As someone who wishes to enter the industry as a composer, performer and technician in an array of different settings and genres, there are a number of hurdles I will have to overcome. Therefore this essay will serve a personal function as I delve deeper into the realities of the portfolio career musician. For most of my life I had assumed that eventually I would have to whittle my expertise down into a defined role however, after witnessing a lecture by Jay Taylor my eyes have been opened: not only is it possible to sustain many different passions to professional level, but this could even be what it takes to be hired over others, a jack of all trades is, after all, oftentimes better than a master of one.  

The Portfolio career

First things first, these are the different alleyways of work that I am considering pursuing (at time of writing):

• Composer/arranger (both classical and Jazz)
• Bass player (session and live)
• Live sound technician
• Orchestral player

Looking at this holistically, the main issues that come to mind are time management and burnout.

Personal issues – Time Management and Burnout

Burnout is something incredibly common for musicians, especially for those with portfolio careers as of the added need to balance multiple completely different skill sets in order to stay afloat. And with no form of regular hours it can be hard to stop thinking about responsibilities. In Alena Gerst’s book ‘A Wellness guide for the performing artist’ (2014) she talks about the idea of ‘me time’, and that as a creative it can be hard to find the distinction between work and ‘me time’ as a lot of what we do is focussed on our self and our own skills. This line is blurred again as we are often working on projects (or using skills) that we enjoy. Later in the book a quote from Dr Linda Hamilton sums up the effects of burnout, saying that as you make increasing demands on your own time and energy you can find yourself depleting your own personal resources. 

And now a glance at the time management side of things. Time management has been something I have really had to work on since coming to Leeds, especially as I have split myself between the classical and the Jazz courses. Personally the biggest thing I have learnt in the last few months is that making the most of small amounts of time (i.e. a spare 20 minutes) to practice etc is incredibly useful. In their 2008 book Pamela Dodd and Doug Sundheim discuss tools for good time management and stress in the introduction that having good time management can help you:

• Get more done
• Feel less stressed
• Have better relationships with people
• Feel more self positive
• Have more time for things you enjoy

In glancing at this list from Dodd and Sundheim it is clear that time management is an effective way at minimising the effects of burnout as well.

Another tool for dealing with both time management and burnout is finding what work you enjoy, and avoiding taking on responsibilities that you don’t. In their lecture here at Leeds Conservatoire, Jay Taylor (a portfolio musician with an incredibly wide skillset) talked about their ‘Dartboard’ method of organising what work they like and dislike – this also acts as a framework to develop a portfolio career, helping with an awareness of what work you want to favour. Essentially Jay’s method organises work into 5 categories:

• ‘Nope’ – have done this type of work before and know not to take it again for whatever reason
• ‘I have to’ – will take this work, but only really if in need the money, or the situation is an emergency
• ‘For the right price/for a friend’ – currency of favours and/or pays the bills
• ‘Good Work’ – work that you want to be doing, but is perhaps out of your creative control/for someone else
• ‘The Dream’ – Full creative freedom

The act of organising what you do into these categories can be really helpful, if anything just taking the time to reflect and think about life in the grand scheme of things can really help direct you as a person and develop your career, helping you to shift as much of your time as possible to work you want to be doing. Also, whilst keeping in mind the work you want to be doing, ‘The Dream’ if you like, this method of organisation can really help you get a sense of balance in your career, after all the bills will always need paying. 

Qualifications, Skills, Knowledge and Experience

Aside from time management and burnout, it is clear that To be a portfolio career musician one needs to have a variety of different skills in different areas.

Although this industry is famous for being free of the need for education, there are always areas of experience that are closer to a necessity than a selling point. For example to be a professional bass player you need to first and foremost have a good understanding of your equipment and how to use it, when I have talked to professional players something that has regularly come up is the importance of knowing how to get the right sound for each setting and for this you need to know how to use your equipment.

Another skill that is often talked about in relation to being a professional bass player is being able to read sheet music. Adam Neely (a professional bass player from New York) discusses this in a Q&A video, concluding that being able to read sheet music isn’t make or break, but is definitely a useful skill to learn. In the personal example he gives in the video he discusses how for a typical ‘Reading Gig’ he would be given the charts a few days in advance and be required to have worked through any difficult areas and be familiar with the music by the gig, and then of course be able to read said music during the performance. Although he later states that for him personally ‘reading gigs’ are few and far between, I still think that being able to read sheet music fluently is a skill that can be really useful in getting work as a bass player. He also points out briefly that a lot of music is given to him through demos, thus making being able to learn music by ear another important skill.

