by DIANA TOLMIE

Freelance musicians will tell anyone willing to listen they have long been living the gig-economy dream, following a profession where “passion” and “calling” unifies their professional and personal identity while armouring their resilience to the stresses of work-force precarity.

Such musicians place great value on their heavily networked community whose referrals are continually welcome within a macro-environment cultivating constant flux. Well-versed in ‘opportunity recognition’, they have developed skills of initiative and success creation, and are adept at managing their physical and mental well-being. These future-ready skills are now also highly relevant for any non-arts professional. So how are musicians trained for such a challenging profession?

For over a decade I have run a suite of core vocation preparation units in the Bachelor of Music degree at the Queensland Conservatorium (Griffith University) called My Life as a Musician. First year learning tasks include informational interviewing of inspiring own-choice musicians and corroborating their interviewee’s responses with career development theory and musician livelihood content, in the form of a scripted voice-over Digital Story uploaded to an e-portfolio via YouTube.

In addition to creating meaningful social capital, students report further enabled job opportunities (otherwise unavailable) and are appreciative of the digital literacy skills so relevant to their social media-driven future. Reflecting on “what do you love about music?” – students’ answering values set up the blueprint for their artistic citizenship impact and legacy statement. This blueprint is then embedded within their Opportunity Research Workbook.

Informed by Hajkowicz’s MegaTrends, a SWOT analysis of their profession/s of interest is further aligned with personal strengths and developments, which in turn informs what opportunities are available to them in the coming four years.

Don’t call it a career plan – our post-normal world does not work that way anymore. But the exercise does include degree navigation, core skill and network development, and enterprise possibilities. Mental, physical, aural and financial “resolutions” are likewise completed, while a focus on the development of reflective capability, so important to life-long learning, allows students to further consider how the whole unit experience deepened or transformed their prior knowledge.

Students report increased professional knowledge translating to career confidence. They subsequently identify more deeply as an “emerging musician,” immersed in the professional community, rather than a “student” waiting to graduate into the unknown.

Dr Diana Tolmie, Queensland Conservatorium and Creative Arts Research Institute, Griffith University [email protected] @DianaTolmie