James Hall and Emily Ruth Hazel have worked together on a few spoken-word and jazz compositions in the last two years. I asked these two to do this interview ahead of their next installation of collaborative work that James presents Tuesday, June 25 at ...
Since writing my last post about the practice of “community building” in the arts as a more personally sustainable alternative to “self-promotion,” I’ve been thinking about ways to show how some artists have put this ...
We all know intuitively that we couldn’t practice our art alone, but many artists’ approach to “self-promotion” leaves them feeling as if they are. Promoting our work isn’t the problem. We must be passionate advocates for our own work, and we ...
When I began composing the music that eventually became The Bright and Rushing World for AnyWhen Ensemble, I began a blogging project called the Diary of a Composer to give myself the opportunity think out loud about the piece as it was taking shape. The ...
Not every artist will apply for a grant in his or her career, but every artist needs to know how to write his or her own bio. This is the one task about which all artists can agree: writing a bio is cruel and unusual punishment. Cleaning the bathroom ...
John Sutton and Heather Mingo, the creators of the Bass Solo web series, are good friends of mine who are taking a risk and are in the process of doing something amazing. In what will eventually be a 10-episode web tv series, Bass Solo follows the ...
Part 2 of a Series by Mary Cummings From Douglas: People are looking, so make sure you’re good looking! When you google yourself or your group, how do you look? If a poorly written entry on an unknown website is all you have online, then you are ...
Part 1 of a Series By Mary Cummings From Douglas – Every time I see my good friend Mary Cummings, she tells me about some new online marketing tool and I feel like an old person. She has helped me to improve my game on Twitter and other online ...
Like the nutritious breakfasts that we learned about when we were kids, grants are only a part of “this complete breakfast.” Like the Captain Crunch that I so loved as a kid, (with Crunch Berries!) grants are a rare treat for most artists. This is for a ...
Calling all jazz composers and bandleaders! Chamber Music America’s wonderful program New Jazz Works is accepting applications until March 8. This application requires a work sample, a history of your ensemble, a description of your past work for ...