Auditions: Never Any Fun...

Well, it's inevitable. Every musician must face the dreaded audition. The wonderful part is that M and I are able to do it together! Auditioning for an orchestra is never fun, but I find that, in the end, it helps to make me a far better musician. These days, I actually try to enjoy the process rather than fearing it. This symphony is a decent orchestra, and we are pleased to even be a part of it. Most importantly, we grow as musicians.

One thing we can always take pride in is how hard we work at preparing audition excerpts. I find that solid preparation goes a long way in helping to alleviate many concerns. Sure, there are always pre-audition jitters, but we have confidence in our brains and in our hands. More importantly, we have confidence in EACH OTHER. In the end, we're better people and better musicians because of auditions...

Teaching Private Lessons

I can't tell you how often I've been told that teaching music lessons is one of the easiest jobs ever. "It's such easy money," they say. In an economy that is sagging, it's tough to say the least.

My private teaching really began and took off as a college music student. As a college student, I found that I wanted to earn additional income but didn't want to work a job that was outside of my skill set. I recall so many of my friends working dead-end jobs, espeically at the university. I couldn't understand why these individuals refused to step outside of the box. I was especially confounded when I asked a fellow student, a music education major, why he didn't teach privately upon his complaining about not having enough money. He was shocked by the question and seems amazed that I would even ask him, as he responded by saying, "I don't have my degree yet! How can I know how to teach?" The fact is that good teaching cannot be confined to what you learn in a classroom. Yes, it helps, but you simply have to go out and experience it yourself!

I always wanted to be the best musician I could be, and I was shocked when I found out how much I would learn from teaching private lessons. I learned a great deal about how to cater to each student's needs. By creating a website, I was able to attract new students to my studio wtih my professional appearance. I was getting hands-on training and was expanding my abilities as a teacher/musician. Maintaining my own private studio taught me so much about music and how to teach it...

J

So Many Terrible Gigs...Creating a Professional Identity

It's simple really - as professional violinists, my fiancé and I have realized that many of us struggle tremendously when attempting to succeed in the music business. We spend our entire lives practicing and learning how to play our instruments, but no one ever once explains the business side of being a performer (despite the performer's ability level). For years, we performed so many terrible gigs, simply hoping that our clients would pay us well. So many musicians allow the terms to be dictated to them. We simply hoped that performance opportunities would fall into our laps and that these gigs would pay well...they never did. We wanted to be respected so badly...then we figured it out.

One day, we connected the dots. It's all about creating an image and thus a brand name! We took the plunge (not quite yet the ring at that point, much to the dismay of my then girlfriend), and we set up a respectable website for free. We figured, "Let's do this for as little money as possible." We even printed darn good-looking business cards and had our own logo. We even made ourselves as searchable on the web as much as possible by adding our information to every free posting site possible. We eventually started to make money, but we knew our business was destined for more.

We finally began to understand that risk was an absolute for succeeding in the performance business. We finally set up a website that we paid to have hosted and even had some professional photographs taken; our business cards were "pretty" as my fiancé explained. :)

Another HARSH reality - those who fear 'doing' love to criticize.
Many of those around us laughed at our attempts to project a professional image due to our age and the fact we were college students. Brushing aside these critics, we struggled and worked our hardest to create a successful business. In the end, we succeeded, much to the dismay of our critics. And, not to mention, our personal relationship blossomed as we learned how to work together as a team in many ways.

It is our hope that this blog will serve as a point of inspiration for musicians in the tough but rewarding music performance business. We will share our insights as we recall our, um, interesting past, which is filled with valuable mistakes...and our current experiences in the performance world as we make our mark.

Best,
J & M