Hello! Welcome to The Startup Symphony. This website is all about how to start a community orchestra in your town.
A community orchestra is an orchestra designed especially for amateur musicians of all ages to play orchestral music for fun. Think of a room full of people who have day jobs doing something else rehearsing a Beethoven symphony for the sheer joy of playing their instruments with other people, and that's a community orchestra.
My name is Melinda Morang, and I'm the founder of the Redlands Community Orchestra in Redlands, CA, USA. I'm also a past president of the Dexter Community Orchestra in Dexter, MI, USA. The advice I'm giving here is based on my own experience starting and running community orchestras (with some valuable input from those who have joined me in my adventures and some of my readers), and I hope it can be helpful to you if you're doing the same thing.
Are you thinking of starting a community band or choir, or just looking to improve the management of an existing community musical group? There should be some useful information for you here, too. There is plenty of overlap.
If you're starting an orchestra from scratch, you should start with the Step-by-Step guide. If you just want to read about different random orchestra management topics, check out the Topic Index. Oh, and if you're not listening to music while looking at this site, you should stop right now and turn some on!
This site is a work in progress. I will add more topics as time and inspiration allow.
Disclaimer: All the information on this website is accurate to the best of my knowledge. I am not accountable for any problems your orchestra encounters by following the advice on this website. That said, if you find a mistake, please let me know.