The impact of COVID-19 on freelance orchestral musicians in the UK

February 2020 marked the start of my (Susanna’s) six-month post-doctoral Visiting Research Fellowship at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) with Professor Jane Ginsborg. My original plan to research freelance orchestral musicians’ experiences of aging in the orchestral workplace, was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown which necessitated the cancellation of nearly all live performing arts events, bringing huge disruption to the UK performing arts industry.

In May 2020 I began to pursue my original plan for the research fellowship, starting by interviewing experienced freelance orchestral musicians on Zoom. It soon became clear that the main thing on their minds was the enormous impact of COVID-19. Older interviewees were concerned about how younger players might be struggling with financial pressures and the difficulty of supporting a young family. We therefore changed the direction of our research to explore the experiences of musicians at difference career stages during the pandemic.

Lifespan models of professional musicians’ working lives suggest that there may be a shift in the focus of professional musicians’ careers from an emphasis on one’s own performing achievements mid-career to a greater focus on social responsibility and teaching later on. Research shows that musicians tend to be highly motivated and passionate about their work, which is often intertwined with their sense of self and identity. Freelance orchestral musicians may be particularly vulnerable to the effect of COVID-19 on mental health and to a greater or lesser extent throughout their career, especially as they have no ‘parent body’ to protect their livelihoods.

We decided to carry out one-to-one interviews on Zoom with 2 groups of freelance orchestral musicians, 12 mid-career and 12 seasoned, with the aim of investigating the impact of COVID-19 on their lives. The mid-career musicians were aged 35–45 with at least 10 years of professional performing experience, and the seasoned musicians were aged 50 or over with at least 25 years of professional performing experience. We decided not to interview any early-career musicians to focus on the impact of the pandemic on performers who already had well-established careers. We recruited participants via social media and word of mouth and interviewees had to be self-employed, have earned at least two-thirds of their income from music before COVID-19 and live within an hour’s drive of London.

Five main themes emerged from our analysis of the 24 Zoom interviews: loss of a previously successful and much-loved career; anxiety; maintaining identity as a musician; strategies for coping; positives and opportunities.

All the participants mentioned loss of a previously successful career. As Clare, (all names used in this report are pseudonyms) a seasoned string player, put it: ‘Life as I knew it completely stopped. […] My diary’s disappeared overnight.’ They all described missing music-making and missing colleagues; Angela, a mid-career brass player, told me, ‘I miss playing with people, […] it’s a big emotional outlet’. Indeed, many players, particularly mid-career musicians, experienced their loss as traumatic. Elaine, a string player described the feeling as ‘it suddenly just felt like the rug had pulled out from under my feet, and I felt as if I was grieving my old life’.

All the participants described experiencing anxiety in relation to their future careers. Only 8% of the UK’s 14,000 professional orchestral musicians are salaried and just 7% have positions as self-employed members of orchestras. The remaining 85% are self-employed freelance players who have no ‘parent body’ to protect their livelihoods. The UK government's SEISS grant was available to freelance musicians, but eight of the study participants turned out to be ineligible for the scheme, reflecting the findings of the Musicians' Union larger scale survey (38%). Paul, a mid-career string player, said ‘I don’t have the safety net of a job in an orchestra so someone in the management can worry about it […] now it’s slightly sort of, like a black hole of uncertainty’.

Many of our participants had partners, and in most cases these partners were musicians too. In one family neither partner was eligible for a SEISS grant, putting them under huge financial pressure. Mid-career musicians were found to be less financially resilient than seasoned musicians as they were less likely to have savings or have paid off their mortgages. Not surprisingly, most of these musicians described suffering from mood disturbances and sleeping difficulties. To quote Rachel, a mid-career string player, ‘I feel like ‘what’s the point?’ On a bad day, what’s the point of getting up, there’s sort of nothing to do.’ Four of the oldest players, all over the age of 66, wondered whether the current crisis might bring about their enforced early retirement and seven of the mid-career players were considering leaving the profession.

More than half of the participants felt that the UK government’s treatment of the self-employed was unfair. James, a seasoned string player, pointed out that, although he earns a similar amount to his brother, ‘he’s being offered money [from the orchestra he is employed by] and I’m not, why the difference? […] that discrimination against self-employed […] is really hurtful, when we’re all supposed to be in it together.’ Additionally, over half of the participants commented that the government had provided insufficient support for the arts; as Cathy, a mid-career woodwind player observed, ‘I just feel that we’ve been completely abandoned’.

Of the 24 participants, 22 reported continuing to practise even though they had no paid work, which helped them to maintain their identity as musicians. Brenda, a seasoned string-player, commented that ‘[Practising every day] is kind of like my religion, or my meditation.’ However, many of the mid-career players struggled to find the motivation to practise, feeling there was no point. Describing the difficulty of trying to accomplish anything while also trying to home-school children, Simon, a mid-career string player, commented ‘We’ve had both our boys at home, [it’s been] frustrating right beyond belief really.’ Nearly all the participants gave instrumental lessons and described being very appreciative of the regular work and income that it provided, as well as the opportunity to reconnect with their sense of self as musicians.

Participants used a variety of coping strategies during this time. These included developing support networks of friends, family and colleagues, using cognitive strategies such as positive self-talk, and active strategies for maintaining health and wellbeing such as making routines for themselves and exercising. Although some participants described finding social media useful, others – such as Cathy, quoted above – found it destructive: ‘It can ruin my whole day, reading 1 thing, and I’ve taken it off my phone.’

Despite the uncertainty of the situation, positives and opportunities emerged. Seasoned players reported using this time for developing new skills such as composing and arranging music, launching online platforms and live-streaming concerts, as well as focusing on improving their skills and teaching. Many participants also remarked that the absence of the stresses and strains associated with a life of performing had allowed them to feel in some ways more relaxed, and many commented that they had enjoyed spending more time with their families.

Notable throughout all interviews was participants’ awareness and concern for others despite their own anxiety and uncertainty. This empathy might reflect the fact that freelance orchestral musicians are essentially team players who make use of acute listening, communication and sensitivity to others in their everyday work.

In conclusion, these findings demonstrate that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the lives of freelance orchestral musicians was particularly challenging for the mid-career participants who appeared to be less resilient, both financially and emotionally, than the seasoned participants. The full report of this study can be found here, with a presentation of the implications of these findings for the musicians themselves, music colleges, musicians’ support organisations, government and wider society at here.

We are currently in the final stages of writing up a follow-up study exploring how these same musicians have fared a year on. However, challenging the pursuit of a career as a freelance orchestral musician may seem in the current uncertain climate, it is worth noting that, in order to achieve such a career prior to the pandemic, the study participants all need to be immensely motivated, dedicated, resourceful, organised, creative, empathetic and determined. Being in possession of such a rich and varied skill set, given appropriate support and guidance, we feel sure that these musicians will find their skills are transferable and valuable, whatever career path they decide to pursue.

This research project was supported financially by Help Musicians.

Dr Susanna Cohen is a former professional musician who works as a musicians’ wellbeing coach and researcher at Bar-Ilan University, Israel.

Professor Jane Ginsborg is Associate Director of Research and the Director of the Centre for Music Performance at the RNCM, and the Editor-in-Chief of Musicae Scientiae.