt a need for a formal music education, so I applied to a music school. But to my dismay, there was no bass guitar taught at the school and I was offered the double bass instead. I like challenges so I decided to pick up the double bass. I immediately fell in love with it and never looked back. I find performing much more interesting and rewarding than solving mathematical riddles and equations.

How did you end up coming to the United States?

Pawel: After finishing my Master of Arts degree in Poland in an accelerated path I was offered scholarships in three different places: Oslo, Berlin, and New York. As I always wanted to come to New York as a musician, I chose the latter. And in 1999, I proceeded to receive my Master’s of Music at Manhattan School of Music in New York City.

How do you promote yourself as a musician?

Pawel: Besides all old-world networking techniques, I keep a very active online profile. Since the year 2000, I have a website and I maintain it quite regularly. In fact, I just updated it yesterday following last Sunday’s premiere of my original piece for double bass solo entitled “Westbeth Capriccio” at the St. Mark’s in-the-Bowery Church.

What else?

Pawel: I also belong to several social and professional online communities such as: MySpace music, which allows musicians to post sound files, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.

What do you do on Facebook?

Pawel: I keep in touch with friends through messages, wall posts, and image exchange. But I don’t like to get obsessive about it, meaning I don’t inform everybody when I barbecue my chicken, water my plants, or rosin my bow. That's what Twitter is for.

Do you promote yourself on Facebook?

Pawel: Yes, I do, but in moderation.

So how?

Pawel: I post my most important performances as posters or fliers and I invite people to those events by using Facebook’s applications that allow me to reach people across the globe easily. As a result, even those who are not able to attend the performance are aware of it; they can see the images and virtually participate.

Do you prefer one social network to another?

Pawel: These days social networks are mushrooming at an amazing pace. You are being inundated with invitations to join every week. My take on it is that more and more desperate people realize that there is money to be made and that’s why they create those websites. It seems to me that at the moment Facebook is the best alternative because it’s more direct and user friendly than other sites.

How do you know that your efforts online make a difference in your career?

Pawel: I know that it saves me time and that it has a global grasp. Also, it gives me the tools to promote myself in a more efficient manner that otherwise I would not have done.

Do you notice other musicians’ promotion online?

Pawel: Yes, they promote themselves in a similar way, but some overdo it. They may flood your mailbox, and the tackiest ones might flood your cell phone inbox, which you have to pay for, with tons of their promotional material. It’s like in the story about a boy calling to be rescued from a non-existing wolf. When the wolf finally shows up nobody bothers to listen to the boy’s cry for help. I think that there is a fine line that one should be close to, but not overstep in promoting yourself.

Would you like to see an application that helps measure how effective your online efforts are?

Pawel: It could be helpful, but it’s not necessary.  For musicians, awareness is as important as attendance, as it can lead to future performance opportunities. As with all technology or advance, you really benefit from it only when you are one of the very first few to have it at your disposal.

Anything to add or any suggestions?

Pawel: Don’t forget to live your lives! 

Update to interview with cellist Yoed Nir

Just wanted to post the link to Yoed Nir's Myspace profile. http://www.myspace.com/yoednir

To Be Creative

Miri Ben Ari is a very famous hip hop violinist.

Miri Ben Ari started her violin studies in Israel as a classical violinist. She attended the Thelma Yelin art high school, the same high school as I did in Israel. She was always a decent violinist and was a shy, modest person.

When she came to the US no one though much of her. She was poor and barely spoke English. But after a few years she started befriending the hip hop musician community and quickly became a huge success story. The audience she targets is definitely an Internet friendly audience. She promotes herself online actively through her website and YouTube videos and has a large young fan group both on and off line.

You can find some links to her videos:
A
B

Economic crisis in music

As the economical crisis continues the arts are suffering some of the consequences as well. Some small orchestras fold and art foundations disappear. Existing orchestras reduce the number of players and schedule fewer concerts. But nobody really expected such sign of trouble from The Metropolitan Opera company in Lincoln Center. 

It was shocking to hear that the opera company borrowed money against the giant Chagall paintings hanging in the opera house's lobby. This year's deficit is apparently $40 million and the endowment shrank from over $300 million to about $200 million.

This is some scary news to the music world.

Is this the future of concert halls?

