Michael Clayville
Trombonist, educator, and builder of artist-led organizations. A founding member of the GRAMMY®-winning ensemble Alarm Will Sound, where I’ve directed marketing since 2007, I teach entrepreneurship, business, and marketing to the next generation of musician-leaders, and write about the craft of building a life in music.
Resources →
Open-instrumentation compositions, mixed chamber music with trombone, contemporary trombonists, and contemporary excerpts — working databases for performers, composers, and presenters.
Articles →
Writing on practice, repertoire, glissandos, mutes, and the working life of a contemporary trombonist.
Strategy →
I help musicians, ensembles, and arts organizations think about the whole system (positioning, audience, and the exchange of value between an organization and the people it serves), not just messaging and channels. Two decades of doing this for a touring, recording ensemble inform the work.
Recent writing
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Land of Winter: Resisting Easy Assumptions
I had a small epiphany today about Land of Winter (Donnacha Dennehy’s large-scale work for chamber orchestra, written for and recorded by Alarm Will Sound.). Or maybe, given my day…
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Beyond the Click : Six Real-World Ways I’m Using FlowFrame Right Now
I built FlowFrame to scratch a very personal itch: a practice tool that could keep up with the way musicians actually work. Since then, the app has grown…
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Built for Progress: Practice Tracking in FlowFrame
When I started sketching out FlowFrame, it wasn’t just about building a better metronome; it was about creating a space where practice tracking could feel focused, intentional, and…