Although potentially only a minor thing in the world of the professional bass player, in the world of Orchestras and classical ensembles this is a vital skill. In a repertoire class recently with Shaun Matthew, he discussed the importance of this in the professional world often stating that for the top players it is expected that they will be able to play the part they are given ‘note perfect’ by the first rehearsal. To cross reference, I recently played in a ‘Side By Side’ performance with the orchestra of Opera North, and even on the first rehearsal with the professional players they were all playing the part as if they knew it, even though some of the music was new to almost every player. Stuart Copeland talks about this briefly in an interview with Drum Channel, talking about how when he’s worked with recording orchestras in film music, he has been able to give them a score and witness them be able to play it right away!

In this same interview Copeland talks about how as a composer he has really had to focus on how he presents his scores, and how he has slowly got better at knowing what to put in each part for each musician; this is a vital skill in order to be a professional composer/arranger. Being able and inspired to write music is one thing, however this is useless without the skill of being able to convey this music to musicians, which can take many different forms in different styles. A vital piece of experience therefore, is being aware of what different musicians/different types of musicians will need in order to play your music – so in essence, knowing how to explain your music to others. Focusing on classical music momentarily, this will take the form of having knowledge and experience of music notation practice. In the introduction of her 2011 book ‘Behind Bars’, Elaine Gould highlights the importance of this stating that ‘the poor state of instrumental parts is frequently a source of anxiety for composers and performers alike’ and ‘can hinder a good performance’. The same is true of more contemporary music, though taking different forms.

Necessary Personal Attributes

Alongside more definable skills there are also a selection of personal qualities needed to be a successful portfolio musician. A key personal attribute that quickly comes to mind is communications skills as being able to talk to people and come across as personable and professional can be vital in making the connections needed to get work. In a recent lecture with composer Tom Harrold about working in the creative industries he talked about how he will often get work off the back of networking events from meeting and socialising with industry professionals. Furthermore, an aspect of confidence is important also, in a recent guest lecture from Sam Newham he talked about how lots of the opportunities he has got are because they have had the confidence to ask about them and/or make someone aware of his skillset and keenness to do a specific job. This links to the necessity of being able to market and/or sell your own work and skills, Sam talked about this in depth, highlighting that he would post about his work on instagram which would often get noticed and bring in more work. He also pointed out how a lot of work comes through word of mouth, thus building up a good reputation and being a pleasant person to work with will serve as a marketing tool on its own.

An element of resilience is also important as with a field that can be so unpredictable, being able to bounce back from nocks is vital. Sam Newham also talked about this in his lecture, detailing how covid killed a lot of his gig work, forcing him to adapt. After covid he had to ignore certain elements of his own prejudice and take on more function work, helping him get back on his feet. Tom Harrold had a similar story, with covid forcing him to shift his main source of income to writing sync and library music, both of these examples showing the importance of resilience.

Staying Within The Law

There are a few man legal considerations that arise in the work of a portfolio career musician including:

• Keeping on top of tax
• Creating a pension
• Keeping a regular flow of income
• Legal implications of playing live music e.g.
  • The legal struggles of touring
  • Making sure rights are payed
• Contracts and legality around making music for a client
• Copyright and rights surrounding music written with others
• Music publishing

Of course this is not an exhaustive list, and each area of it’s own could be delved into in detail, but some general advice again from the session with Tom Harrold is the idea of getting used to treating things like a transaction as being self employed you are the only one there to keep everything above board. 

Conclusion

This has been a brief exploration of the realities of being a portfolio musician and serves as an apt starting point for my awareness of the industry, from creating an apt skillset, to making sure everything is legal.

Bibliography

Adam Needly. (2019) Should You Learn to Read Sheet Music | Q+A [Video]. Available online: https://youtu.be/ua-N1JuqO5M?si=L-a-DLVm1mznPMnz [Accessed 03/01/25]

Dodd, P & Sundheim, D. (2008) The 25 Best Time Management Tools & Techniques: How to Get More Done Without Driving Yourself Crazy! Chichester: Capstone Publishing Limited

Drum Channel. (2018) Stewart Copland – “There Are Two Kinds of Musicians” [Video]. Available online: https://youtu.be/dXHH5Wy1gGs?si=KBHRSW-mu76wt3WW [Accessed 03/01/25]

Gerst, A. (2014) A Wellness Handbook for the Performing Artist: The Performer’s Essential Guide to Staying Healthy in Body, Mind and Spirit. Bloomington (IN): Balboa Press

Gould, E. (2011) Behind Bars: The Definitive Guide to Music Notation. London: Faber Music Limited

Newham, S. (2024) Working in the Creative Industries Week 2. Professional Studies 1: Working in the Creative Industries. [Panopto] Leeds Conservatoire. Available online: https://leedsconservatoire.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=0e0cc1c2-c07f-484a-b7bc-b2030094c261 [Accessed 04/01/25]

Taylor, J. (2024) Working in the Creative Industries Week 3. Professional Studies 1: Working in the Creative Industries. [Panopto] Leeds Conservatoire. Available online: https://leedsconservatoire.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=ce19944f-a7a8-456f-af45-b20900c5938b [Accessed 18/12/24]