Following my interview with Anna, who mentioned the venue "Le Poisson Rouge," I became very curious about it and some research. I learned that Le Poisson Rouge is a place that combines art in all forms as long as they are innovative.

It is in a great location, situated on 158 Bleecker Street at the corner of Thompson, a spot that used to be the historic Bleecker Street club "The Village Gate." And the place offers a winning combination of art, food and alcohol.

At Le Poisson Rouge audiences can hear a rock band or a classical string quartet, watch an Ingmar Bergman movie or see a 2008 documentary all during the same week. It was founded by musicians and its target audience is very diverse and large. But it seems like they really target a younger crowd. Not surprisingly, on their website I found out that Le Poisson Rouge has a profile on Facebook and Twitter. It publishes itself on YouTube, has an RSS feed and users can listen to some of its featured music through the internet radio station, last.fm.

I think that I'll go to see one of their shows next week.

Interview with violinist Anna Elashvili

Anna Elashvili is a great violinist that lives in New York and recently joined the Bryant Park Quartet as the first violinist.

When did you start playing the violin and why?

Anna: I started when I was three years old. I actually went to a concert of the Baltimore symphony and the violinist Itzhak Perlman was playing solo. After the concert my sister and I both declared that we wanted to play the violin. I was two at the time so I was too young to start but my mom made me a cardboard violin, it was pink and red and I played with it until they got me a real violin for my third birthday

What did you end up doing with the cardboard violin?

Anna: I kept it for a long time but eventually I got rid of it, I still remember exactly what it looked like. I also remember my mom sitting on the porch and making it for me.

So how was it at the beginning?

Anna: I really loved it, I guess I had a stage personality. Something about playing for public inspires me.

Do you get nervous when you perform today?

Anna: Of course, sometimes more and sometimes less. I usually get more nervous for house concerts than for anything else. But it’s always worth the nerves.

What are your career goals?

Anna: Now that I’m a member f the Bryant Park Quartet I hope that this will fill the majority of my performance. I see myself as a chamber musician!

How do you promote yourself?

Anna: As a quartet a lot of our promotion is through contacts that are already established. For myself I have a website and I try to play for a lot of people. I don’t feel that I do PR staff, I think I should do more of it. I always felt that I present myself better when I’m part of something I really believe in, like the quartet.

Do you use social networks to promote yourself?

Anna: I use them a little bit. I don’t like to spend a lot of time on the Internet. I prefer face to face contact. I have a profile on Myspace but I don’t really use it anymore.

Why?

Anna: I don’t talk the Internet talk. I also prefer Facebook to Myspace. In Myspace you get a lot of junk. Facebook is a more connected system. It somehow seems different to me. Facebook helps me to reconnect with old friends. I usually don’t look at Facebook invites. I prefer email or phone invitation. I’m lazy about the Internet.

Do you notice other musicians’ promotion online?

Anna: Yes, some people , especially the independent rock groups do a lot of promotion online and it really works for them. The classical world still functions more by word of mouth and reputation. It’s really a different energy.

Do yo think it’s good that classical music is behind?

Anna: It’s probably not good, but it’s a package deal. For example Le Poisson Rouge, a venue space down town, almost always packs the space. They combine new classical music with independent Rock. It’s packed because it’s hip and experimental. SO I think it's very important to remember that your venue and its presentation should connect to how you promote yourself especially online.

Interview with oboist Roni Gal-Ed

Roni Gal-Ed is a very accomplished oboist who plays as an orchestral as well as a chamber musician in all continents. She is currently an oboist with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra in Israel.

When did you start playing?

Roni: I started playing when I was twelve years old. I was eight when my dad took me to a concert of a baroque oboe player and I fell in love with the oboe. My dad took me back stage and I tried playing the oboe there and by sheer luck I made a good sound immediately. Since then, I was obsessed with the oboe until I was old enough to start playing it.

So how was it at the beginning?

Roni: I didn’t actually love it at the beginning. It was difficult to make a goods sound and my brothers made fun of me all the time. They would stand outside of my room and imitate my sound when I practiced and they kept telling me that I sounded like a dying duck.

Do you use Facebook?

Roni: I have a profile on Facebook but I don't promote myself as a musician on it. If someone google me he sees a program or a festival I participated in and there he can see my CV and all the relevant information. I also don’t have a website.

Do you promote yourself online?

Roni: I have a fixed orchestra job and after studying in Europe and working there for a few years I have my connections there as well, so I don’t feel that I need to promote myself online.

