Meet Yamaha Master Educator Dr. Jeffrey Nytch
Dr. Jeffrey Nytch, DMA, is a Professor and Director of the Entrepreneurship Center for Music at the University of Colorado-Boulder. Leading music students to understand the realities of earning a sustainable income through performance is a vital task for music educators. Relatively few orchestral openings exist and applied teaching positions at universities are scarce as well. Nytch walked this meandering career path himself until he discovered and embraced the concept of music entrepreneurship. He now directs the Entrepreneurship Center for Music (ECM) at the University of Colorado-Boulder.
The recipient of the Sharon T. Alpi Award for Innovative Pedagogy by the Society for Arts Entrepreneurship Education, Nytch is a highly sought-after presenter for both educators and students of all ages. Through these enlightening and engaging sessions, he shares strategies for building a satisfying and sustainable music career.
Nytch teaches students that they must consider the needs of the audience they seek to reach, an audience whose idea of music can encompass date night at a club, an orchestral performance at a symphony hall or relaxing to a recording by a favorite artist. He then asks students to contemplate how they would meet those needs through their own music-making.
In order to have sustainable careers in music, musicians must grasp what Nytch calls “The Entrepreneur’s Maxim”: the market will value the product that meets its needs. Understanding who it is you’re trying to reach and what they need to experience is at the heart of all entrepreneurial activity, and illustrates how entrepreneurship is about more than “business”: it’s about empowering one’s unique musical voice.
In his book, “The Entrepreneurial Muse: Inspiring Your Career in Classical Music,” Nytch explores the principles of entrepreneurship in a classical music setting, inspiring students, emerging professionals and educators alike. His program at the University of Colorado has been recognized by the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers, which presented him with the Specialty Entrepreneurship Award in 2020.
A few of Dr. Jeffrey Nytch’s session titles are:
- The Entrepreneurial Musician
- Dusting off the Classical Music Concert: New Paradigms for the 21st Century
- The Conductor as Curator: Artistic Identity, Programming and Audience Engagement
- Crowdfunding: Raising Dollars through Community
- Entrepreneurship and Creativity: A Match Made in Heaven