Balancing Family with a Career in Music

“Is it possible to successfully raise a family and have a career in music?”  There’s a question that perplexes many aspiring and emerging musicians.  My answer…absolutely. If you truly want these things out of life, unconditionally YES!  Of course, building a great career in music is never easy.  Nor is having a family.  But the best...

Catchy Musician Pseudonyms (to Avoid)

I’m hard at work on my second book (more on that later), and have a few hypothetical characters to name.  Rather than going with the normal Mary P. and Felipe G., I decided it would be fun to use some pseudonyms that reflected musical terms.  What do you think?  Any favorites?  Names to add to the list?       Claire Annette Case Al...

Structuring a Multi-media Concert

by Jeff Nytch As artist-presenters, we must have a clear idea of:       Who our audience is… and       What we want to say to them.   Why are these things so important? Because without a clear understanding of these two things we are not likely to make a meaningful connection with our audience. The hard, cold, truth is that all too...

Guerilla Chamber Music

Submitted by: Ohio State University by Christine Wu with Talia Lindsley, Norman Cardwell, and Chris Lape (mentor: Mark Rudoff) In response to The Savvy Musician Challenge #2  Attracting New Audiences.  Classical and jazz performances often appeal to only a small segment of our population, typically aficionados.  Design a chamber music...

From Lil’ Wayne to Coltrane

Submitted by: University of North Texas by Sam Reid, Jessica Watts, Joshua Tavana, Ramon Muzquiz, Scott Mulvahill, Jonathan Shifflett (mentor: Jason Levi) In response to The Savvy Musician Challenge #2  Attracting New Audiences.  Classical and jazz performances often appeal to only a small segment of our population, typically aficionados. ...

Fire Them Up, Not Burn Them Out: The New Motto for Live Performance Marketing

Submitted by: Manhattan School of Music by +-John-Morgan Bush (mentor: Ar Adler) In response to The Savvy Musician Challenge #2  Attracting New Audiences.  Classical and jazz performances often appeal to only a small segment of our population, typically aficionados.  Design a chamber music experience (4 players or less) that will engage new...

myfestival.com

Submitted by: Arts Enterprise - Bowling Green State University (mentor: Nathaniel Zeisler) In response to The Savvy Musician Challenge #2  Attracting New Audiences.  Design a chamber music experience (4 players or less) that will engage new and untraditional audiences.  Describe your target demographic(s), why they will be interested, the...

Attracting New Audiences

Each day this week, The Savvy Musician Blog will unveil a new solution to our second Challenge.  We asked music students from around the globe to respond to the following: Attracting New Audiences Classical and jazz performances often appeal to only a small segment of our population, typically aficionados.  Design a chamber music experience (4...

National Arts Engagement Day

Author and marketing guru Seth Godin recently made this suggestion: Invent a Holiday...               Find an emotion that needs social approval in order to be easily expressed.  Hook it into something you sell or do.  Discover other organizations that would benefit from the holiday as much as you would.  Voila! Mother’s...

A Better Idea than Beating Out the Competition

“Build a better mousetrap” is the strategy adopted by most musicians.  Believing that beating out the competition will lead to gigs and success, they work tirelessly to play a little better, a little faster, a little higher, a little more musically.  This same tactic is applied to building a website, architecting a concert, making a...