Music Minus None: Collaborative Solidarity

This thoughtful initiative was started by pianist and colleague Kathleen Kelly. Kelly’s work in the collaborative world and her advocacy for collaborative pianists is inspiring. You can read her article introducing Music Minus None here: Music minus none - by Kathleenkellymusic - Overcoached (substack.com).

This post is my own thoughts on the reality of life as a collaborative pianist.

Before pursuing a DMA in Collaborative Piano, I thought I knew the demands of the field fairly well. I was wrong. Throughout the process of my DMA, my eyes were opened as I was quickly immersed into the collaborative world and all its demands. This post is not to garner pity, but simply to enlighten others on the significant impact that collaborative pianists make in our field. 

For the last two years, I have worked as head of the collaborative area at my university’s School of Music. Every trimester, there is doubt as to whether or not we will have enough pianists to meet the needs of our quickly growing school. Somehow, we have always made it work. There are three reasons it has worked: 

1.     Not at all students need a pianist every trimester. 

2.     Of students who do need a pianist, not all the demands are the same. (For example, voice students generally have more music than instrumental students unless preparing for a degree recital. Instrumental students preparing only for a jury will have just one piece; whereas, voice students generally have 5-6 pieces.) 

3.     All pianists consistently take on more work than planned. In our university, this is significant because, with the exception of two, all other pianists are also teaching college courses. Three of us are full-time; one is part time; and one is a GA. 

Simply out of curiosity, I used ChatGPT to create a template of how many students each of our six pianists would need to play for if all students needed a pianist and if all had the same level of collaborative contract. The results were breathtaking. 

•       Pianist 1 (part time teaching load // contract is primarily collaborative): 102 students

•       Pianists 2-4 (full time teaching loads// collaborative work is extra): 33 students each 

•       Pianists 5-6 (contract work): 41 students each 

Obviously, this amount of work is unfeasible and, if needed, would be unsustainable, especially considering 4 out of the 6 pianists are also teaching courses and applied lessons.

So, what does a realistic collaborative load look like in reality? Well, my specific situation is unusual because I always juggle multiple responsibilities; but for sake of example, here is what a typical day in my life looks like:

8:00 am – arrive to campus, set up office

8:15 am – practice (I am extremely selfish with this time. I have learned the hard way that my practice time is precious and has to be protected.)

10:00 am – teach applied lessons // rehearsals // coachings

11:30 am – lunch // CMA admin work

12:30 – 3:30 pm – teach // rehearsals // coachings

3:30 – 7:00 pm – CMA students // admin work

7:15 pm – home

Yes, this is a typical day. No, it is not abnormal. A couple of caveats, though: I am single and live alone; so, this always busy, always working schedule mostly works for this time in my life. I have had to learn to be selfish with my time, though. I sacredly guard my practice time and my personal time. My Do Not Disturb is often on my office door. Where I used to have an open-door policy, I have had to move to insisting students make appointments during my office hours.

I had set a limit of accepting 10 collaborative contracts this fall. I now have 17. All of our pianists took on several more contracts than they originally planned. Such is the nature of what we do. This is not to complain – I am simply stating our reality. There are days it feels like too much. There are days I briefly entertain the thought of a different career. (I’ve tried this, though, and I was miserable. I am not doing that again!) There are days I feel completely overwhelmed with the amount of music I need to practice and, if I think too much about the number of rehearsals I need to fit into my already packed schedule, I just want to cry.

But somehow, some way, it always gets done.

I find the time to practice – because I love playing.

I fit in all the rehearsals – because I want my students and collaborative partners to have successful performances.

I make it work. It’s what I do.

It’s what we all do.

And we couldn’t do it without our partners. Without other musicians to collaborate with, we wouldn’t have jobs. Our lives are enriched by our collaborative partners. Music minus none. It takes a village, and I am so thankful for mine.

Here’s to making beautiful music together. Much love, my friends.