BY KATY ABBOTT
We spend years and years perfecting our artform as well as doing ‘all the right things’ to get ahead: making the most of every opportunity, pulling off astonishing performances and inhaling all we can about the musical world.
But what about the messy human challenges that keep us up at night?
A collaboration that’s gone sideways, putting off a conversation about payment even if you’ve agreed to the gig, or the persistent feeling you’re underselling yourself but worrying you’ll lose opportunities if you ask for more.
I’ve spent decades as both a composer and mentor to artists (in industry and university), and I’ve enjoyed hundreds of conversations with established and emerging artists about their most painful challenges. And those challenges are rarely about the actual music. They’re about navigating the complex human dynamics that surround our art.
In this column, we’ll explore these professional dilemmas together. Not with quick fixes or ‘tips’ or formulas, but by illuminating what’s actually happening beneath the surface when we feel torn, stuck, or confused about what to do next.
Often there’s tension between following a ‘pull’ or an inkling, and following a ‘should’.
My approach is different because I don’t believe tension is necessarily a problem to solve. Sometimes, the very attempt to eliminate tension creates more suffering than the tension itself.
A string player recently told me they felt paralysed with indecision, and the pressure to take on all jobs – even those poorly paid – because of the pressure of a missed opportunity. ‘Every choice feels wrong,’ they said.
This isn’t simply about making better decisions. It’s about working with the tension, between opportunity and sustainability, rather than trying to eliminate it.
Musicians exist in fascinating paradoxes. We need structure, yet crave creative freedom. We desire recognition, yet many of us are introverts who dread self-promotion. We want artistic authenticity without sacrificing deep connecting industry relationships.
We often jump straight to choosing a side or find ‘balance’. But what if the most generative place to find what is really true for you is in the tension itself?
I once worked with an established creative director who found herself caught between institutional expectations and her artistic vision. Rather than eroding her vision or fighting the institution (the visible options), she began to explore the friction point itself. When she stopped seeing the institution as the obstacle, and instead viewed the differences as a signal to get super clear about her intention for her vision, everything shifted. She began asking different questions: What does the institution need that my vision could provide in an unexpected way? What constraints might actually sharpen my artistic intent?
The resulting work was artistically satisfying for the director, the audience, and the institution because she had the courage to communicate openly, resist choosing between the immediately obvious choices, and they were able to develop startlingly clever possibilities that existed in the tension between the perspectives.
Semi-regularly, I’ll explore a common conundrum, working through what is really at play within the tangle and offer possible solutions that support to align with your internal sense of integrity, grit and intuition.
These might include:
- Navigating dynamics within collaborations
- Clear communication without burning bridges
- Courage to use your ‘authentic voice’
- Experimenting inside a perfectionist culture
- Handling feedback
I’ll share stories from real artists (anonymised, of course), illuminate the invisible dynamics at play and how they interact with the visible ones, and offer a different way of looking at these challenges, not to solve them, but to dance with them more skilfully.
My hope is through these explorations, you’ll discover you’re not alone in your struggles, and that the very tensions causing you stress might contain unexpected creative potential.
So welcome to this experiment. I’m looking forward to exploring the messy, wonderful, challenging human side of music-making together.
Composer and Artists Mentor, Dr Katy Abbott focuses on exploring the dynamics between artistic ambition and personal sustainability.
Have a professional dilemma you’d like (anonymously) addressed in a future column? Email: info@artistdevelopmenthub.com
Images supplied. Katy captured by Pia Johnson.
