“You don’t have to shout to be noticed, but you do have to provide an answer to someone asking “So WHAT?”

- Robert Phillips

In an interview with WebNeeTech, Robert Phillips, shared his interesting thoughts and views with us, he says “One thing DIDN’T motivate me: to see my name in “print”. I’ve spent my career as a professor publishing, probably about 100 articles in print. The sort of thing I’m doing in my blog could, in theory, be gathered together in traditional book format. But I decided to try things a new way. I am not giving up on traditional print media. Books are not dead, nor will they be.”

The blog “The Opinionated Arpeggist” was launched in April 2006 soon it’s going to be replaced by name Thearpeggist; the blog is all about his love and passion for Classical piano music playing, listening and sometime he also likes to write on his personal stuff.

Webneetech.com found Robert’s blog interesting and interviewed him to find more about the picture behind blogging and his experience as a blogger.

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Blogger’s Detail:

Blogger’s Name: Robert Phillips

Age: 60

Occupation / Profession: Professor, Pianist, Artist

Blog name and URL: oparp.blogspot.com, which will be replaced by thearpeggist.com at the time of this interview, the former blog is up but inactive, the latter is not entirely up yet. I will post at both places when the change occurs.

Blog Focus Area, domain: Classical piano playing and listening and thinking.

Blog launched on: April 11, 2006 (blogspot); November 2009 (thearpeggist.com)

Do you have team of bloggers? Nope. Just me.

Interest / Activities: Writing, researching, teaching, playing piano, listening to classical music, drawing and painting, thinking, dreaming.

Located at: Bethlehem, PA USA

Contact Details:

Twitter Id: chopin_slut

Email ID: JSBfan@gmail.com

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Interview (Q&A Round):

Q. What motivated you to start blogging?

One thing DIDN’T motivate me: to see my name in “print”. I’ve spent my career as a professor publishing, probably about 100 articles in print. The sort of thing I’m doing in my blog could, in theory, be gathered together in traditional book format. But I decided to try things a new way. I am not giving up on traditional print media. Books are not dead, nor will they be.

Q. Tell us in detail about your blog? What area or topic you generally cover in your blog, any special reason behind it?

The main point is, obviously, classical piano music. But the piano doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It goes solo, goes with singers, other instruments, and orchestras. So inevitably those considerations arise in my posting. I am trying to combine writing about listening to classical piano music together with playing it. This latter doesn’t turn up much even in the many fine piano-oriented blogs. We might call them this aspect “pro’s tips”; Effective ways to practice. Fingering. Pedaling. Licking particular technical problems. Since I am at the level of choosing pieces by interest to me rather than degree of difficulty, I want to share what I’ve learned, which doesn’t happen as often as it should when pianists write a=bout such topics.

Q. Why reader should come on your blog…What is the best part of your blog?

Something for everyone, I hope! My ideas are well-founded, but will make my readers think. And with all my experience in writing, my prose will be…readable and professional.

Q. Which blogging platform you are using (wordpress, blogspot, bloggers etc), any reason about it?

I started on Blogger, and would encourage anyone to start either there or with WordPress.com. Just getting a blog going is a big job without having to design your site, worry about spam filters, SEO and so forth.

Q. How frequent you update your blog? How many post your blog is carrying at present?

The Blogger experience began pre-Twitter and SEO and I was never able to get the following I wanted. So it’s been dormant too long while I regrouped.

Q. What tools you use to increase your blog readership and bring people on your blog? Do you use social networking sites?

I’m going to use Twitter. Have been actively using it for about a year, so my friends there don’t think I’m using Twitter as a cheap way to drive traffic to my site.

Q. Any specific tips you have for new bloggers who want to make it in the blogsphere?

Start small. Have a vision and have a niche with a “hook”. There’s a cacophony of blogs out there. Learn some design — most blogs are just color abnd layout nightmares. Most important, learn to write well and grammatically in the language you blog in. You don’t have to shout to be noticed, but you do have to provide an answer to someone asking “So WHAT?”

Q. Do you earn revenue through your blog? If yes then how a blogger should monetize his / her blog? If no, then any plans in future?

Not at the moment. This is a labor of love.

Q. What are your other favorite blogs which you follow, can you list the top 5 such blogs?

I’ve got a number of them, but I’m not going to list because inevitably I’d hurt some feelings by forgetting to mention blogs I really like.

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