**Evolving, Surviving, and Thriving: Working as a Chamber Musician in the 21st Century**

**Caroline Waddington-Jones**

#### **1. Introduction**

The careers of some of the most successful chamber groups of the late 20th century can be traced through books and film. As a millennial musician and researcher, I find these rich and insightful accounts of the professional lives and working conditions of such groups—for example, the Lindsay Quartet (Gregor-Smith 2019), the Takacs Quartet (Dusinberre 2016) and the Guarneri Quartet (Blum 1986; Steinhardt 2000)—particularly fascinating. Many of the musical aspects of their accounts would be easily recognisable for many musicians: anecdotes about rehearsal banter and the clear passion that the musicians have for their repertoire are timeless. Meanwhile, descriptions of a wider industry with plentiful performance opportunities, stories of seemingly smooth entry to the profession, and an absence of anecdotes about grappling with technology of various forms for communication and self-promotion are much less easy to relate to in 2021. Of course, it could be that the authors have chosen to present the highlights of long and undoubtedly illustrious careers and simply opted to leave out a few of the hairier or more mundane details; however, given the widespread absence of such challenges in these accounts, it seems more reasonable to suggest that today's chamber musicians face different challenges to their predecessors.

#### *1.1. A New Millennium: Challenges and Opportunities*

The early 2000s brought great changes across the music industry with the rise of the internet and online technologies. The introduction of the smartphone, with its easy access to media-streaming platforms such as Spotify and YouTube, means that consumers' relationship with music is closer and more immediate than ever, and that musicians can reach potential audiences quickly. Through social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and YouTube, musicians can create, curate and market their own content, communicate "directly" with their audiences without the mediation of third parties, and collaborate with others. This has presented exciting new opportunities for innovation and creative freedom, and has given musicians more control and autonomy over the production and promotion of their music than ever before (Haynes and Marshall 2018).

However, in order to take advantage of these evolving opportunities for access, reach, and communication, today's musicians must develop entrepreneurial and digital literacy skill sets that are far removed from the music-specific skills that they and their predecessors honed over many years of musical training. These are skills that might previously have been the sole remit of music managers, agents, and record labels, but for today's freelance musicians, and particularly chamber musicians, who must manage the business aspects of their careers, they have become increasingly important to establishing and building successful performing careers (Thomson 2013). The advancement and availability of technology, in combination with the emphasis placed upon these business and technology skills, have begun to change what is required of musicians, as well as the way musicians see themselves. They are not only artists; they are entrepreneurs working in an increasingly competitive environment (Parker et al. 2019).

A key contributor to the competitive environment faced by freelance musicians in the UK in the new millennium is a severe lack of funding for the arts in comparison to the preceding decades. In the second half of the 20th century, the Arts Council of Great Britain (ACGB) was responsible for distributing substantial public funding to arts organisations across the UK. In the late 1980s, under Thatcher's government, the ACGB's funding was cut, with its chairman indicating that the shortfall should be made up by the private sector and wealthy donors (Palumbo 1990). Later came the 2008 financial crash, and governmental budgets for arts and culture across the UK were squeezed; all four regional arts councils have experienced substantial cuts across the last decade (Gottlieb 2013; Dempsey 2016). Subsequently, the notion that arts organisations should fundraise rather than be subsidised by the public has become further ingrained and has since shaped musicians' working lives. It remains to be seen precisely how the COVID-19 pandemic will affect arts funding and audience spending on the arts in the UK over the coming decade; however, at the time of writing, it seems likely that, for chamber musicians, indeed, all freelance musicians, there may be difficult times ahead.

The challenging economic outlook for the arts over the last decade has negatively impacted freelance musicians' working conditions. Various researchers have reported musicians' experiences of precarity within their freelance careers (Umney and Kretsos 2015; Vaag et al. 2014). Since funding is less plentiful now, there is heightened competition for fewer opportunities; meanwhile, contracts are unregulated, leaving musicians open to exploitation and lower rates of pay (Portman-Smith and Harwood 2015). It seems likely that chamber musicians are particularly exposed to these risks, as they tend to be responsible for sourcing their own performance opportunities and negotiating their own fees. The socioeconomic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has brought into sharp focus both the precarity of freelance musicians' work and the direct influence of government policy and

funding on their working lives, as the need for physical distancing for audiences and performers has seen months of work for freelance musicians disappear almost overnight.

