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If she is aggressive as you say she is she will be spamming google too. Have an expert SEO person check out her site and make a google spam report of what you find – include all the web address redirects too.
Google may remove her from their index.
They can take several months to respond.http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35769
Bottom half of page.Personally I would ignore her as the cream always rises over time.
S
what types of inputs do you have available?
1/4 inch line in jacks?
xlr mic in??
phantom power??
S
Hi Madeline
Good for you!
While your friends are flipping burgers you can earn some quality cash and gain some real world experience that will last you a lifetime.
I am going to throw a few thoughts at you which may set you on your way.
No particular order.Firstly – there is no set formula to making money as a harpist performer – you have to try various avenues until things start to click for you, you start to find an initial comfort zone then grow from there.
As you progress you need to push the barriers of that comfort zone and try a few things that at first seem uncomfortable but with familiarity become easier to do.
Eventually this creates several channels of potential income.
Clients and trends can be illusive so you are always cultivating new angles so as one trend dies another rises from your pool of experience.There are many things you can do besides play weddings – some of which are good training.
So the message is try lots of angles – see what happens.Do not put your harp at physical risk.
Do not take gigs that may damage your harp.
Brides have really weird ideas of where a harp can be.
Ask a lot of questions before agreeing to do a gig!
You should never be surprised when you arrive at a gig.If you play outdoors always bring your own emergency shade – ie a 9″ umbrella as the sun moves and a bride’s best intentions may fall short and you end up baking.
Bring all the gear you are going to need.
Do not rely on “finding” chairs etc.
They always dim the lights 30 seconds before a dinner starts – be ready with your own lights.
Have a nice white carpet that people will not stand on – helps maintain space around your harp.
Have your own helper – well meaning bystanders will want to help carry the harp – that can cost you a broken harp.Get performance experience in various settings
Volunteer at a few seniors residences – possibly in a hospice lobby – not bedside.At 14 you can make really good money busking at a local market.
Dress on the “young” side
People will have short attention spans and you learn to “hook” them a little.
Beware of becoming to overly cheesy with your performance.
It does not translate well to more formal settings.
But it is huge for your confidence and you do not need a large repertoire.
Lots of skills to learn.
Paid practise.List every harp related expense on a spreadsheet.
Every gig expense.
Assume it costs$0.60/mile to operate a car.
Track your costs carefully.
That will give you incentive to raise your prices as your opportunities grow.
Figuring out charges can be very difficult.
All this data helps a lot.Record every gig – how many people – how long – fee
This is a reference for future quotes.
Quoting can be super tough.
Takes experience.
Do not beat yourself up when you get it wrong.In a while you will need a website.
Approach your high school infotech teacher and get him/her to create it as a project where you will work with someone to make a site.
Keep it simple.
Understand simple SEO before writing copy.
You will make many changes to it as you grow into harping.
Having longer term website design support is huge.
Own your own domain.Make a simple handout on your computer – it can be quite small.
Include your website URL if you have one
Always have it available when you are playing and pass it out freely to those asking questions.Business cards are over rated.
A nice pix of you with harp on a handout is way better.
Handouts can be changed weekly – very short print runs.
Biz cards can take forever to run out.
Websites are the way to go.
Social media may only get your friends out.Choose your favourite charity
Play for them for free.
Everybody else pays a fee.You may discount
but always quote full fee then subtract discount.
Easier to get full fee next time.The music business is 10% music and 90% moving gear and doing accounts.
Persistence is a minimum requirement.
Do not give up easily.
Most do and settle for flipping burgers.A local music college professor was asked about which students become professional musicians.
His answer was that he knows within the first three classes who will make it.
They do not expect to be given a career.
They do not have a sense of entitlement.
They grab it, they have drive, ambition and persistence.
They are really focussed.
The school just makes it faster..
They will make it with or without school.
(It is you that is important – not the credentials.)Yes, they have talent but lots of people have talent.
Few ask questions like you do.
Push hard Madeline.
You are worthy of a musician’s career.But do it collaboratively.
You will need the help of many others to make it.
Including the harpists in your area.
And your teacher.14 is not too young if you feel close to being ready.
You will never feel “ready”.
If you feel ready you may have stopped pushing as hard.
A career is made by by pushing a little beyond comfortable and just before fully “ready”.have fun
stephen vardy
http://www.alisonvardy.comAll belows assumes a sound person operating sound gear – all background gigs
For a wedding ceremony outdoors – 1x limo at back of audience on a stand – harpist at front – stereo sound – aim limo at bride as she walks from a distance and as she goes down the aisle
Small indoor gig – 1x limo on/off stand 8-10′ from harpist
Expand a little by using a taxi satellite on the floor 20-50′ away
Bigger gigs use 2x limos on stands – one 50′ distant
Add one or two satellites for really noisy gigs.
