Policies, Mission, & Community Partner Support

1st Choice Music Services is committed to serving our clients and community. We support our community through personal service and charitable donations to:

Charities, Community Service, and Philanthropic Sponsorships - American Red Cross, United Fund, Eastern IL Food Bank, Wesley Foundation Food Pantry, CU Police Lodge Food Basket & Camp New Hope Projects, CU Humane Society, Empty Tomb, Salt & Light Ministry, Urbana Boys & Girl Scouts, the UI Main Library, School of Music, American Music Center, UI Opera Department, UI Women's Glee Club, WILL - FM Radio & TV, Orchestras [Baroque Artists of CU, Champaign Urbana Symphony, Danville Symphony, Heartland Festival Orchestra, Prairie Ensemble, Sugar Creek Opera, Arcadia Chamber Players Young Artist's Scholarship,The Chorale, Northwest Symphony Young Artist Competition], Cello Societies (ICS, Chicago, & Florida), Universities [University of Illinois, Eureka College, Indiana & Hamlin Universities, Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts, Rollins College Library], American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA) Relief Fund, Adoptees Liberty Movement Association (ALMA), Urbana Free Library, Urbana Public Arts & Culture Commission, Champaign School's Foundation, Mills Breast Cancer Institute, other medical and community charities.

Mission and Policies - Sections below were inspired from consultation and research services provided to bridal couples.

Why were we recommended to help you? - Check the feedback on this web site, or ask anyone who knows us, our reputation, and work to learn why they recommend us, & why our professional reputation and stature in the region is so strong.

What do you pay for & how does 1st Choice Music Services assist clients? - Planning and producing a major life event is not an easy or quick process. It requires mega planning time, effort, & expertise. From the first inquiry to the end of an event, we are dedicated & committed to helping clients at every opportunity with the fullest comprehensive services at our disposal. We do not take chances or the easy way out to provide service for your event.

In our fast paced world, we all enjoy easy access to information, but planning wedding music cannot be accomplished quickly. Be advised that repeated calls and e-mails requesting services and consultations require payment for our professional services after the initial consultation. A groom once thought all we do is pencil in dates and suggest optional back up players. Their repeated calls and e-mails for 6 months meant making numerous calls, emails, and inquiries to line up and provide assistance for them.

Deposits - To secure full services and benefit from our years of experience & expertise, a signed contract and deposit is required.

To request and accept consultation services only, thereby receiving benefits from our years of experience & expertise, a $60 professional consultation fee is required - even if artists are not engaged after research and consultation occurs. To secure our services, continue reading and be sure to review other helpful pages in this web site. Details below exemplify the depth of care you will receive when you engage and pay for our professional services. You may not see all that takes place to help you, but now you'll know how it happens.

Policies - Founded in 1985, 1st Choice Music Services, secures and seeks out the most qualified, experienced, reliable, & available professional musicians for your special event. Qualified/available/experienced artists are professional musicians, faculty, and graduate students in Champaign, Urbana, Danville, Bloomington, Springfield, Peoria, Mattoon, Decatur, Charleston, St. Louis, Indianapolis, & Chicago.

In keeping with our mission, professional standards & reputation, no inquiry will be treated lightly. Your special event is an important, major life event. Our obligation to clients is to utilize all our skills, experience, industry connections, & extremely thorough methods to investigate, audition, and engage the most skilled players available for their event.

Be assured we will never leave you hanging, anxious, or uninformed. We’ve helped hundreds of couples over the years and are extremely careful to leave no steps overlooked as the planning process evolves. After years in business in Central Illinois since 1985, and over 40 highly successful in the music business, we strive to ensure clients receive: prompt, expert consultation services, written agreements with contractual & preparation details, reassurance musicians will show up on time & honor the performance agreement, be dressed well, behave professionally, and perform to your expectations. We require performers engaged for your event must be high level, experienced professionals who will take excellent care of your needs and provide full personal and performance services. They must not simply be focused on playing a "gig" to make money.

