66th Anniversary

I'd like to share my experience from an awesome event I was asked to play last week. I got a call from Les Concierges on a Wednesday afternoon, asking me to play for an anniversary dinner in a couple's apartment on Friday. Of course background dinner music is very standard for me, so I gave them the usual shpeel about pricing, performance practice, dress code, etc. However, upon further investigation into this event, I discovered that I was being asked to be the main attraction for an hour following dinner.  This was a much different situation than I had anticipated.   They were asking me to perform a full SOLO RECITAL, and had requested the Bruch Concerto in G minor!  This presented a problem, since I had already agreed to it, and gave them a standard price--not to mention the event was two days away.   


As it turned out, the anniversary party was for a couple, let's call them John and Joan, who were celebrating their 66th year of marriage.  Their daughter wanted to do something special for them as they were both over 90 years old and couldn't leave their apartment.  Both of them loved classical music, but they didn't have a piano in their apartment, so they needed the performer to be a soloist. John's favorite piece of all time was the Bruch Concerto, and his daughter requested I play it as a surprise for him.


I was in quite a pickle since I had two days to prepare, and solo violin music is REALLY hard!  (Plus, the Bruch Violin Concerto is meant to be performed with orchestral accompaniment!)  And who was I to deny this 90 year old couple of an hour of entertainment with their favorite piece of music?!?  So long story short, I pulled it off.


When I arrived at John and Joan's apartment, they were so surprised and excited to see me there.  I would perform a piece, and then tell them about the significance of the piece to me, and why I chose to perform it for them.  (They were crying after Salut D'Amour!)  I talked to them about my career as a violinist, how I got started, and how I purchased my current instrument.  I could tell how much they were enjoying it! 


The hour actually flew by, and I was having so much fun that I thought I could have gone on for another 3 hours!  When I finished, everyone thanked me for a beautiful performance and asked when I could come back!  Their daughter told me I was the perfect person to play for her parents :)


I honestly felt bad for charging them, because making people that happy should be free!  John and Joan probably won't have a chance to see another live musician like that day, but I was really glad to be able to be a part of such a special occasion!  I have the best job :)

Google Analytics

I would like to use this post to talk about ridiculousity of Google Analytics.  I have found myself mesmerized by this website for an unspeakable amount of time.  For those of you who are as clueless about website design as I am, this website can be completely overwhelming.  It basically allows me to analyze every aspect of my site from the visitor's perspective.  My favorite thing to do is to see how many new people have visited, and what the most popular pages are for that segment.  And I'm really happy to report that the pages I worked on the hardest are usually the most visited!


I can safely say that by all accounts, standpoints and reports, the Miss Musique website is very popular :) 

Onward and Upward

I realize I haven't updated in a while, but that's only because I've been so busy with the day-to-day challenges of running the business!  (Honestly, Excel has been giving me the biggest headache!)  Most days I find myself chained to my computer from 8-5!  That schedule does NOT leave me with enough practice time.  Maybe I'll use my lunch break to practice my scales :) 

So far, I've been having a LOT of fun talking to my clients and helping them plan the perfect music for their events.  It's really fulfilling to hear them say how our music made their event so much more fantastic! Lot's of phone calls to make tomorrow...

Busy!

Wow, running a business is a lot of work.

Success!

So far, Miss Musique has been a complete success.  I've been super busy trying to keep up with work and trying to learn how to use Excel!  I've been accomplishing little milestones like business cards, bank accounts, payment policies etc. and everything has really been coming together.  I foresee that next year at this time I will be hiring!  I've been able to make a few girls really happy so far and that has been the most fulfilling part of the job.  Anywho, you guys can help by spreading the word about Miss Musique to anyone you know!! :)

LAUNCHED

After a lot of blood sweat and tears, my website has finally been launched!  Check it out at http://missmusique.com/ :) There is still a lot to be done, but I'm so happy with the way it turned out. We are still going to add more photos and bits of color here and there so it doesn't look so pasty.  We are also looking into invoicing with Paypal, and sharing music files.  Now I'm getting excited for the really fun part--running the business!