Pianists in the Creative Age: Where do we fit in?

One of the buzziest words around in the realm of professional development is the so-called "professional portfolio." This catch-phrase is all over the place, and everybody seems to think it applies to them. My favorite definition is this one, designed for teachers:

"The professional portfolio is a vehicle for collecting and presenting that evidence [of their growth and achievement over time]." (1)

There's even a website that will help you develop a "professional portfolio," customized to your needs and career path: http://www.portfolio5.com/. It makes sense that such an exploration into the idea of how a broad, multifaceted career(s) can foster viable and sustainable professional lifestyles is a popular idea in our new Creative Economy. People don't work for one company anymore; in fact, most people under the age of 30 have already had several employers, and I'm not talking the summer, beach-bum-in-sandals kind of gig. (2)

It's pretty easy as a pianist to see the neccesity of a "professional portfolio." After all, we are continually called upon to shift, chameleon-like, from soloist, to chamber musician, to teacher, and sometimes to be an entrepreneur. So why is it, then, that so many of us miss out on developing (first) a framework for evaluating our creative skills in the aggregate, and then (second) figuring out relevant, impactful, and effective methods for putting them to use?

Maybe it's because we are, in large part, asphyxiated by the historical rigidity of tertiary curricula. Colleges and Universities are notoriously slow to adapt, and music is no exception. A recent study found that of B.M. piano performance degree requirements at 82 accredited tertiary programs across the U.S., only 24% required a "functional keyboards skills" course. Only 5% required a jazz/improv skills class. (3) Are you kidding me?!?! This at a time when social scientists have been heralding the coming of a need for a diversely-trained and flexible workforce, primarily based on right-brained, creative-thinkers. (4)

While education at the College and University level seems to adapt at a snails' pace, when it does evolve, it jumps into gear seemingly at light-speed. A few years back, this was exemplified by the rise in 'business' training for artists, primarily through an attempt to bridge the gap between the silos of the Music and B-Schools. The problem was, as we found out, many schools didn't do as good a job as they had hoped in integrating the curricula into the context of arts' training. In other words, lots of artists where learning how to use SAS and Minitab, but weren't exploring how they could use these tools within a given arts' career.

More important, though, is the realization that an MBA isn't enough to ensure success today, regardless of one's chosen profession. (5) We need to turn to the advantage that we (pianists) all exhibit as musicians and pedagogues: the ability to communicate our artistic vision through creative and impactful channels. This doesn't mean we have to start programming Radiohead transcriptions - actually Christopher O'Riley already does that, darn - but we do have to start exploring how we can transfer our skills towards making music in a way that promotes creative-thinking, collaborative artistic expressions, and a focus on meeting the needs of our society (I say at the local level!).

From here we can start to build on a foundation of music-making that is infused not only with meaning and purpose, but also a greater sense of identity. This is precisely what our students must be exploring as well, for if we believe any of the research being on the economy, it is apparent that the creative workforce has already begun to take on the responsibilities of renewing our society through as-yet-unforseen innovation. By doing so with intent, we can become leaders in a new movement, one devoted to creating successful, independent, and maybe even divergent arts careers. It’s time to help your students’ find their niche!

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1: From Scholastic.com: http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=4148
2: Check out Next Generation Consulting for some stats, http://nextgenerationconsulting.com/
3: Walker, Tammie. "The Status of the BM Piano Performance Degree." AMT Journal, April/May 2008, 20-22.
4: Daniel Pink's A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future, (Riverhead Trade: 2006) and Richard Florida's The Flight of the Creative Class: The New Global Competition for Talent (Collins Business, 2007) are two excellent examples of this research.
5: Asher, Donald. “Alternatives to the MBA.” MSN Encarta, Posted December 2006. Accessible at http://www.gradview.com/articles/graduatestudies/alternatives_to_mba.html