Meet Dan Weiss

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dan Weiss. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Dan, so great to have you on the platform. There’s so much we want to ask you, but let’s start with the topic of self-care. Do you do anything for self-care and if so, do you think it’s had a meaningful impact on your effectiveness?

Performing music is beautiful, being able to breathe life into the air where silence was and create something special that wasn’t there before. But, it takes a lot of work to get to that performance, which includes planning, meetings, organization, marketing, networking, and lots of other aspects that cause stress. I often say to friends that I gladly play most of my gigs for free, but charge for all of the “behind the scenes” things that go on to make a performance perfect. Self care and enjoying other aspects of life are incredibly important, because otherwise you’ll get into a rut and the thing you love doing most becomes a hassle and no longer fun.

The main way I get my head out of work is to go to dog beach with my wife and my pup. We either hit up Fiesta Island or Ocean Beach almost daily, and it is an opportunity to unwind, dip my feet in the water, and chat with my wife about what’s going on. While walking a couple miles a day at the beach, we get to catch each other up on weekly events, upcoming appointments, and generally what’s going on.

Around the house, I love to tinker with all sorts of projects which not only takes my mind off of the business side of work, but opens up creativity beyond just music. I enjoy working on wood craft and projects, including building custom desks and other features within my house. I also have a great garden with a bunch of different fruit trees and succulents galore.

Taking that time away from the organization, contracts, setup, website design, and other aspects of being a “musician” that have nothing to do with performance, allows me to refocus and enjoy when I do have a couple hours that I need to get work done.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I’m Dan, a local San Diego bassoonist and the artistic director & founder of the Left Coast Quintet.

I’m originally from El Paso, TX, and have been a musician since I was tall enough to hit the keys on a piano. My parents knew how important music was and had me taking lessons at the neighborhood piano teacher’s house from a young age, then strumming a guitar and blowing a recorder through elementary school. I walked into middle school, the band director took one look at my gigantic hands and pointed me in the direction of a bassoon, and the rest is history. I picked up sax for some jazz and marching band (yes, I am a proud band nerd), and even gained experience in equipment logistics, conducting, and festival management!

I didn’t know if I wanted to continue with music after high school, and moved to California to pursue a degree in City Planning from Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. Music followed me; bassoon is a pretty rare instrument and I was asked to perform all the time, so I formed a wind quintet to play at some weddings & a few parties, and we traveled to festivals all over California. Plus, I had the amazing opportunity to play with the SLO Symphony.

College came to an end, and as much as I dreaded leaving the beautiful Central Coast, San Diego is an amazing city with a lot of charisma. I was still getting many calls to perform with local symphony, pit orchestra, opera, and touring music groups, but any musician knows that performing for live audiences is an addiction. I formed a music group called the Left Coast Quintet, or LCQ for short, with my musical friends to have more opportunities to play in some of the most beautiful venues around San Diego, and it’s been an amazing ride. Beyond just organizing rehearsals and music, I’ve had to learn business, advertising/marketing, client communication and information tracking, budgets, and much more while keeping the quintet moving forward. The best part of the quintet are all of the really special celebrations we get to participate in. I truly believe live music elevates the atmosphere of an event, and getting to join couples in their weddings, or friends at a holiday party, or a non-profit gala is such an amazing experience.

In my personal life, I’m married to a great gal, Michelle, who is a science nerd and enjoys dancing. We love to travel to destinations both new and old, and share a common affinity for the Boston area as we both spent lots of time there over the years and have family there.

Outside of music, I am an emergency manager for the State of California, and am responsible for emergency response and coordination for 11 Southern California counties. I love the beach, hiking, and checking out new restaurants.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

For musicians, especially serious high school aged kids who think they want to be performance majors in college – take some time to think about your decision. I think it is incredibly important that we still continue to have world class musical training for those who want to go that route, but there are other ways you can still perform in the world, while earning a degree in a different field that allows you to make a living. A very small percentage of musicians are able to make it to the professional orchestras that pay enough to live on, everyone else struggles to find gigs on the side, or ends up going into a different occupation – and even those who do land full-time symphony gigs still have side jobs to make ends meet.

If you do choose to study music full time, you also need to consider learning some other skills that will be vital once you graduate – how to market yourself, how to build websites and advertise, and how to make connections. For whatever reason, music schools don’t seem to teach these incredibly important life skills, and they are doing a disservice to their students.

I just want people to know that there are many ways to be involved in the local performing arts while also having a solid foundation.

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?

It absolutely takes a team to pull together a successful event, and I’m always looking for people in the performing arts and events industry to partner with.

On the performing arts side of the house, the Left Coast Quintet would love to meet and work with people who are supporters of live music, who would want to host our ensemble for a concert for their community, congregation, or company. We put on a really fun show of varied music interspersed with witty humor and whimsey, and I’d love to meet more people who would appreciate having us around!

On the events industry, we love forming connections with event planners, venue management, photographers and videographers, catering, florists, and so many other professionals who work as hard as we do to make magical events happen. The community of events and wedding professionals in San Diego is top notch, and we are always out to meet new people to collaborate with and work together.

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