The Dynamic Lifecycle of a Musician
Model 7, September 2006

Inspired by a recent gift that lets the Yale School of Music provide tuition-free education to their graduate students, musician and orchestra management consultant Drew McManus wrote an article entitled “The Natural Cycle of Things” about business cycles in the professional classical music field (The Partial Observer, December 5, 2005).

Rather than explain this dynamic myself, I'll let Drew spell out how the cycles work. When you've finished the article, try the associated model to explore these ideas further and to try out various approaches to stabilizing the lifecycle of the typical U.S. classical musician. B.H.

In December, 2005, I published an article at the Partial Observer which examined the impact Yale School of Music’s decision to go tuition-free for graduate students would have on the classical music business. Although Yale’s new policy won’t change the landscape of classical music all that much, it does draw attention to an undeniable fact: conservatories and schools of music are accepting and graduating more music majors than ever before. This trend will likely lead to increased competition for positions in professional orchestras and other groups. As a result, more musicians will need to find other outlets for their talents to generate income.

With fewer performance opportunities, recent graduates face a dilemma: how do they pay the bills and keep food in their stomachs while simultaneously spending large sums of money to take expensive auditions for a decreasing pool of positions. Traditionally, they have worked in non-performance related jobs (a practice that slowly pulls them out of the music business), formed hand-to-mouth chamber ensembles, or established large private teaching studios.

Over the last decade, that final option has really established itself, because it allows musicians to earn a living wage while remaining steeped in the culture of classical music. Establishing a private teaching studio is one of the best-paying performance related commercial endeavors younger players can dive into. Compared to public school teaching, it allows much greater flexibility so the individual can continue to take auditions and participate in ad hoc performance work (known in the business as “gigging”). With low overhead expenses and the ability to earn anywhere from $20 to $75 per hour, it also provides an opportunity to earn a living wage.

But one of the unforeseen outcomes from the increase in availability of quality private teachers is a rise in the number of pre-college age students who decide to pursue a career in music performance. The ensuing vicious cycle is beginning to have an unintentional negative impact on several aspects of the business, including a decrease in overall artistic accomplishment and reduced economic stability of orchestras caused by heightened labor tensions.

Nevertheless, there's another possibility that only a dynamic examination will illuminate: the overall increase in the amount of direct exposure to classical music through private instruction can create a wave of increased participation in live orchestral concert events. This increased participation will provide higher financial support and community interaction. Performing arts organizations can then increase their artistic expenditures and the number of performance positions that pay a living wage.

In order for this last idea to work, you have to begin making connections between all of these separate parts. Dynamic managers will view this landscape as a field littered with money simply waiting to be picked up. Static mangers won’t even see the field.

Using the Model
To use the model, you'll need to download two files—the "current model" and the "isee Player" (the ithink® Runtime for the At Any Rate model series) that runs the model. Both are located in the "Get" section toward the top of the right-hand column. You'll then need to install the isee Player on your computer. (Once you have installed the isee Player on your computer, you no longer have to go through this process unless the reader is updated.)

1) Download the "Current Model"
• Click "Current Model."
• Choose "Save this file to a disk" and click "okay."
• In "Save As," save the ITR file to your desktop (or to a folder of your choosing).

2) Download and install the "isee Player"
• Follow the instructions on the isee Systems site.
After you install the isee Player, to run the model, you can go to your desktop and double-click on "model1.itr" or start the ithink® program and use the "file open" command to locate and open the model1.itr file.

You are ready to begin. Feel free to play with the model. We've put more content in it than we've described in this column. Try different things. If you've got an interesting idea, a question, or a comment, go to our Pegasus Forum. We'd enjoy hearing from you. 

This learning lab was developed using the ithink® software, a computer simulation modeling package developed and distributed by isee Systems.