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!
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