Hide satellites behind curtains under clothed tables etc
Not much gear showing and can handle a noisy crowd of 120.
We are having a hard time getting people to pay for quality sound so we are arriving and expanding as required where before we had more appropriate gear available for better distribution, volume etc. – but it is expensive, heavy and time consuming and we were not being compensated like before.
For over a decade we were performing background for up to 450 people regularly – those gigs are gone and we now are dealing with more price iffy customers so must be much more flexible on the fly.
We underquote on sound and expand only if truly required.
People are wanting cheap/value not elite like before.
Move with the times.
I now have a 4x Crate all battery sound system – 2x limo and 2x taxi
Expandable as required from a simple amp – indoors/outdoors.
Clients are seemingly unwilling to pay a premium for quality sound distribution and generally gigs are smaller.
So they get adequate sound now – okay but not awe inspiring.
All the rackmount gear and speakers are now mothballed.
the times are a changing
Stephen
I have a short list of corny harp humour
http://www.westcoastharps.com/celtic-harp-info/harp-humour.htm
stephen
Yes, Maire Ni Chathasaigh uses/used bubble wrap. She arrived in Dunedin NZ from the UK with a bubble wrapped (big bubble) harp. Her partner Chris had to replace a couple of damaged levers.
At that time she was using a Camac which could swap out various wooden parts via airmail if there was damage.
S
Dusty has created a longer shank on their levers under special agreement with Loveland.
Buying from Dusty insures that they are the same as on your harp.
Other sources may vary.
Stephen Vardy
Disclaimer: We sell Dusty Strings products in Canada.
Contact Kathy at Vixen Harps in Ottawa – she has seen some of the Artone harps while in the orient.
Stephen V
Tap and die sets have an adjustable T wrench that will fit any harp. Add a wooden handle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tap_and_die
Dusty Strings has a really top quality universal tuning key with a wooden handle.
Stephen
http://www.westcoastharps.com/
Disclaimer: I sell Dusty products in Canada
I concur with Adam – a bit more detail would help in what is a very large range of possible answers. Mics have various uses with quite specific outcomes. Can you give some detail on how your harp sounds? (type of harp and wood made of if a folk harp). What genre of music?. Concert hall sound or in close and familiar?
We offer iPod and laptop DJ to the wedding couple. They bring their music files in some form of portable electronics and plug into our system which is a higher end system created especially for the harp. The MP3s sound better through a quality system. We provide a 4-way DJ mixer,a USB sound card, an iPod dock and an audiophile CD player. (A wired mic with stand/podium is necessary too for speeches) Move the speakers to the dance floor and hey presto!
The music they bring ranges from excruciating to quite good. The couple likes to feel in control and I usually start off the evening with their special tunes plus their dance playlist. As the evening progresses requests start to happen and I ask if the requester has it on iPod and use the dock for individual songs if they do. Often I pass control over to a really switched on dancer and they start to micromanage everything.
Works really well and we net $1200 for about 14×2 hours work for the two of us and also have a nice dinner. Alison usually plays harp for the ceremony and 2-3 hours amplified background at the reception. The rest is recorded music, speeches etc.
In an emergency I have a stash of about 70 CDs which are legal to play at dances in Canada without a license. MP3s are not legal to play without having a DJ licence on the digital hardware. The couple can get a $50 license for the dance to cover all music use.
I have lots of thoughts, not much proof…..
We are in a Lake Tahoe like area in Western Canada in a tourist and conference town.
Our gigging is off 40% over 4 years ago.**Canada has had a fairly shallow recession compared to the USA.
**The first dent was USA Homeland Security requiring USA travellers to Canada to have passports – far fewer USA corporate clients as a result.
**USA client destination weddings dropped
**Canadian brides became more $ conscious
**DJs are dying like flies up here.
**Smaller weddings away from larger urban centers are definitely rising.
**The backyard wedding is coming back. We offer several options to make the harp attractive in this situ.
** We have had a recent 7% sales tax increase on live music
BUT I think something else is afoot – The digital generation is starting to marry in larger numbers – they grew up with electronic hardware and very little acoustic music due to school cutbacks. Live music does not register for this generation unless it can be referenced back to a digital format.
We have adjusted by offering the option of having iPod/laptop music after the harp play for dancing. There is a bonafide customer for this combo offering.
http://www.alisonvardy.com/harpsound-audio/dance-dj.htmI wonder about the future but somehow every year we get by. This year 60 year old birthday parties are on the rise. The boomers are celebrating. There is money in the boomers somehow – even if it is their funerals.
Sigh – I am a boomer….
Stephen Vardy
West Coast Harps
