Music Ensembles and Sustainability: Part 1

This month, we are beginning a three part series on the topic of music ensembles and sustainability. What do we mean by that? Well, there are many music ensembles that are started, often while we are students, or shortly after leaving school. These ensembles help us gain critical experience, learn new skills, and build a portfolio of work.  Perhaps most importantly, they allow us to experiment – to try things and see what happens.  Many times, these ensembles have a thrilling start, only to fade away after a few years. Why is that the case? We will explore that question in part 2.

Today, we want to begin by thinking about the following question. Do you in fact want this particular ensemble to be sustainable? Ideally, you want to start thinking about this question early in the process of starting an ensemble. You don’t want to perform as a group for 3 years and then begin talking about whether members of the group see this ensemble as a sustainable venture or not. You want to start thinking about this from the beginning.  What is the purpose of this ensemble? What are your goals?

Not every ensemble needs to be sustainable. It’s ok to create an ensemble that isn’t intended to be sustainable, but you should decide that up front. Of course, sometimes things don’t go according to plan, and that’s ok too.

In what case might you create an ensemble that isn’t intended to be sustainable? Perhaps the ensemble is a way for a few young musicians to gain experience conducting and arranging music, and the intention is only to keep it going until the members get their desired jobs.  Perhaps the ensemble is an experiment by undergraduates in programming and performing music in unique spaces. The group hopes to offer audiences some great performances, they hope to learn a lot in the process, and use the experience to separate themselves from other musicians trying to get into the best graduate schools.

So again, what is the purpose of this ensemble? Do you want it to be sustainable? Are all the members of the group committed to this group and dedicated to seeing it flourish for 5, 10, 20 years?