The Summerglen Files

Music, Creativity, and Everyday Life at Summerglen Music in Raleigh, NC

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Cool Website Alert: Entrepreneur the Arts

February 1st, 2010 · 1 Comment

Not much is going on here in Raleigh, because many of our roads are still icy–so I’ve been using the snow-induced down time to explore some great musical & arts-centered websites. This one, Entrepreneur the Arts is one of the most exciting sites I’ve found for working artists. It’s packed with resources, articles, [...]

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Tags: music business

Ironclad Contracts and the Red Velvet Rope

September 24th, 2008 · No Comments

Yesterday evening, one of the ensembles I perform with lost a gig–because the gig was booked by a scammer! A couple months back, another group lost a show because they relied on a verbal agreement (and no deposit) to book the gig. Both the scammer and the verbal agreement person backed out at [...]

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Tags: music business

Having a Good Time Making Connections

August 9th, 2008 · No Comments

The Inside919 Community Picnic went well today! We didn’t have throngs of people in attendance, but it ended up being a great chance to just hang out and chat with other business owners (with the occasional pit stops for hot dogs, photography classes, and drumming!)
Networking meetings are cool; you get a chance [...]

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Tags: a day in the life · music business

A Confident Speech!

July 11th, 2008 · 2 Comments

The speech for the Wake County Women Business Owners Network went very well!
My presentation was designed to teach business owners the skills of performers, to help them promote their businesses more easily. In the presentation, I offered 5 tips to help build the inner confidence needed to perform well and feel comfortable [...]

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Tags: a day in the life · music business

Relaxing is Important :)

July 9th, 2008 · 1 Comment

I’ll type this post quickly, because I need to take my own advice and chill out for the night. I have always been blessed with good health, except for my rotten sinuses. They’ve been hurting all day, so it’s time to have a Benadryl and say good night. So with that, here’s [...]

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Tags: music business · staying healthy

Not Just Advertising, but Contributing to the Community

July 7th, 2008 · No Comments

This is the third post in this week’s series celebrating the one year anniversary of Summerglen Music. Today’s topic: getting the word out in a way that educates people and gives back to the community.
I had absolutely no marketing experience when I started Summerglen, but I knew I needed to get the word out. [...]

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Tags: music business

Finding the Perfect Clients with Ease

July 5th, 2008 · No Comments

This is the second post in this week’s series celebrating the one year anniversary of Summerglen Music. Today I’ll talk about my wonderful clients, and how I found them easily.
Before I started Summerglen, I thought that the best way to find music students, brides who wanted cool ceremony music, and people to host Summerglen [...]

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Tags: music business

Reading Your Way to Independence

July 2nd, 2008 · No Comments

This is the first post in this week’s series celebrating the one year anniversary of Summerglen Music, Raleigh’s home for beautiful performances and empowering musical learning experiences. In the series, I’ll share things that helped me make the leap from working for someone else to living my dream of being a full-time trombonist. [...]

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Tags: music business

Five Great Ways to Get The Word Out

June 18th, 2008 · No Comments

In yesterday’s post, I described my somewhat clumsy journey into marketing as a musician. However awkward the journey, though, I’ve found several approaches to promoting my musical services that WORK! Here are my top five, in no particular order:
1. Go out and play – Generally, when people read a description of a [...]

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Tags: music business

A musician discovers marketing

June 17th, 2008 · No Comments

The blog has been a bit of a ghost town lately, because I’ve been out in the heat of the North Carolina summer, learning.
When you get a music degree, or even when you get -two- music degrees, there’s actually not much class time devoted to daily life as a musician. [...]

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Tags: music business