Portfolio Example

Today's class focussed on career goals and the differences between a single performance career and a portfolio career.

When musicians are confronted with a job opportunity (i.e. payment for musical goods or service) they almost always confront the need for:

flexibility and adaptability of their skills, outlook and expectations.

Single performance careers are rare in any sense of the term 'professional musician' and thus portfolio careers make up the majority of cases. This not a problem! It just means that as a performer you come to terms with 'Life in the Real World' and embrace the lifelong journey of learning and changing.

Journal

Posted on 17 August 2016, 17:54

Dreams associated with a singular unshakeable goal can result in either triumph or failure. Striving to be the best that one can be is never a futile exercise, but research suggests that the practice of ascribing success to a singular performance goal is extremely questionable. Most data pertaining to career outcomes stem from research that relates to traditional ‘classical’ pathways, but it is worth mentioning here so as to gauge the likelihood of professional contemporary vocalist attaining a successful full-time singular performance career.

“As for classical vocalists… Opera America, surveyed its members in 2005-06 and identified 2,217 performances of 485 fully staged main season and festival productions in that twelve-month period. Consider the number of singers competing for these 485 opportunities. In the 2007-08 year, according to the NASM, the combined number of sopranos in Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctoral performance degree programs nationwide was 4,820. As for the existing professionals, the sopranos listed in the Musical America 2009 directory, which lists professional singers with artist management (the ones most likely to be considered for soprano roles), numbered 860 (Musical America)” (Beeching 2012, pp. 31-32).

Locally, in 2008 Opera Australia offered just 48 full-time positions. Smaller companies, including state opera and niche market companies, have either moved or are moving towards season-by-season contracts with no full-time positions. Just “… 0.4% of Australia’s 167,000 musicians hold full-time performance positions with a single employer, and we know from previous research that the majority of these full-time musicians engage in multiple activities beyond their full-time roles” (Bennett 2012, pp. 67-68).

This is not to scare you... just to tell you how it is. But you probably already know that :)