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.

Dan, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

The Left Coast Quintet was really formed for us to have a creative outlet to perform music. There are ebbs and flows to paid music opportunities in San Diego, sometimes there are lots of gigs, sometimes few, so having the quintet allowed us to control our own destiny of sorts – to put ourselves in a position that we could perform whenever we wanted to, and we could control the music.

As we’ve become better known in the community, people started reaching out to us to provide live music at their weddings, and that is by far the most meaningful event that we could provide music at. The first chapter in someone’s lives together, one of the most consequential and important days in their lives, should be treated as something incredibly special, and live music provides that atmosphere. There is a noticeable difference in the mood when people walk into a venue and hear the sounds and feel the vibrations of music traveling through the air, and it lifts the spirits immediately – we always see a huge smile on guests faces when they hear us for the first time.

Even more than the guests though, it is so meaningful for us to see our clients faces when they walk down the aisle for the first time, listening to the music that has a special place for them and that we’ve worked on together – whether it is a theme from a favorite movie or a cover of their favorite pop song.

I don’t think I can pinpoint just one meaningful occasion, every wedding is really special and unique and fun, and it’s just rad being there to experience it and play a part!

Dan, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I started the Left Coast Quintet in 2014 as a way to perform more, but that’s not really the beginning of the story.

My musical “career” started back as a young kid, walking next door to take piano lessons from my neighbor, and then playing on her trampoline in the backyard (I was focused, clearly). I moved on to guitar as well, and learned recorder in elementary school, but none of those instruments really held much of a passion for me. Headed into middle school, I went to a “musical instrument petting zoo” set up by the band, where all the different instruments are out on tables and you can walk around and try them all. The band director took one look at my large hands, pointed me over to the bassoon, and the rest is history.

I’m from Texas, and band is a lifeblood of schools there, but bassoon is really not an instrument that many middle schoolers start off playing – mostly it’s either clarinet, flute, trumpet, percussion, or something along those lines. Many people don’t start playing bassoon until they are into high school or college, but I’ve always excelled at being the unique one of my friends. I played all through high school, attended state-level competitions, performed at local theater companies, and when it was time for college, decided I would like to plan cities – threw you for a curve ball there right? You thought I was going to say I would study music, but no I really got into city planning and architecture so I decided to attend California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) in San Luis Obispo.

I did bring the bassoon along with me, and I’m so happy I did! I got the opportunity to play all over the place – in the local symphony, in some festivals around the central coast, and it was the first time I had seriously performed regular concerts with a wind quintet. I started compiling music for quintet and built up a nice library of fun music that we would perform around at local concerts and events, including holiday parties and corporate functions.

When I moved to San Diego, I quickly immersed myself in the local classical music scene, performing with numerous symphony groups, touring stage productions, and other ensembles when they needed a bassoonist, but San Diego can be at times a wealth of music, or a dry spot. I wanted to make sure that there would always be an opportunity to perform, and wanted to ensure that people looking for quality, fun, and unique live music for their events would have someone they could call.

The Left Coast Quintet is that avenue, and we are much more than a traditional “classical” ensemble, although we do perform a lot of Baroque and classical music. The vast majority of our amazing catalogue of songs falls in the “pops” category – music that you hear in the movies like Disney themes, John William’s favorites from Harry Potter or Star Wars, covers of Beatles or Elvis tunes, jazz or Dixieland, Broadway hits, motown, and even modern music from Christina Perri and Lady Gaga! I had so much music, that each member of the group had five separate binders filled with musical charts – it was a lot to carry with us, so about a year ago we switched to tablets and now have our over 700 musical arrangements at the touch of our fingers.

The LCQ musicians are great people and close friends, and we absolutely enjoy being around each other and performing together. While we might swap jokes and stories prior to a concert, when we perform we are extremely professional and attentive. Our quintet is made up of April Leslie on clarinet, Jenny Shippee on oboe, Erica Gamble on flute, RB Anthony on French horn, and myself on bassoon. RB is also our resident arranger, so when clients have a specific song request we are able to customize most music styles to be played with our quintet.

Over the past 7 years we have been invited into our clients homes and to their most intimate events, including weddings, holiday parties, birthdays, and celebrations of life. Our ideal clients are music lovers who are looking for something outside of the normal string quartet or DJ, and want a unique experience of live music performed by an amazing group. We are all very communicative, friendly, and open people, and enjoy working with our clients to elevate their occasion and keep the business side of hiring musicians as easy as possible.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

The biggest thing our society can provide is support. I always find it amusing that when money is short, the first thing to get cut is the arts. You see it in schools everywhere, they still have thriving sports teams, but there is something missing from the school – there is nothing creative happening and no outlet for the kids that are seeking something more in their lives than just going to class and going home.

This translates to our adult society too – when city budgets are constrained, the arts are always the first on the chopping block. Other services or entertainment takes more of a priority, and they will fund the arts only when there is extra availability of funds.

The problem is that people in general do not understand how important the arts are in their life. From my music perspective, imagine going to your favorite movie, but there is no soundtrack playing, because people haven’t been trained on playing instruments.

I think the easiest thing for society to do to show support is to fund the creative programs in our schools, as well as creative continuing education and outreach programs for adults, to allow people a place to relax and create. For individuals, you can follow your favorite musicians on social media, share their posts to help them gain traction, and show up to events with a few friends in tow so they have a nice audience and feel supported. This will go a really long way to helping improve our creative lives.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I am a “geriatric millennial” or so I’ve been told, so Facebook was launched when I was in college. I got into Instagram late, and I still haven’t worked on TikTok or other platforms. I rely mainly on Facebook and Instagram to communicate with the San Diego area on what the quintet is up to, and hopefully appeal to people when they are looking for their musicians for a wedding or event.

I think being incredibly genuine and showing a lot of “behind the scenes” content is what people want to see. I am not a professional photographer or videographer, so the pictures and videos I post typically are taken with a cell phone camera and little editing, but they depict the people behind the instruments, what we do, why we love performing, and what new music we’re working on. Of course I’ll slip in a pretty pic of a cool new venue or a colleague in the events business from time to time as well. I don’t think a lot of people want to see or read about generic stuff, they want to immerse themselves in an organization or a cause, so I do my best to show a moment in the life of the ensemble.

I also am really into supporting other similar groups and event pros in the San Diego area, so that helps build bridges. If I like and comment on posts of people in the same field, I get more likes and comments and follows back – that’s just how those platforms work. If you want people to appreciate and watch what you’re doing, you need to take interest in others work as well – and that will build your audience and your reach.

I say this while sitting at just over 850 followers, which is not a massive audience, but we are a genuine group and I’m not a social media wizard – I’d love more followers but I prefer people who are really following along on our journey and building an audience that cares about what we care about, so I’m very happy with where we are right now.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.leftcoastquintet.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/leftcoastquintet
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/leftcoastquintet
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZuJEek8Ebmz9gzzwLKYczw
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/left-coast-quintet-san-diego-5