**4. Conclusions**

The findings of the interviews reported in this chapter very much support the notion of chamber musicians as entrepreneurs in a competitive environment. This is not to say that they do not place the music at the centre of what they do—it was clear that the musical experience remains the primary motivation for 21st-century chamber musicians. It was also clear, however, that the new millennium has brought many challenges to establishing and sustaining a career in chamber music. The lack of well-paid and high-quality performance opportunities seems to be the main challenge and contributor to the competitive working environment. This, in combination with the devaluing of music within education, waning interest in classical concerts among younger audiences, and a perception of classical music as the preserve of the white and wealthy, has also exacerbated the pre-existing barriers for equality, diversity, and inclusion within the UK's classical music industry, and particularly for chamber musicians. Ultimately, breaking down these barriers will require systemic change from the ground up.

#### *4.1. Removing Barriers: Inclusive Music Education*

Today's chamber musicians, and those aspiring to become chamber musicians, face various barriers, particularly in the early stages of their careers, that discriminate against those from disadvantaged backgrounds. This further entrenches the bias towards white middle-class musicians that is inherent within classical music and that is established from the early stages of formal music education (Bull 2019). For the music industry to be truly inclusive, music education must first become inclusive. We must advocate for and invest in high-quality music education for all. There is promising work going on within music education to further this agenda, including how high-quality instrumental tuition can be extended to children living in remote areas (King et al. 2019), how we can improve the quality of music education provision for disabled children (Ockelford 2015), and how we can facilitate meaningful and pupil-centred music learning for children and young people from diverse social and cultural backgrounds (Kinsella et al. 2019). To facilitate musical inclusion, there must be investment both in music education and the arts. The exclusion of music from the EBacc in England has had detrimental effects on the perceived value of music, but it has also further widened the gap between pupils from less privileged backgrounds and their more privileged peers. The EBacc, as a performance indicator, has encouraged schools to focus on teaching the "core" subjects with optional, "less important" subjects, such as music, being side-lined. For some schools, often those with more pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds, the mounting pressure to perform well on metrics like the EBacc seems likely to be reflected in the decreasing numbers of pupils sitting GCSE and A-Level music examinations (Whittaker et al. 2019; Bath et al. 2020). For the provision and uptake of music education to be improved and broadened, an important first step would be the inclusion of music and other arts subjects in the EBacc.

Ensuring high-quality music-learning opportunities for all, from the earliest stages of musical training through to higher music education, is vital in constructing an inclusive pipeline that leads directly to the profession. Tomorrow's chamber musicians will be the pupils who have opportunities to learn and continue learning instruments, and to encounter chamber musicians, chamber music, and performances.

#### *4.2. Implications for Higher Music Education*

At the time of writing, the COVID-19 pandemic has had, and continues to have, a profound effect on the working lives of all musicians. The pandemic has accelerated our use of technology to meet new challenges, and the importance of mastering the skills to utilise these technologies has been highlighted, as artists of all kinds stream live and pre-recorded events, and create and publish new content in response to the evolving situation. New skills have been developed, or existing skills have been

further refined, in relation to online technology for music recording, performance, teaching, and communication. As freelancers, chamber musicians have had to apply their creativity and resourcefulness to create new ways of generating income in the absence of live performances. As we enter a new period of social and economic uncertainty in the wake of the pandemic, musicians and recent music graduates in particular will face greater challenges than ever before.

Whilst higher education institutions cannot combat these new challenges directly within the profession, there is much that can be done to prepare music graduates to work as versatile musicians who are aware of the realities of the profession and will succeed despite the challenging and unpredictable environment they face. In addition to the various skills outlined in the findings here, it is more important than ever that higher education music curricula provide students with opportunities to develop depth of skill in one or more areas, but also interest and competence in others (Bennett 2007). In order to survive and thrive in today's music industry, chamber musicians must be able to be more than chamber musicians. Flexibility in professional identity as well as attitude, and competence in developing new skills, are becoming ever more important as the industry undergoes sudden and unprecedented changes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, as well as working hard to widen participation, higher music education must ensure that students encounter diverse and representative role models via instrumental tuition, master-classes and concerts, and that they are well-informed about the realities of the profession.

Whilst the early impact of COVID-19 has been devastating for the arts sector, chamber musicians have been employing their impressive skill sets and creative ingenuity to survive. Meanwhile, the value of music in bringing together communities and lifting people's spirits in the face of extreme adversity has been demonstrated in many different countries, countless times over. As we begin to emerge from the initial impact of the pandemic and plot a new course for the future of the music industry, we are presented with real opportunities for rebuilding the sector with a focus on inclusion and with new ways of engaging with music.

**Funding:** This research has received no external funding.

**Acknowledgments:** The author is grateful to the musicians who participated in the study reported here for sharing their experiences and expertise.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The author declares no conflict of interest.

#### **References**


Woody, Robert, and Gary MacPherson. 2010. Emotion and Motivation in the Lives of Performers. In *Handbook of Music and Emotion: Theory, Research, Applications*. Edited by John Sloboda and Patrik Juslin. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 401–24.

© 2022 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
