We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Megan Lynch Chowning. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Megan below.

Megan, appreciate you joining us today. Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?

A few times, and luckily just a few, we’ve had people come to our camps who are not entirely mentally stable – people who drank too much and got belligerent with me and the other campers, people who are carrying trauma from past experiences who become hysterical when triggered by a challenging situation, things like that. I never expected to have to deescalate potentially violent situations while teaching music to adults, but I have. Early in my business I tended to run away from the conflicts and hope they just resloved themselves. After a couple of years of therapy to deal with my own traumas and build stronger coping mechanisms I am now able to face them head on and show my other campers/students that I am capable of protecting them and this space.

Megan, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I was born and raised in Northern California and spent my formative years as a successful competition fiddler and performing musician. I won seven national fiddle championships and several national show choir titles along the way. I started teaching at 14 – I always knew that was what I truly wanted to do so it seemed silly to wait until I was “all grown up” – and taught part time and full time throughout my 20s and 30s while also touring as a side person for two legendary country music artists. About 12 years ago I quit the road altogether and have dedicated myself to teaching both private and group lessons as well as planning and hosting music camps for adults at my house in Nashville, along with my husband who is an award-winning musician and master luthier. I am so incredibly proud of the safe, respectful, and inspiring community we have built among the teachers we hire and the students who join us either online or in person at our camps. Our camps are very small and we have a better teacher/student ratio than any other camp in the industry. We focus on adult learners and our teaching techniques and concepts help bring people into actually playing music for themselves and with other people in a way that I think is unparalleled. I also organize and host Zoom group workshops for other master instructors so that they can access and help the people who want to learn from them without having to do all the administrative work. At the core of it, what I do is connect top tier teachers with people who want to enrich their lives by playing traditional music, like bluegrass, country, and old time music. I love to teach and build communities of learners who support each other and it is what I wake up every morning thinking about.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Honesty, a large personality, and seven days a week of responding to people who needed my help.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

I needed very little capital to start my business since my product is mostly information and community, but what little capital I did need I saved from my own work. I have never been in debt and only grow my business at the speed of cash.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.nashvilleacousticcamps.com
• Instagram: @fiddlestar
• Youtube: @MeganLynchChowning