Question:
Being a musician and single is no fun at all. Most dates don't want to go to an orchestra concert and often, we musicians are misunderstood.

Wouldn't it be a great idea if myauditions created a personals section for musicians? We could find that perfect match, someone who really understands us, and won't mind going to a concert or two or twenty during the season.

So, cast your vote folks if you think this is a good service for myauditions to have!

Choices:
Yes - I want myauditions personals
No - Not interested

 

OK--I'm, married with kids--but I responded to the query and am glad I started something rolling (I think!!)--er--I would like to be informed about all the weddings that come from this, please. Jeffrey Biegel, pianist and wedding planner for musicians

Mr. Morrison: go to www.cmle.com

TS9,

yoooouch! - cmle.com is not a very attractive site and from what I have seen in their member profiles, it looks like they cater to retirees.

Nonetheless, I will try it and see what comes of it.

I could see an entry now:

Single white female violinist looking for male cellist. No pianists please, I'm not into menage trois (or menage trios as the case may be).

Then comes the inevitable question of a violist bringing a bassoonist home to meet her parents. Would they accept her having a relationship with a member of a different "group"?

violist and bassoonist you say? that's nothing. think of pairing up a trumpet player with a string player.

Oh no--what did I start here?????

Now behave thy selves, ye artists of distinction and worldly values.

Jeffrey,

Easy for you to say. Saturday night in LA and me with no date. Looks like a Blockbuster night for me.

You can start a classical lovers exchange or get a dating service to start one in LA then--

umm, guys, do you notice the lack of female participation in this thread?

With good reason, I suppose. They have their priorities straight. Music first, sex to the "deserving". But it's easy for me to say, I've been married for 30 years.

Okay, I will but in my 2 cents of female imput. I have to admit I have hated just about any internet dating I have encountered. The profiles don't say anything important to me and I have a hard time presenting myself in that format. One for musicians may make more sense. We do lead an unusual lifestyle of weird hours. High education but no income etc. People outside of the field rarely seem to understand.

Still, I think it would be MORE interesting if My Auditions offered a forum for one to find others to work with. Trying to find others interested in duets, trios, quartets, or say if you really need a bassoonist for a certain work but know of no one in your area to work with. Or even find a composer to work with for a new work. Now that is the kind of matchmaking that this site might be very useful for and which could lead to more work and promotion for all.

I think part of the situation with myauditions is that there is such a small group of posters posting to these forums. I would think more people would know about this site and would be interested in the discussions that go on here. Playbillarts.com is another wonderful resource, but there are no forums there.

MyAuditions does provide small ensembles (string quartets, brass quintets, etc.) the ability to post their jobs on the service.

The advantage is that they would be included in performance search results by job seekers looking for these specific opportunities. The downside is that most may not wish to go through the process of registering and taking the time to post their job (less than 10 minutes).

So, providing a classified section on MyAuditions to accommodate small ensemble job postings has been discussed. It would also include instruments and equipment for sale, available teachers, etc.

But, we haven't yet thought about offering personals so perhaps that might be an option as well.

quote:

Originally posted by artsdudeca:
I think part of the situation with myauditions is that there is such a small group of posters posting to these forums. I would think more people would know about this site and would be interested in the discussions that go on here. Playbillarts.com is another wonderful resource, but there are no forums there.

With the forums, we do have over 400 registered members. Many are passive participants and only choose to read, while a small group of professionals and aspiring individuals choose to actively participate. Nonetheless, the forums do receive 50,000 page views per month on average.

For the last two plus years we have focused primarily on development and building a grass roots following through mostly viral marketing. That is, most of our visitors find out about MyAuditions through a friend.

That being said, we are now shifting into more marketing and promotions of the service. We've purchased an extensive list of google search terms like "orchestra jobs"; we've also taken out ads in the International Musician; we are working with schools to help promote the service to their students and faculty by providing a hard copy in PDF format of the all job postings monthly; we are now reaching out to unions to provide localized job postings for their Web sites, and are also looking into participating in industry conferences and conventions; and are hoping to launch our Enterprise Solution later this year which will enable schools and unions to integrate the MyAuditions platform into their Web site.

So stay tuned.

Hello MyAuditions,

Do you have a timeframe when something like a classified section would be added? Seems like the logical next step in the service.

quote:

Originally posted by artsdudeca:
I think part of the situation with myauditions is that there is such a small group of posters posting to these forums. I would think more people would know about this site and would be interested in the discussions that go on here. Playbillarts.com is another wonderful resource, but there are no forums there.

I've been a member on these forums for just over two years. Sometimes I post but often I just like to sit back and learn from many of the well experienced pros that offer their input here.

The best thing about them is that posts and threads really focus on the issues within the industry and not just gobblygook (people saying hello, spammers posting mortgage rates, or even looking for jobs). So, to me, I would rather have 20-30 great posters than 200. This way, I don't get inundated with trying to read every single one.

MyAuditions does a good job of monitoring to keep out the garbage, albeit very little, if any, has occurred.

I have told about 20 fellow musicians about this service and almost all of them visit often now.

I admit to being a recent new visitor and up to now, a lurker... was directed here by a member of a top US orchestra who is also just a lurker as far as I know.

As a manager type (but musician at heart) it is fascinating to read the professional opinions on here.

This idea of personals is a brilliant one, even if distances and professional commitments mean that most potential contacts remain only email/phone ones. It is so hard to make non-musical guys understand about the demands of our profession: "You mean you still have to do your practise even though you don't play pro anymore?" "How much longer does this go on for?" "Why do you have to look after conductor after...?" etc etc. Then the other problem for us ladies is that many of the most err gorgeous males in our business are snapped up at school or not err interested in us in this way and can only be "best friends"...

So where do we find our future mates?? Any help would do!

Great idea....

Which reminds me...what do you call a beautiful woman on the arm of a trumpet player?



A tattoo.

Oh, no. Musician jokes. Well, since I'm a guitarist I will only repeat guitarist jokes:

What do you do if a classical guitarist comes to your door?
Pay him for the pizza, and give him a tip.

How do you get a guitarist to stop playing?
Put music in front of him.

A guitarist won the lottery, $20,000,000, and his friends all wanted to know what his plan was. His answer: "I figure I'll just concertize until the money runs out."