Understanding what we mean by portfolio training in music

Abstract

Although musicians have always had portfolio careers, the discourse in conservatoires around training musicians specifically for portfolio careers is relatively new. This is partly because of increasing opportunities in the workplace for entrepreneurial and multi-faceted musicians and partly – in the UK at least – because of educational policy and practice. This article incorporates narratives provided by professional portfolio musicians and students and teachers at a single conservatoire in the UK, to illustrate disjunctures between the expectations fostered by conservatoires undergoing changes in their culture and the lived experiences of teachers and students responding, in real time, to changes both within the conservatoire and in the wider society. One of the key findings of the research is that teachers and students have qualitatively different conceptions of what it means for students to be trained for portfolio careers. The paper concludes by considering the implications of their different understandings for initiatives to reform conservatoire curricula.

How can we prepare music students for early career challenges?

“…Narrative analysis research has been successfully utilised in music education research (Bresler, 1995;Daykin, 2005;Latukefu & Ginsborg 2018;Strand 2009) to understand the experience of participants. The narratives are interpreted through a theoretical lens and transformed into a meaningful happening (Strand, 2009).…”

“…The problem remains that many students have chosen to attend conservatoires to learn specialised skills and knowledge that will assist them to improve as musicians, composers and instrumentalists. They acknowledge that life after graduation will be difficult to manage, yet are reluctant to "waste" precious practice or skills development time on planning for life after graduation (Latukefu & Ginsborg, 2018). Or, are so focussed on university life and the rigorous demands of curricula that planning is not prioritised.…”

“…Conservatoire curricula is prescribed and controlled to ensure that students gain the skills required to build a career as a professional musician. Reforming conservatoire curricula to incorporate portfolio career training is an ongoing concern that is made more complex by the different conceptual understandings of what training for a portfolio career means (Latukefu & Ginsborg, 2018). This article contributes to the literature on how students conceptualise and make decisions surrounding their transition into work after graduation.…”

Student experiences and entrepreneurship education in a specialist creative arts HEI: a longitudinal approach

“…However, when entrepreneurship education is positioned as a way of increasing agency, engagement with entrepreneurship can be seen as a route to empowerment (Bacigalupo et al, 2016 ). Moreover, such positioning allows for a recognition that these skills are not only required by arts graduates in order to establish portfolio careers (Bartleet et al, 2019 ; Latukefu & Ginsborg, 2019 ; López-Íñiguez & Bennett, 2020 ), but also that they are intrinsic to artistic behaviour itself.…”

From student to professional: recent conservatoire graduates’ experiences of instrumental teaching

“…Examples of research that consider the place of instrumental teaching as part of graduating conservatoire students' portfolio careers include Miller and Baker (2007) who interviewed students at a conservatoire in the UK to ascertain their views on their pedagogical training and about teaching as part of a musical career; the 'Polifonia' project (AEC, 2010), summarised by Lennon and Reed (2012), where the changing landscape of instrumental teaching was discussed along with the competences needed by conservatoire graduates in order to carry out multiple roles in the music profession and Bennett (2012) who collated a range of resources to support conservatoire graduates. Burt-Perkins (2008) embraced teaching as part of a diverse employment portfolio, and Latukefu and Ginsborg (2018) explored conservatoire students' perceptions and attitudes surrounding portfolio careers, with teaching in particular often being viewed as inferior to performance.…”