The culture of competition places pressure on musicians to become savvy entrepreneurs as well as expert artists, and encourages them to develop diverse skill sets and portfolios of work (Bartleet et al. 2012). Musicians are expected to be flexible and able to balance depth and breadth of skill to work in a wide range of musical activities. Portfolio careers allow musicians to curate work in different areas across, and in some cases beyond, the music industry (Bartleet et al. 2012, 2019). The portfolio approach allows musicians to combat potentially precarious working conditions by achieving a balance between "higher risk" options—such as freelance performance work—and "lower risk" options—such as arts administration or education—that tend to be more financially stable (Bennett 2010). Unlike their 20th-century counterparts, chamber musicians of the new millennium may be more likely to adopt portfolio careers as a consequence of today's more challenging economic landscape. For many chamber musicians, aside from financial stability, this diversification perhaps presents an opportunity for musical stimulation too. Musicians have reported that the variety within their portfolios is refreshing and that one area may strengthen another—with teaching informing performance and vice versa being one example (Haldane 2018).

To acquire the versatility needed to build a diverse and sustainable portfolio of work, higher music education curricula must provide students with opportunities to explore different areas of musical activity (Blackstone 2019). In addition to developing versatility and agility within music, graduates need practical business acumen that encompasses not only the various networking, digital literacy, and marketing skills indicated earlier, but also the realities of setting up and managing a business (Bennett 2016). These skills are likely to be particularly important for graduates who wish to make chamber music a substantial part of their portfolio of work, and who are therefore likely to have immediate responsibility for marketing their group and securing performance opportunities; however, research has yet to seek to understand chamber musicians' experiences of establishing and maintaining successful careers in the 21st century.

#### *1.2. Chamber Musicians' Careers in the 21st Century*

Existing research into chamber musicians' careers has offered insights into both musical and social aspects of these musicians' work together (e.g., Blum 1986; Murnighan and Conlon 1991). However, as well as their tendency to focus solely on the experiences of string quartet musicians, these earlier studies document the experiences of chamber musicians of the late 20th century. As explored here, the new millennium has brought, and continues to bring, many new

challenges and opportunities for the music industry. The challenges faced by today's chamber musicians, both new and established, are many, and it is no mean feat to forge a successful performing career, as recent studies into the wellbeing of professional musicians have highlighted (e.g., Dobson 2011; Scharff 2015; Gross and Musgrave 2016).

Research has begun to explore the skills needed by freelance musicians more generally to succeed in the music industry of the 21st century; however, it has yet to consider chamber musicians specifically. Chamber musicians are likely to have experienced the arts funding cuts of the last decade directly, since many of their performance opportunities are tied to venues that have previously been subsidised by arts council funding. Unlike larger western art music ensembles such as choirs and orchestras, most chamber ensembles, and certainly those embarking on the early stages of their careers, are now expected to take responsibility for their own promotion, networking, and audience engagement. Despite these numerous challenges, the chamber music scene in the UK remains busy and competitive.

It is, therefore, important that we understand more about the working conditions and career trajectories of chamber musicians in the 21st century. Through collecting and exploring rich data from the musicians themselves on their lived experiences, we can better identify and understand the challenges that they face and the implications that these may have for equality, diversity, and inclusion within the profession. Consequently, there would also be practical applications for the development of inclusive higher music education curricula that focus on graduate employability and long-term flourishing. Research may also provide evidence that enables chamber musicians to negotiate more effectively with policy makers and funding bodies. The present interview study sought to address the gap in our understanding about the realities of establishing, curating, and sustaining a career that centres on chamber music through the following research questions:


#### **2. Method**

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight UK-based professional musicians, for whom chamber music made up the majority of their portfolio of work. Seven of these musicians were from the UK and one was originally from South Africa. They were specialists in string, wind, piano, and voice (see Table 1 for details). In order to get a sense of the changes to the profession over the last few decades, three of the participants were recruited from performers who had entered the profession in the decades before 2000; the remaining participants had begun their professional

work in the first two decades of the 21st century. All but one of the participants had undertaken formal training in performance at a higher education institution, i.e., a university music department or a conservatoire.


**Table 1.** Participants' demographic information.

Source: Table created by author.

Interviews lasted around 40 min and covered various topics, including: career trajectory; initial expectations; preparation for entering the profession; the challenges of establishing, curating, and maintaining work as a chamber musician; and the skills, knowledge, and experience needed to succeed. It should be noted that data collection took place in autumn 2019, shortly before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, in exploring the interview themes, the potential impact of the ongoing pandemic and its aftermath will be considered alongside future directions for research and practice. Data were transcribed, and then thematic analysis was undertaken in NVivo using an inductive approach modelled on grounded theory; the aim of the analysis was to describe the data and theorise the findings. Themes were developed by collapsing, combining, or extending initial codes. Ethical approval for this research was granted by the Arts and Humanities Ethics Committee at the University of York.

#### **3. Results and Discussion**

Analysis of the interview data revealed themes in five broad areas: motivations, the changing landscape of the music industry, barriers to the profession, identity, and skills (see Table 2). Within each of these areas there were broad categories, and, in some cases, sub-categories, which are explored in the section that follows.


**Table 2.** Thematic framework.

Source: Table created by author.