What do you use Facebook for?

Roni: I use it just so I can stay in touch with friends.

Do you use any other social networks?

Roni: No.

Do you notice other musicians’ promotion online?

Roni: I noticed that other musicians write on their Facebook profile what they play, where they perform or with which orchestra. I think it’s a good thing. But I don’t think it’s really necessary.

What if you don’t have an orchestra job?

Roni: I think I’ll have to promote myself online when I move here to New York because I won't have an orchestra job and I'll be new here.

What will you do?

Roni: I'll probably have a website. I’ll also get in touch with musicians I know here and let them know that I’m here and looking for work.

How do you explain performing a lot without promotion?

Roni: I was never trying to be a big soloist and in Germany I was in a really good oboe class so if someone needed an oboist they knew about me through the class.

My network was basically created through word of mouth. I played in the Munich Philharmonic under James Levine so this gave me a good reputation in Germany and in Europe.

I also think that when someone promotes themselves too much or in an aggressive way it makes people suspect that they are not too good. It can really get to you when one sends pictures and messages constantly.

The most important thing is how you play.

How about networking?

Roni: I think it's important to network. You can do it by playing for conductors and leading musicians. But mostly when you’re young. I used to do that before I was 20. That’s when you build your career and these people can help give your career the desired direction.

Since the age of 23 my aim was to be a principle oboist in an orchestra. Before than I played some solo. When you play principle oboe you can play in orchestra and play some solo as well.

Any suggestions for musicians?

Roni: Young musicians should try to participate in many festivals so they can play for important soloists and teachers and create connections. They should play chamber music with musicians that are on their level and higherr. And it’s very important to be on good terms with everybody because the music world is a small world and you end up meeting the same people over and over. You never know who you’ll need one day.

Buy or Print?

Musicians don't have to run to the music store and buy expensive scores each time they want to learn a new piece or prepare an excerpt for an orchestra audition.  They don't even have to order the score online from Amazon, and pay for shipping and wait 4-10 days until it arrives.

There are a number of websites that offer downloadable music scores for a reasonable price. Sheet Music Direct is one site that allows a user to listen to music, print it and transpose it.

Another website is FreeHand which allows the user to, in addition to downloading and printing, also manipulate and change the tempo, key and instrumentation of the piece to suit a musician's needs.

I browsed the Internet a little longer and discovered many more websites where a user can download music scores, but most of them offered only pop music. Finding a Mozart violin concerto score for download was much more difficult. I found Scribd, a website that allowed users to download music, but there was no option to manipulate or change the score in any way.

Publishing companies, who own the rights to the printed music, are the biggest barrier to publishing scores online. They are afraid to be in the record companies' position having to sue people who break the copyright laws and copy the part. Further, publishing companies won't be bale to charge as much money for their parts sold online, because their customers will shoulder the burden of printing and binding their own scores.

Buying the parts of Mozart's ten celebrated string quartets on the Internet costs at least $40 without shipping. The parts of three Beethoven string quartets published by Henle costs, when ordering online and after a price reduction, $63.96.

Isn't it about time that classical musicians will benefit from modern technology and stop being held by the greed of publishing giants and record companies?

Musical Network

One of my homework assignments this week was to map out my social network within my program in school. And since I am a violinist and most people in my program work within the communications field, I thought this assignment was going to be really hard and humiliating for me. I thought I didn't make many contacts throughout my years in the program and expected to sit in front of a blank page and wonder which name I could write in my non-existent network.

But to my surprise, I was wrong. I sat down in front of a page and the names just kept pouring out. One after another, I remembered people I worked with on various group projects, people I sat next to throughout a semester and people with whom I went out for a drink on different occasions.

The page filled up quickly and when I typed the map on a power point slide I ran out of space and had to use different sizing and spacing tricks in order to fit at least some of my network's nodes on the slide.

Then I realized how easy it is to network and how natural it is for people to create ties with each other. Without a consious effort, it seems I have created a network of connections in my program in school. This makes me wonder how big my network is in the music world. I've been playing the violin since I was seven years old, and for many years all the people I met were only musicians.

The classical music world is relatively small. And even though the network is spread out across many continents, it's easy for musicians to meet each other because they travel often and perform in different countries. Almost in every concert I play I meet someone who performed with another musician with whom I've worked. Recently, thanks to social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace, it's easier to keep in touch with the different musicians I work with, even if they live on a different continent.

