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.