On Tue, 06 Aug 2013 11:56:49 -0700, Nancy Carlin wrote: > > - web pages. This is the first place where potential employers > > (concert promoters etc.) look to find contact information. There are > > more than a few "names" in the lute world who do not have their own > > web sites. When you Google them all you get is links to buy their CDs. > > - email lists.
On Tuesday, August 06, 2013 5:08 PM, R. Mattes wrote: > Here I have to strongly object. I think that web-pages are totally over-rated > (and I _do_ have some experience with the World Wide Web). Of all the > musicians I know, only one, once, got a concert because of his web page. > Maybe it's totally different in the states but the idea that a concert > organizer > googles for a Lute player (or any other kind of musician) is absurd. You get > concerts because you _know_ people (and contact them at least twice a > year!). You build up networks - invite other musicians to concert series you > organize and hopefuly you get invited back (oh, and you need to have at > least a small concert series :-) > > The problem of most organizers/comitees is not having to few groups to play > (and hence having to find some) - it's more often having too many .... Writing as a concert series organizer in the states, I generally agree, Ralf. I don't pursue any artists myself. Instead, I choose our series from whoever has sent me proposals to perform. Of course, decisions are weighted by whatever they send me as proposal material--reviews, formal press packets, CV, commercial recordings, etc--as well as personal knowledge of artists and careers. While submitted material almost always involves some reference to an artist-dedicated web site, it doesn't always . . . And such sites certainly are not the first place I look for contact; direct contact from artists is. Hard-copy material is growing rarer, and much of what I receive in recent years is electronic. > > I have yet to see a paper out at a lute concert where the players is > > collecting emails for his own mailing list. > > Concert promoters have a hard time getting audiences out and need all > > the help they can get. Musicians who help them fill the seats get > > booked. - the lute world seems to be made up of players of all levels, > > but completely empty of people who are just fans. > Yes, that's sadly a phenomen the lute world shares with the guitar world. > Player-only-audiences. I think it correlates with the fact that guitar-/lute > players often _only_ listen to Lute/Guitar music (have a look at your lute/ > guitar player friends CD shelves). I prefer to dwell in the early music world > where ensembles do have "fan" audiences. Alas . . . While this is too much the case for the wee series I organize (http://columbusguitarsociety.org/Concert_Series.html), it certainly is not for our local early-music series (http://www.earlymusicincolumbus.org/) that has been drawing a diverse and ever-increasing audience of community appreciators and (to a much lesser extent) players. While I offer my sincerest congratulations to their artistic director and board, I don't entirely understand. Best, Eugene Eugene C. Braig IV Artistic Director Phone: 614-561-9204 e-mail: cgs.eug...@gmail.com The Columbus Guitar Society Capital University, Conservatory of Music 1 College & Main Columbus, OH 43209 USA http://columbusguitarsociety.org/ To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