I think that if I tried to map out my music network it would be very large and extremely complicated, something resembling a Bach fugue. So I think I'm I am going to try.

Choose your audience, choose your brand

After talking to many musicians on different occasions and trying to find who is more likely to be able to tell me about their promotion efforts online, I realized that my chances of finding an active online musician are much higher among young musicians (those between 20 to 40 years old). It is rare to find an older classical musician who promotes himself online and is not skeptical about the whole online business.

I guess the same works for the audience. A musician can really choose his audience by choosing where and how he promotes himself. If an artist wants a young audience, he has to focus his efforts on online resources that include social networks such as Myspace and/or Facebook. If a musician is aiming at the traditional older classical music crowd, he has to focus on traditional advertising, including the written press like newspapers and magazines.

By choosing an audience and a method of promotion, an artist can shape how he is perceived as a musician and what his brand character is.

Not surprisingly, all pop and rock musicians, who naturally aim for a younger audience, are very familiar with online promotion. But classical musicians are legging behind, with a much smaller number of online pioneers in the field.

I hope the current generation of upcoming classical musicians will change this equation.

Interview with cellist Yoed Nir

Yoed Nir is a great cellist who plays classical as well as jazz and pop music. He also improvises, writes and arranges music in all styles.

When did you start playing?

Yoed: I started playing when I was eight years old. I went to the conservatory in Tel Aviv and the cello teacher was nice so I picked the cello.

Did you love it?

Yoed: At the beginning I was too young to know. But the teacher was so nice that I kept going to the lessons. After a while I stated to really like the cello.

What are your career goals?

Yoed: I am a freelance cellist. I am a very versatile cellist. I can play classical, jazz, rock, pop and world music. So I'm doing my own recitals and I also record and play shows with singers and bands. I arrange different songs and pieces for strings instruments, quartets or small orchestras. I arrange a piece for a cello ensemble and record all the parts by myself and make it sound like a small string ensemble. For example, in the singer Yael Naim's album I recorded all the string parts myself.  You can hear it in the songs "Shelcha" and "Pachad."

How do you promote yourself?

Yoed: I have a website and I posted some YouTube videos. I make connections with many musicians that I meet every time I play a concert. People call me and hire me for concerts and recordings. I sometimes send an email with all my information to a contractor or to composers.

What's in theses emails?

Yoed: I write three or four sentences about the highlights of my career and I put a link to my website and to my videos. This is the most important thing for me, that the person I'm contacting could actually listen to my music.

When did you start promoting yourself online?

Yoed: I started it about three years ago. When I lived in Israel people knew me and I recorded in more than 200 albums in Israel and Europe. But when I came to NY I understood that I have to use a website and post my music online so people who don't know me can quickly understand who I am as a musician and what I sound like.

What did you use offline?

Yoed: Nothing.

Do you use social networks to promote yourself?

Yoed: I use Myspace.

Why Myspace as opposed to Facebook?

Yoed: First of all because Myspace was around before Facebook. I think that every respectable musician should have Myspace.

Why?

Yoed: Myspace is one step before a website. Or it's an addition to a website.

But why is my space better than Facebook?

Yoed: Because you can put music on Myspace. The interface of Myspace is very comfortable.

Does it help?

Yoed: From time to time people contact me through Myspace and ask me for a recording session or for an arrangement. It is mostly for non classical music.

Do you notice other musicians' online promotion? 

Yoed: More or less the same as me.

Do you have any advice to give to musicians who promote themselves online?

Yoed: My advice is keep working hard on your music and practice your instrument, doesn't matter what kind of music you play. You should always try to be at your best. At the same time it is just as important to keep active networking and learn how to best promote yourself with the same intensity that you invest in your music.

Interview with violist, Victoria Voronyansky

This week, I interviewed Victoria Voronyansky, an established violist and pedagogue.

When did you start playing?

Victoria: I started playing the violin when I was five and a half, almost six. In my school in Kiev, Ukraine, they started you first in theory and ear training to see if you have good pitch. If you were good they told you to play the violin if you didn't have such good pitch they told you to play the piano. When I came t0 the US at the age of 13, I started playing the viola as well. I got into the Manhattan School of Music pre-college and I was promised a scholarship if I were to play the viola in addition to playing the violin. That's how I started playing the viola.

