3.5.1. Musical

All of the interviewees agreed that, above all else, chamber musicians had to be skilled in music performance:

First and foremost, the performance side of things has to be good. You can't ever forget that what people are paying to hear is the music. (P4)

This player is speaking in terms of the quality of the musical product, but the interviewees agreed that it was as much about the creative process itself. As another player explained:

You need to keep the music itself at the absolute core of everything that you do. Just the music: that should be the thing that occupies the biggest bit of your mind and your thinking. Let the rest of it take care of itself. (P2)

Of course, this music-centric perspective is in direct tension with the more pragmatic, business-minded perspective—"head vs. heart", as one participant (P6) described it. Another participant described the effect this tension has on his thought process when he programmes a concert:

You've got to think: "Are people going to want to come to it?" (P8)

Ultimately, there was a general consensus that chamber musicians have to reconcile these two, often opposing, perspectives at some point to find a balance between artistic satisfaction and generating income. It seems likely that this challenge is not unique to chamber musicians; soloists, too, must think strategically as well as musically when they plan their own programmes. For chamber musicians, however, there is perhaps the added complication of the programme being agreed on by more than one musician.
