Musicians on Squarespace: David Greenberg, Violin
Introduction: Musicians on Squarespace, an Interview Series
Table of Contents
Introduction: How I met David
I first heard David Greenberg play fiddle at the Boxwood Music Festival in Lunenberg Nova Scotia in 2009. After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I started to get to know his music better. Call me biased, but not only is he one of my all time favorite fiddle players, he is one of my all time favorite musicians!
When David reached out to me in 2017 for a website I nearly fell off my chair (haha!). Granted, I was only a few years into my website business at the time, but I was excited to design him a great website. At the time I was still building some websites on WordPress, but I knew Squarespace would be the best fit for David. As a musician, it was important that he be able to edit and maintain the website himself, and that there be zero going maintenance or ongoing developer fees.
Squarespace was still on 7.0 at the time, so we picked a template and got to work. David took to the platform well and was off to the races finishing his site before we even launched. He’s been utilizing all that Squarespace has to offer to grow his content ever since!
What is your name?
David Greenberg
First, tell us a little bit about yourself!
Violinist/fiddler, specializing in Baroque, Scottish 18th-century, and Cape Breton styles.
Performed and recorded with many collaborators and ensembles in the U.S., Canada, Scotland, England, and France.
Composer and arranger.
Originally from Maryland; now live in Oregon; also have lived in Toronto (12 years), Halifax (18 years).
Studied at the Indiana University School of Music with Stanley Ritchie, Elizabeth Wright, and Thomas Binkley.
Co-authored a book on the Cape Breton fiddle style called Traditional Celtic Violin Music of Cape Breton, The DunGreen Collection.
What did you struggle with the most when building your music website?
I didn't know what direction to focus on, or what to offer.
How did you overcome those struggles and concerns?
I got help from Khara to start my website on Squarespace. Asking for help made me decide on a direction to start, and then the pandemic made it necessary to ramp up my online offerings. That motivated me to learn at least the basics of putting teaching content like PDFs, audio tracks, and videos online.
What do you love about using Squarespace as a musician?
It's pretty easy to save a section of a webpage as a template, which speeds up the process for most of my offerings.
How has your website helped you as a musician and/or helped your music business?
I don't know if it's helped me financially, but it allows me to have a stable place where people can find my free resources, events schedule, and publicity materials, as well as letting people know where they can find and purchase my creations that aren't free—like recordings, lessons, courses, and content on my Patreon.
What advice do you have for other musicians considering a new website?
Figure out what you want to share with people, and ask Khara for help to get you started if you don't already know how to design it yourself.
