Hidden Gems: Meet Donna Schwartz of Donna Schwartz Music

Today we’d like to introduce you to Donna Schwartz.

Hi Donna, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
After teaching 14 years in public school on Long Island, NY, I felt it was time to work for myself so I reach more people from around the world .
I wanted more of an impact on people’s lives and felt stunted by all the demands that were not related to teaching music in schools.

My wife and I moved from NY to the San Gabriel Valley in late 2014 and have been loving it.
(So happy to never have to shovel after a snowstorm ever agin!)

Since then, I have been teaching adult musicians (mostly saxophonists) online from all over the world.

I started by offering self-study courses, and now also offer a premium small-group coaching experience for those saxophonists wanting to be able to improvise with freedom.

My company’s goal is to help saxophone players learn how to improvise so that they can enjoy making music for themselves, family members and community and spread more joy in the world.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
There have definitely been ups and downs.
My first year here, I was expecting to be able to have a full schedule of younger students, just like I did in NY.

That never happened. It was an adjustment moving out here. In NY, I was very well known. Out here, I had to rebuild myself and see what the students out here wanted.

I had to pivot to teach online and reach more people outside of this area. This worked well for a few years, and I was starting to add online self-study courses for some passive income.

I was also posting 1 video on YouTube every week, and was building a following.

But I was getting burned out – I had 30 students, plus gigs (on saxophone), plus handling the online courses.

I was advised by my business coach in 2022 to run a premium coaching group online.

This took a while to build.

I needed to find my perfect niche of people who desperately wanted to learn how to improvise so they could express themselves through music.

So they could make new friends by joining new ensembles and keep active in their communities.

The pandemic made many people realize that life was short and it was important to pursue passions before it was too late.

Since 2022, we’ve helped hundreds of people all over the world realize their dream of creating their own melodic solos, and for some, it saved their lives because they needed a stress release from all the negativity in the world.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Donna Schwartz Music?
My company name is Next Level Musician, and I DBA as Donna Schwartz Music and also the Everything Saxophone Podcast.

We started off as a resource for teaching 1:1 lessons for all ages.

Now we have our premium coaching group, the Improvisation Made Easy Elite Coaching Program, helping adult saxophone players 25 and older from all over the world learn how to improvise in all styles of music.

My proven 3-step improvisation system has helped hundreds of people bring their performing to a whole other level.

We also have almost 300 episodes for the Everything Saxophone podcast, having interviewed the greatest saxophonists, teachers and industry leaders in the Saxophone World.

Each episode is like a Masterclass, not a 6-second snippet that appeases a short attention span.

We dive deep into the thought processes of each guest, asking questions that most people don’t ask, so that the listeners can get tremendous value and the guests get to expose their work to a receptive audience from all over the world

Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
Most of my networking has come from gigs.

But I have found business coaches from participating in various online courses and programs. It took a long time before I found a coaching group for myself that was specifically for musicians doing online business.

If you want info on that, Private message me on Facebook or Linked In

Contact Info:

• Website: https://donnaschwartzmusic.com
• Instagram: @donnasaxmusic @everythingsax1
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/donnaschwartzmusic and https://www.facebook.com/everythingsaxophonepodcast
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donnaschwartzmusic/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/donnaschwartzmusic and https://www.youtube.com/@EverythingSaxophonePodcast