Bree Noble is one of the busiest musicians I know. She’s a singer-songwriter, radio and podcast host and founder of the brand new Female Music Academy that launches June 1. Because so many female musicians are struggling to make it in the music industry, I invited Bree Noble to join us and talk about her projects that help female musicians with the business side of music. First, I had to learn more about her new Female Entrepreneur Musician podcast: “I started the podcast in the beginning of April, and we are putting out Episode 8 this week. We talk to female musicians who have been succeeding in the music industry. They’ve succeeded in creating a sustainable income to pursue their passion and make a living doing it. We talk to female industry pros about where they’re working in the music industry and advice that they can give female musicians. It’s been going over really well. I get emails all the time where women tell me they love the show and cannot wait for the next episode. We’ve been at the top of New and Noteworthy on iTunes and on the front page, so that’s been exciting.” The brand new Female Musician Academy is where women can learn, grow and connect with other female musicians. What are the benefits of membership? According to Bree Noble: “We are going to have training every week to help with marketing, connecting with the audience, attracting listeners and special subjects on request, such as songwriting, contracts and lawyers. We want to help musicians put the pieces together to advance their music career.” In addition to the above coursework, the Female Musician Academy will have training from professional industry representatives. The first scheduled industry professional is Dave Kusek from New...

Christy Zarlengo and I are family. In our twenties, we both lived in Los Angeles and tried to earn a living in the entertainment business. Eventually, I moved to Portland and Christy moved to Boston to attend the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston. Now, Christy owns and directs the Children’s Music Center of Jamaica Plain. When I decided to highlight the start of the school year with features that celebrate the benefits of arts education, Christy’s name was at the top of my interview list. Christy has been a musician her entire life, writing music, singing and playing both piano and keyboards. After finishing Berklee, she continued to write songs, sing and play piano. Christy was on her way to becoming the next Shawn Colvin. She sang and played piano on a cruise ship in the Boston Harbor. It’s expensive to live in Boston. So, Christy started teaching piano too. “It felt like a job. It didn’t feel like the right match for me.” When she was working at a music school in Cambridge, they asked her to help out with their early childhood program. When Christy first taught early childhood groups with parents and kids, she remembers thinking, “Wow! This doesn’t feel like work to me.” Her classes are a wonderful way to spend time with young children and their parents and show them the joys of music. Slowly but surely, teaching childhood music became a bigger and bigger part of Christy’s life. This turned out to be her calling. The benefits of music education in children between birth and five years are many. Early childhood music education helps with social, cognitive, motor and speech development like nothing else. Most focus on the cognitive improvements, especially in math, but Christy thinks the...

This week marks the end of another school year, which causes me to reflect on how fast my son, Kory, has grown up. Next year, he’ll be a senior in high school, getting ready for college! This also marks the time of year when schools begin talking about budget cuts for next school year. Talks of budget cuts always include talk about cutting parts of the music program, which boggles my mind, because I can’t begin to tell you what an important influence music education has played in my son’s life. I’m lucky to live in a school district that offers music education beginning in middle school. I must admit that I was a bit surprised when my son came home after his first day at middle school and announced he was going to play the enormous bass violin. My husband plays the electric bass, so I guess it’s natural that my son would choose the bass violin. I’m lucky to live in a school district with a strings teacher willing to rush between 2 middle schools and the city high school to keep the strings music program alive. Ms. G is a miracle worker. Over half the children who start taking beginning strings in middle school play their instruments with her through graduation from high school. What an amazing woman! I’m lucky to live near a wonderful summer arts program for Young Musicians and Artists (YMA) at beautiful Willamette University. My son spent 3 summers at their music camp, where teachers play alongside students during performances. The summer between middle school and high school, my son’s YMA bass teacher recommended he audition for the Portland Youth Philharmonic (PYP). I’m lucky to live in the same city as PYP, the oldest youth orchestra in...