One of the few studies to address this particular musical transition was carried out by
Burland and Davidson (2004) who undertook a follow-up to an earlier study
concerned with motivation in children’s musical development (Davidson et al., 1996,
Davidson et al., 1997). In the second study, carried out eight years later when the
participants were between seventeen and twenty-six years old, twenty semi-structured
interviews were carried out with individuals who had been identified in the earlier
study as children with high potential in music and who had attended a specialist music
school in the UK. Six of the young musicians had decided against pursuing musical
careers; thus the opportunity arose to compare retrospective accounts of those who
had made the transition from music student to music professional with those who had
taken alternative pathways (Burland et al., 2004). A key finding from this study was
that “the most important factor influencing whether the musicians ... went on to
pursue a professional performing career is the role of music as the central determinant
of self-concept ..it seems that the importance of music to self-concept develops
during the later stages of training” (ibid, p. 243). The influence of teachers, parents
and peers was found to have sustained importance, while music education institutions
were found to “clearly shape the musician and his or her self-concept” and “to
influence whether they proceed through the transitional phase successfully” (ibid, p.
244).
Transition from music student to music professional was also investigated by
MacNamara et al. (2006) who identified psychological characteristics that facilitated
successful transition experiences. Eight classical musicians were interviewed,
offering insights into the “fear and frustration often associated with beginning a career
as a performer” as well as the “financial and practical constraints of forging a career