To assist clients properly, extensive, comprehensive research is necessary to provide honest assessments and advice offered at each inquiry. Researching all the variables on your behalf is a lengthy, detailed process. At every point of contact, be assured we will present accurate information and suitable alternatives for you. It takes quite a bit of time, effort, and expense to e-mail, phone, text, Facebook, send texts & IMs, have face to face meetings, check calendars to ensure performer's availability, place holds on players on your behalf, release them when potential clients change their mind, and put in concerted efforts on your behalf to check all the facts.

We work daily with area ministers, music directors, organists, bridal consultants, caterers, photographers, and orchestra personnel managers and conductors. Qualified players are tracked in an expeditious manner and commitments made with them on your behalf. Be advised commitments with players at times are difficult to accomplish too far in advance or during holidays. No promise to provide artists will be made without first-hand knowledge about them and a commitment from the artist that they will honor the date and time for your event. We stand behind the care, efforts, and personal attention given to every inquiry in good faith to help couples and families achieve their needs.

At your initial inquiry, information on fees, instrument lists, and policies is sent at no charge. This information also appears on this web site and is available to download. This is a free service and does not require an in-house office consultation.

Be advised that the agency & artists charge fees for their time, costs, professional consultation, guarantees to hold your date and time and perform for your event. Some inquirers are simply price shopping and do not respond again after receiving initial paperwork and reviewing web site details. We will send planning materials to assist you right away and make them available on this web site. Your follow up actions will ensure progress. Be advised that no response from you 30 days after your initial inquiry does not guarantee further consultation service, nor artist commitments without a signed contract and deposit.

Service begins as your first inquiry and can continue through the completion of your event. Each call or e-mail results in information promptly provided to aid with your research and final plans. Customers deserve to be being fully informed, aware of all possible solutions for their special event, and not have ideas forced on them. Occasionally answers may not be readily apparent & require time and effort to carry out extensive research.

Availability concerns and conflicts - When/if occasional availability concerns and conflicts are immediately apparent, the best players you hoped to engage, or whom we want to engage on your behalf, might not be available. When/if that happens, we will make every effort to provide prompt, truthful responses drawn from our expertise, resources, research, & time. To do our job properly and not mislead anyone, every effort will be made to make customers feel they will be well taken care of throughout the entire planning process and performances.

As an orchestra personnel manager/contractor, principal player of five area professional orchestras, preferred vendor in the Central IL wedding music industry, and musician contracting authority, we strive to be responsive to customer's questions. We utilize our expertise, resources, and time to research the most experienced, capable performers in the region. We research who is available or previously engaged (when and where); check all area orchestral event calendars; players, orchestra managers, and personnel managers are contacted to ascertain available personnel for the date of your event. We learn which musician is moving away, or has done so; which players are booked on the date of your event, when and where, plus double check on which most experienced, capable performers in the region might be available and willing to play for your event.

Many players will not commit themselves months in advance, plus many decline to play outside events. Sadly too many clients have been burned by musicians with less integrity who cancel at the last minute, then panic and contact me to rescue them. Sometimes this happens on only 48 hours notice. Rest assured, I will come to your rescue if a student musician you tried to hire on your own cancels at the last minute.

Through regular contact with all regional players, we are aware of and keep track of who is reliable; whose word is not binding; who breaks contracts or bails at the last minute and leaves customers hanging; who maintains professional business and artistic procedures; which musicians have equipment to serve customers properly; which musicians are most responsive to e-mails and phone calls; which musicians maintain professional business and artistic procedures; and which musicians have the necessary equipment and music to serve your event.

As noted above, to assist clients properly, extensive, comprehensive research is necessary. Researching all the variables on your behalf is a lengthy, detailed process in order to properly assist you in your research and make informed decisions. Would you expect any less from us?

For questions or to sign a performance agreement & secure artists: Contact the Emmy Winning “Prairie Mother" Mrs. Barbara Hedlund, 9AM-9PM CST Daily, Music Studio - 505 Eliot Drive, Urbana, IL 61801- 6727, Tel: 217-384-0874, No FAX | E-mail: vcello1@comcast.net