Did you love it? 

Victoria: Initially I was really confused. I didn't speak English very well and I wasn't sure what I was suppose to play. I thought I was going to play the cello. On the first day of school I showed up at the chamber music class and was upset to find out that there is already a cellist there. Then my coach gave me the viola, a $40 a year rental.

What are your career goals? 

Victoria: At this moment I mostly teach and I have my own private studio, which took years to build. I have close to 40 students. I really love teaching and I enjoy it very much. I played chamber music for many years and I was a member of a string quartet that was very successful for two years. I also had a duo with a pianist for several years and enjoyed it very much. 

As my studio began to grow I had to make a conscious decision to dedicate more of my energy to teaching. Currently I am working on my own CD and once I finish the CD I will resume my performance career and do my best to balance it with teaching. I have several students who would like to be my teaching assistants, so once I resume a full scale performing schedule I know that I can count on them to make sure that the studio continues to thrive and my students get the attention that they need.

How do you promote yourself?

Victoria: As a teacher I don't promote myself. All my students came to me through recommendations of other students, parents or teachers. I used to work as an assistant for professor Heidi Castleman in the Juilliard school and she recommended me to several people. 

As a performing artist I have a website on which I have a mailing list. People who hear my performances can go to my website and sign up to be on my mailing list. 

So what happens if people are on your list?

Victoria:  If I have a new recording or a performance coming up or anything that would be of interest to fans, I write to the people on my list and let them know. When you perform you need to establish a fan base, people who will almost always come o your performances, and you have to continuously keep in touch with them and have something interesting and of high quality to offer them. In my experience I felt that bombarding people with too much information annoys people and makes them feel that your events are not special. Try to balance their desire for seeing you on stage with how often you appear.

When did you start promoting yourself online?

Victoria: I started promoting myself online around the year 2000. First it was like having a business card online. It was just a desire to have a website to advertise what I do and keep track of it. Shortly after that I started teaching a class in Juilliard called "The Recording Project," which was aimed at students presenting themselves in the best possible light when recording. 

What do you mean?

Victoria: Students had to be screened for competitions and auditions by submitting a tape, so the goal was to help them learn what they needed to do differently when recording versus when performing on stage. I started putting the course material online for students to use as reference and I was published by the Journal of the American Viola Society, so I started putting these articles on my website as well. 

As I  started to perform more I needed to promote myself in order to bring in an audience.

What did you use offline?

Victoria: Before a concert or a workshop I would send out press releases to local newspapers and I would get in touch with local businesses, and offer them discounted tickets if they allowed me to hang fliers for the event in their business.

Do you use social networks to promote yourself?

Victoria: No, but somebody started a fan group for me on Facebook. It wasn't my initiative but I'm grateful that he did that.

Why?

Victoria: He has been publicising my events.

Does it help?

Victoria: Yes, I get audience from many different sources. 

D o you notice other musicians' online promotion?

Victoria: Yes, I notice that I really enjoy when musicians have their own blog. I would like to do it in the near future. It's an excellent way for the audience to connect with the artists because it gives them a direct connection and humanises the artists, takes them off the stage and presents them as humans.

Do you have any advice to give to musicians who promote themselves online?

Victoria: First, make sure you have a website and a highly qualified person to design and maintain the website. 

Anything else to say?

Victoria: I wish musicians would feel at ease with the process of developing a flexible approach to a music career. Right from the start, they should familiarize themselves with chamber music, orchestra, teaching and performing solo. I wish musicians tried to develop love and passion for the many facets of the profession. 

Why?

Victoria: Because their career can be significantly more fulfilling if they develop this approach and broaden their interest in music and in other people.  I wish they would become more aware of the joy of sharing their music with others rather than fixating on a perfectionist attitude. Basically, they should take the focus off of themselves and shift it to music and those with whom they share their music.

Choose your license

Musicians, artists, scientists and authors no longer have to dread what will happen with their creative works once they are published online. And surprisingly, relieving themselves of this fear need not involve exorbitant lawyer fees.

Creative Commons provides a variety of licensing options that allow a musician to determine how his work can be used and allow users to enjoy his work legally. There is a huge gap between laws concerning intellectual property, which laws date to the signing of the Constitution, and the technology available today. For example, if a musician publishes an MP3 online, absent an explicit license, it is not clear that it is legal to listen to, download or copy the file.

