Musician skills for your resume and career

Musicians often work in various settings with different ensembles. It's essential to be punctual, creative, collaborative, and affable, polite, open-minded, positive, flexible, and empathetic. It also helps to have a good sense of humor.

Technical proficiency on one's instrument is paramount. The ability to read music and learn music by ear, the ability to mimic or copy, and proficiency in various genres of music are all essential hard skills.

If students take a gap year, they should continue lessons on their instrument with a reputable artist to develop skill and ability as a performer, and not lose that strong growth in preparation for returning to college studies. Scholarships are talent-based so students must be aware of that aspect. If students can take on some private students and get more experience teaching, that can lead to internships and outreach experiences, upon returning to college. Additionally, staying connected with other young artists via professional organizations is extremely valuable for current trends in the music field and encouragement and support of creative ideas and projects.

There are several enduring impacts on graduates, I am sure, who are finishing up their degrees during the COVID-19 pandemic.

First, they have learned to really appreciate the luxury that they now miss of training on excellent pianos and organs (in our program) in beautiful recital halls, something we all took for granted. In fact, I'll attach a little blurb I wrote, with a photo, about an organ pedal made out of pool noodles by Salem graduate students who could not get to any organs to practice! It's really a testimony to how musicians make the most out of limited materials (think Beethoven's compositions).

Second, they have had to become extraordinarily creative about teaching and learning, devising all sorts of unique and innovative ways of communicating in virtual reality.

Third, they realized that their graduate recitals, rather than being limited to a recital hall seating 200 people, could go global. The seven recitals that were performed at Salem College in April-May 2020 in the Virtual Piano Recital Series saw thousands of viewers and continue to live on in virtual reality. This gave our international students from China and Turkey, among others, the chance to broadcast live to their loved ones and friends who would never be able to make the trip to the US. Graduate students also learned that they could create really beautiful "house concerts," complete with concert attire and professional protocols, from their own homes. And even though they had to play on digital, hybrid, upright, and out-of-tune pianos, they somehow made it work. What a lesson to learn!

All of the above, means that graduates will appreciate much more what they have, and also be able to make the very most out of highly extenuating circumstances. Out of limitation can come great art.