Megan Ihnen is an educator dedicated to working beyond the confines of the traditional university, collegiate, or conservatory music department. Her work focuses on teaching 21st century skills and disciplines that augment the current assignments and projects of students.
Workshops
MAKE IT RAIN
In this session we break down the process for building and growing your work through logical easy-to-follow steps even while living a busy musician’s life. We also discuss how to stand out from the crowd and dramatically increase your odds of getting booked regularly. Make It Rain covers how to advance through your career levels: Generalist ↠ Specialist ↠ Expert ↠ Authority. The workshop also involves elements like creating digital press kits, building an email list, cultivating a robust personal network and more.
YOUR MUSIC BUSINESS: SYSTEMS & AUTOMATION
One of the top reasons clients come to me is because they want to “spend more time on the art than on the business to make the art.” Automation simplifies all areas of your professionally creative life by automatically accomplishing tasks that you or a contractor would otherwise have to do manually.
Discover a bunch of ideas and tips that you can use to automate nearly every corner of your creative business to save time, energy, and money.
“Megan presented at our annual Mastermind career development workshop. She contacted us to talk in preparation for her presentation, and she tailored her presentation based on our conversation and the unique participants attending this year. Her presentation was incredibly well-received and sparked many important questions for our participants surrounding the ideas of community building and placemaking. This is our 3rd straight year working with Megan and we will continue to do so!”
Matt Landry
Saxophonist, Executive Director – Akropolis Reed Quintet
MUSIC IS A REFERRAL BUSINESS: NETWORKING & COMMUNITY BUILDING
The goal of increasing your professional network is to make sure you are the first person that people think of when they have a particular issue or need. They need to call you. But if they don’t know to think about you, they’re gonna call someone else. Together, we’ll talk about developing low-risk ways to meet new people, learn about their interests, and lay the foundation for a deeper bond. We will also cover some personal PR basics that will make growing your professional network easier to do.
“We were very pleased with Megan Ihnen’s wonderful lecture “Music is a Referral Business” networking & community building presentation. She spoke to all the Collaborative Piano Institute participants (pianists, singers, string and woodwind players), and they were all engaged and very interested in the material presented. We thought it was very pertinent to the current music world and music business, and it contained lots of practical information for our participants. Several of them are in a stage of their career in which they are either embarking on projects of their own, or seriously considering them, and they had great questions addressed by Ms. Ihnen very successfully. We highly recommend it!”
Ana Maria Otamendi
Artistic Director, The Collaborative Piano Institute
MARKETING FOR COMPOSERS
Composers… What is your message? Who is your audience? How do you reach them? One of the key aspects of creating a sustainable career as a composer is to build your visibility through marketing. You want your ideal clients to know that you exist, commission you, and become real advocates of your work! This workshop focuses on concepts such as branding, building awareness, generating interest in collaborations and projects, promoting your upcoming performances, and more.
“Megan is deeply skilled in translating the language of marketing and communications for artists in ways that center purpose and impact. Her approach is deeply personal and rooted in the belief that all artists have something valuable to say; her workshop demystified common marketing tropes while delivering concrete, digestible, and actionable steps for making progress on your biggest career priorities. Our students universally raved about the workshop!”
Jonathan Kuuskoski
Chair, Department of Entrepreneurship and Leadership; Director, EXCEL Lab;
School of Music, Theatre & Dance – University of Michigan
DIGITAL ENGAGEMENT FOR ARTS ENTREPRENEURS
Originally created for the University of Michigan’s Performing Arts EXCELerator, this workshop focuses on how to engage your audience through communications and marketing. Megan guides participants through an outline of understand, plan, build, test, and refine. “You work hard to present your concerts, to teach your students, to support your constituents, to make your world a more creative place. Your digital communications should help people find out about the work you do and how they can get involved as a listener, student, partner, donor, or more.”
MUSIC TELLS A STORY
For students and music educators alike! Get ready to be theatrical! Megan will be guiding participants through her “Music Tells a Story” program which covers how to build outreach programs that spark interest in classical music. Want to systematically build the classical music pipeline in your community? We will cover that through creating an interactive educational outreach opportunity.
VOWEL SHAPES FOR SINGERS (AND INSTRUMENTALISTS)
Wish you knew more about sounding authentic across your languages? Feeling unsure about French mixed vowels or German umlauts? This workshop introduces participants to the vowel quadrilateral and works to improve understanding and technical application. Vowel efficiency is linked to better tone quality, resonance, and breath control. This workshop is valuable for performers, choral directors, and more.
Masterclass Topics
- Extended Vocal Techniques for New Music Singers
- Coaching/Performing the NewMusicShelf Anthology of New Music for Mezzo-Soprano, Vol. 1
- Stage Presence in Recital Performance
- Teaching and Performing Rhythmic Accuracy
- Singing American Poetry
- Practice Strategies for All Voices
Be on the Studio Class Podcast
Megan Ihnen is a professional mezzo-soprano, teacher, writer, and arts entrepreneur who is passionate about helping other musicians and creative professionals live their best lives. Studio Class is an outgrowth of her popular #29DaystoDiva series from The Sybaritic Singer. Let your emerging professionals be part of the podcast! Invite Megan to your studio class for a taping of an episode. Your students ask questions and informative, fun conversation ensues.
Booking
For booking inquiries in the US, please contact:
Megan Ihnen, Mezzo-Soprano
Email [Subject line: Workshop/Masterclass Inquiry]