By proving a variety of licensing options, Creative Commons helps the musician determine how the file can be used. For instance, the license can allow the file to be listened to but not copied or shared. It gives the artist greater freedom and control over his creative output, while affording him continued protection under the copyright regime.

All artists should consider using Creative Commons licenses when publishing a photo, an MP3 or any other work they created online in order to allow their audience to legally enjoy the work.

Be your own record label

An independent musician does not have to have a contract with a large recording company in order to sell CDs these days. If you're lucky enough to have a contract with Deutsche Grammophon I wouldn't cancel it. But if not, there are other options.

There are many websites on the Internet through which musicians can sell their independent CDs. In common situations a musician would send his CDs to the online store and would pay a $4 processing charge per CD. The online store would sell the CDs and pay the artist directly; no distributor is needed. So if a musician's CD sold for $12, he would make $8 for each CD sold.

Another option is to sell CDs through a company that gives a musician a website specifically for selling his CDs or DVDs. The company takes care of all transactions, gives the website publicity and provides "buy" buttons for the products on other websites. The musician keeps 80% of the revenues and the company keeps 20%.

Exploring these options online is very easy and doesn't take too much time and effort. Here are some resources that a musician can explore and use to sell his music online:

CD Baby
Backstage Commerce

A cold night stroll and half a concert

Yesterday I went to hear a beautiful concert performed by members of the Brooklyn Chamber Music Society ("BCMS"). The concert started at 8:00 p.m. and I dragged along a friend, convincing her that it's worth going all the way to Brooklyn on a cold night to hear the Mendelssohn Octet. 

I looked at BCMS' website in order to find out where the concert is as it was the first time I attended one of their events. I was in a hurry and didn't want to spend too much time on the site, but I couldn't find the address of the concert immediately so I clicked on "reservation" and found the address.  I noticed that it was a 17 minutes walk from the train and I told my friend that we'll take a taxi from the subway. She agreed and we took the train to Clark street in Brooklyn. 

I printed the directions from Google Maps and was proud of myself for being so prepared, which is atypical of me. We started walking, and to our pleasant surprise we found a taxi right away and guided the confused driver to the address using his GPS. We arrived at a very nice brownstone and rang the doorbell, thinking to ourselves this was going to be a typical "house" concert, with a lot of good food and delicious drinks. A young man opened the door and told usthat the concert is downstairs. We walked down the stairs and rang for a while at another door. A woman opened the door and told us we were at the wrong place.

I called my husband who was still at his office and asked him to look on the BCMS website  and tell us where the concert is. He looked for a while and eventually found out it was at a church five minutes away from the subway stop. At this point it was already 8:25 and my friend and I were freezing. So we took another taxi to the right address and enjoyed the remainder of this beautiful concert.

After the concert, I spoke to the organisers of the series, all of whom I know, and they told me this is not the first time someone shows up at their home office instead of at the church for a concert.

One obvious pitfall to be wary of when promoting yourself online is directing your audience to the wrong address!

Show your face

Facebook is a great tool for musicians to promote themselves online. You can create a profile as an individual or as an ensemble. You can post photos, videos, write comments and write about your performances. An easy way to invite people to a performance is to create an event and invite your Facebook friends to the event. When creating an event you can add photos and videos to the invitation. 

Creating a group on Facebook is also very easy and allows an ensemble or a series to create its own character and share its profile with others. 

Creating a profile or a group on Facebook is free but it needs to be maintained and updated regularly in order to be effective and attract members and viewers. 

Here's an example of an ensemble making use of a Facebook group.

Get started

One simple way to maintain an online presence is to build a website. 

Suitable for both individual performers and ensembles, websites can serve as a centralized repository of information. Performers can post head shots and other pictures, and they are good places for resumes and sample recordings. For ensembles, websites present great opportunities to explain the ensemble's focus, such as specializing in music of living composers or unusual instrumentation.

A website does not have to be expensive or complicated. There are a number of free tools that can be used to construct basic websites, including:

Dynamod
Webs
Weebly

Musicians online

Classical musicians have many options to choose from when promoting themselves online. The first step in the process is to consider the Internet as a promotion tool. In this blog I'm going to explore the different ways by which musicians can promote themselves in today's world, using  the Internet.