Graded Unit Employability Skills

Why are the following areas important for becoming a performer?


Teamwork: When becoming a performing musician, team work is essential as you will be placed in environments such as bands where you have to cooperate and communicate with others in order to share and express different ideas. Teamwork is also required when performing material in order to make sure the songs that are played are as tight and well played as they possibly can be.


Interpersonal Skills: Having interpersonal skills is essential when entering the music business, especially when being a performer as you have to be able to instantly build relationships with people you may not know very well as you may be asked to work with them on an important project. Having interpersonal skills as a performer is also important when networking with others, if you are recognized as an individual who can work well in any social situation, it will boost your reputation as a performer.


Problem Solving/ Intellectual Skills: In any profession it is important to have problem solving and intellectual skills, however when being a performing musician it is essential that you are able to handle all kinds of stressful and challenging situations and enter them with an open mind.


Flexibility and Adaptability: It is important as a performing musician to be able to chop and change arrangements where necessary, you may be required to reschedule practices and performers and has a professional musician you have to be willing to change events last minute in order to make things work. You may also be required certain genres you are unsure, unfamiliar or even that you may dislike, however as a musician you must be able to adapt to these kinds of situations in order to remain professional and successful.


Commitment: You have to be dedicated as a performing musician, for example turning up to rehearsals, recordings and performances on time is vital in order to keep a professional reputation.


Self Awareness/ Confidence: Having self awareness and confidence is important for a performing musician as your actions reflect on your personality, performance and attitude towards your work. You have to build a good reputation for being a hard worker and you must be confident when doing so in order to build a good reputation which will in turn earn you great opportunities. Where as something as simple as a bad attitude when performing could lose you a great opportunity.


Initiative, Pro-activity and Self Motivation: It is important as a performing musician that you can motivate and push yourself in any given situation and have the drive to succeed.