BUILD RELATIONSHIPS
Base your marketing campaign on relationships, those your members have and those you develop. Are you a good match for local presenters’ projects, library, or church concerts, or a school enrichment program? How about contacting the hometown youth orchestra where you performed as a child? Research target organizations so you can tailor a proposal to their needs and address your materials to the right person, ideally someone you know yourself or know through a mutual acquaintance. Networking builds a delicate web of opportunity. Don’t let shyness keep you from making these connections.

Concert bookings often come with a request to perform outreach for students or seniors—perhaps performing at local schools or retirement homes—and to speak with audience members pre- or post-concert. If you need help in public speaking, get it, because audience-appropriate content and a friendly, natural delivery are essential to your overall success.

Being accessible, in your physical presence and attitude, builds relationships and increases your chances for a return engagement. “Members want to know our artists as human beings,” says Bert Harclerode, executive director of Chamber Music Sedona. “With each of these appearances, you help us build deeper roots into the community.”

Go wherever you can, to smaller towns and rural areas, and to the great lands between the East and West Coasts, because one opportunity leads to another. Competitions can be useful, if you approach them with a healthy attitude. Presenters’ showcases, too, are a great way to be seen and heard, when your group is ready.

STRATEGIC PLANNING
Successful marketing is directed. Envision your ensemble in five years. Where will you have had the most positive impact—in the finest concert halls, in experimental venues, or with audiences that don’t have regular access to classical music?

Be honest about what makes your heart sing. If it’s music education or music therapy, pairing music with visual art, or the music of living composers, make this your strategic plan, your Plan A. You can only sell what you really believe in.

Remember: launching a career takes time and money. Be realistic about the time you can invest and what other work you might need to do. Many musicians gain valuable experience from “day jobs” in arts organizations, where they learn grant writing, fundraising, or publicity.

Be patient.

You may need to pace your spending for photographs and conferences, so consider offering gratis performances in exchange for services and don’t hesitate to request donations.

Get all the advice you can. Study presenter and artist websites, search concert programs for ideas, and read trade journals. Assemble a list of musicians who have done what you hope to do that you can call for advice. Your teachers are also great resources. Contact your school’s career services office, and if you’re in school, take advantage of career development courses. From the University of Arizona Camerata Career Center to the Juilliard School Career Development Office, students and alumni can have individual consultations with staff and attend programs designed to help you produce and market your CD, prepare a press kit, and speak comfortably in public.

At New England Conservatory, the Career Services Office is open to the public for a nominal fee. Workshops and dozens of informational handouts are also available for a small charge.

Chamber Music America, the national service organization, supports career development with grants, workshops, directories, and its Education and Residency Institute. The CMA National Conference, held in New York City in January, is a great place to network and learn.

Presenters’ showcases happen around the country. The Association of Performing Arts Presenters piggybacks CMA with a January Members’ Conference for artists, artist managers, and presenters at which 1200 performers, including chamber ensembles, showcase their work.

“What’s Plan B?” says Nancy Christensen, managing director, MCM Artists Worldwide. Traditional chamber music opportunities are shrinking, she notes, as some series close and others introduce dance theater, puppetry, and world music. You need an evolving vision of where you are going, and for many chamber groups that means becoming their own presenters. The future holds more control, more risk, and more creative potential.

In the flexible geometry of chamber ensembles, young players are expanding the boundaries of chamber music, breaking down walls between artist and audience, and creating unique careers. Hardly faint of heart, they show fortitude, ingenuity, and commitment.

It’s not easy, but it can be a dream come true.

A FEW RESOURCES BOOKS
Beyond Talent: Creating a Successful Career in Music by Angela Myles Beeching. (Oxford University Press, 2005)

Making Music in Looking Glass Land: A Guide to Survival and Business Skills for the Classical Musician by Ellen Highstein. (Fourth Edition, Concert Artists Guild Publications, 2003) www.concertartists.org