Need to know to Relocate: Music Scene from Black Mountain down to Brevard? (Asheville: home, theatre)

[maryrossi]

Well, we're finally able to do it - relocate to the WNC mountains - and having read these posts for a few years now we know your help could make all the difference. We are coming there with the idea of taking a year's sabbatical to get to know the area, and then hopefully settling. A couple in our mid 60s, my husband is an excellent BluesJazz pianist and teacher. Having run an arts-mentoring program for about 2 decades, over the past few years we developed a company that disseminates materials related to his uniquely effective arts mentoring educational approach.

SO! (sorry that's so long winded) We're coming to the mountains to write/record and eventually teach/perform and my question is - is Asheville THE music scene in the area or are there also others that are substantial (more than music bars or high-end performance centers)? We want to find a place to live that will be relatively central to places we'll need to go to to teach/perform. We're financing this personally, so it needs to be affordable. Thank you so much!

[Shooting Stars]

I'll cover Brevard ...

Brevard has the Brevard Music Center which is a biggie. 400 serious music students and famous guest artists perform over 80 concerts of classical, opera, musicals, jazz, and pops music every summer.

BMC : Home

Info on concert series - Brevard Music Center, North Carolina

There is the Porter Center for Performing Arts at Brevard College. They have a concert series with an array of music (in their words) "from Doc Watson to Herbie Hancock, from Harry Belafonte to the Emerson String Quartet, from Leahy to the Afro-Cuban All-Stars." It is also home to performances by Brevard College students from the Music and Theatre Departments, the Brevard Philharmonic Orchestra, Brevard Community Band, Transyvania Choral Society, Brevard Little Theatre and more.

The Porter Center at Brevard College

There is the Brevard Philharmonic Orchestra.

Home

And the Brevard Community Band.

Home - The Brevard Community Band

Brevard hosts the Mountain Song Festival yearly. Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers appear there among others.

Mountain Song Festival at Brevard Music Center - September 9th - 10th, 2011 - featuring Steve Martin,Steep Canyon Rangers, Tim O'Brien, Bryan Sutton,Shannon Whitworth,Carolina Chocolate Drops,Blue Highway,18 South

Here is a Live Music Calendar for live music in various locations/restaurants around town.

» Brevard NC, Music Calender, Music events in Transylvania Visit Brevard NC (http://brevardnc.com/businesses/live-music-calendar/ - broken link)

The local music stores are Celestial Mountain Music and Brevard Piano.

Celestial Mountain Music | Brevard, NC 28712

http://brevardpiano.com/

General information on the arts is available at the Arts In Brevard web site.

Brevard NC Arts • The Arts Directory of Transylvania County - Brevard, NC

You can join the TC Arts Council.

Transylvania County Arts Council, Brevard, NC

General Visitors Information on Brevard.

Land of Waterfalls | Brevard & Transylvania County, NC, Tourism: outdoor recreation, arts & culture, accommodations, dining and more!

[motordavid]

Here are some links, (you may already have perused), that list some of the pages of Asheville Music Scene info:
music scene in asheville nc - Yahoo! Search Results

Music Instruction:
music teaching in Asheville, NC - Yahoo! Search Results

And, the Mountain Xpress, which has a Music section every week:
music | Mountain Xpress | Asheville, NC

Yes, there are dozens of 'clubs' with music, for far ranging tastes, imo...

Not sure I understand your question(s), but it seems to me western NC has more than the usual selection of 'music', music teaching, music 'interest', than other parts of NC/upstate SC, but that's just imo.

Other posters may have more info, but there certainly is a high level of music interest here in W NC, almost regardless of where one is. As for teaching/programs, dunno: seems very dependent on the pockets of Mom&Dad, or an interested student. But, lots of music 'here'.
GL, mD

[maryrossi]

Thanks so much Shooting Stars! I'd done a lot of surfing the web, but didn't come up with half of that. Brevard is clearly more than we'd expected - and I think between your reply and Motordavid, we're finding a cabin as close as possible to halfway between Brevard and Asheville. I'll now spend as long as it takes on your links - thanks again!

[maryrossi]

MotorDavid - thanks so much - having spent a lot of time searching the net for Asheville music, I still wasn't sure if it was as 'happening' as it seemed - it can be really hard to cull the promo from the actual. From how I'm reading you, it's definitely happening. And I think you got my question really well - where's it happening, if it really is.

Now if it isn't being too greedy, does anyone else have any ideas of towns outside the range of Brevard up to Asheville? THANK YOU!

[Shooting Stars]

And you might like this restaurant/club - Tressa's Downtown Jazz & Blues in Asheville.

Tressa's Downtown Jazz and Blues

[Shooting Stars]

Originally Posted by maryrossi

Brevard is clearly more than we'd expected - and I think between your reply and Motordavid, we're finding a cabin as close as possible to halfway between Brevard and Asheville.

That's a great idea. Then you can go in either direction and have more options.

I think Brevard is big on teaching music in depth with some concerts as a bonus, which is far more than most small towns offer, but Asheville will be more "jumping" on any given night. No contest there.

[maryrossi]

Thank you! From trying to read between your lines, Brevard isn't as "just classical music" as I'd thought it might be. Bill (husband) is - after a lifetime of teaching and becoming an incredible teacher (imho and that of his students :-) blossoming from a wonderful pianist/musician to a higher level. We're trying to go with intuition here, as we have for a very long time, and we're thinking performance is in the picture somehow. The possibilities in these areas really look exciting!

[Halo_in_reverse]

Originally Posted by maryrossi

we're finding a cabin as close as possible to halfway between Brevard and Asheville.

Mills River!

Of course, I'm the resident MR cheerleader it seems and am a wee bit biased because I love it here great combination of rural with a close proximity to more urban life. I'm in Asheville downtown in 20-30 minutes (depending on traffic) and am in the heart of Brevard in about 25 minutes. I can get to downtown Hendersonville in about 15 minutes. I can hike in Dupont in about 20 minutes. Plus we get to take advantage of the considerably lower Henderson County tax rate which is substantially lower than Buncombe County's (Asheville). Plus the cost of property is lower out here than it is over in Asheville.

Oh and Sierra Nevada liked us so much they decided to build us a brewery

[Shooting Stars]

I figured they'd find their way to Mills River.

It's the place that's most in between Asheville and Brevard.