Eliesha Nelson
Eliesha Nelson plays viola for the Cleveland Orchestra and recently finished recording Quincy Porter: The Complete Viola Works.
Eliesha Nelson Web site goal
In 2007, Eliesha began recording Quincy Porter: The Complete Viola Works in an effort to expose listeners to his music and to preserve the musical heritage of one of America's greatest composers. Eliesha wanted a site that would educate the public about Quincy Porter, showcase her musical expertise and promote the project to potential donors.
Project Overview
When Eliesha and I first met to discuss the site, I had her read through my Planning Your Web site tutorial. She used this as a guide to develop a content outline which we used to map out the site. Knowing that the site would support her fundraising efforts we wanted to include sufficient information about the project to help readers make a decision about supporting it.
Thus the content includes not only information about Eliesha and Quincy Porter, but also sample recordings, information about the production process and biographies of the other people involved. The site was launched in 2007.
In Spring of 2008, Eliesha was preparing to return to the recording studio. At that time we discussed ways to promote the site using social media services such as Facebook—which has many active groups for musicians— and she asked me to add a blog to the site so she could post entries about the recording sessions, her travels and other observations. To do this I installed WordPress on the site, then modified templates to match her existing pages.
The blog has been a great addition to the site, not only because it let's Eliesha add fresh content, but because it gives readers a peek into the life of a professional musician in one of the world's top orchestras. Eliesha and I plan on having further discussions about marketing the site, but this personal content will serve as the backbone of such efforts. While it's easy to find review of orchestra performances, it's more unusual to read a musician's take on the recording process, or get a glimpse of how she felt when her bow broke while playing Carnegie Hall.
