We have started an advice column "Ask M" in the NEC student newspaper, The Penguin. The column is meant to catch all sorts of questions—personal, artistic, career-related, and more. M's words of advice will also live on the EM blog for all to read. If you're moved to submit a question, we'd love to hear from you at em@necmusic.edu.

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I’d like to discuss some potential career building opportunities with my studio teacher, but feel unsure about the best way to broach the subject. I want to find a good balance between exploring these questions and opportunities and making progress on my studio repertoire. How should I best approach my teacher with these questions? How can I respectfully push back if my teacher isn’t interested in dedicating time to discussing the questions or opportunities that I’m interested in?

Dear Broaching the Subject,

Navigating your early professional life can be choppy and I’d say the more help, guidance, and support you can drum up, the better. It’s totally natural to want to bring these kinds of questions to your studio teacher, the person who has watched over your musical development during this important stage in your life. That said, I understand that there’s much work to be done in your lessons, and carving out time to discuss career goals can feel like a distraction from the job at hand. The fact that you’ve submitted this question, and framed it so thoughtfully, makes me confident that you’ll find a way to broach the subject with grace.

Allow me to drill into your question a bit more. I would first think about what your teacher is in the best position to advise you on, and craft your questions accordingly.  No one person can address all of the questions you have about your career, and even if there were such an all-knowing person, collecting a range of perspectives will probably keep you in the best stead.  I know that many teachers advise students on pursuing and preparing for festivals, auditions, competitions, and recording projects.  These activities are certainly career building blocks, and I’d wager that your teacher has much experience to draw from in these areas. I’d also wager that many teachers would feel comfortable and excited to provide their perspective on a wide range of topics. And, after working so closely together, I bet you have a pretty solid sense of which topics to broach.

So go with your gut. Go with your gut, and then be prepared for the possibility that your teacher may not want to discuss your questions in the context of a lesson. If that’s the case, try to understand why that may be.  It might be because your teacher feels that there are other pressing priorities.  It might be that your teacher doesn’t feel the question matches her area of expertise.  It may be that your teacher feels it’s not the right time in your development to fully explore certain opportunities or questions. It may simply be that your teacher prefers to have such discussions over coffee at Espresso Royale. Once you understand where your teacher is coming from, you’ll be in a position to frame your questions more deliberately, or strike the right tone, or feel out the optimal time. You can certainly push back respectfully, by broaching the subject a few times, but if it becomes clear that it’s not something there’s time or space for in your lessons, that’s okay too.  There are plenty of addresses for these kinds of questions at NEC and beyond. The Entrepreneurial Musicianship Department is one. You also interact with a wide range of faculty at NEC, many of whom would be open to carving out some time to chat over coffee.  You have your peers. They may not all have the benefit of experience and hindsight, but they can be called upon to have a good cathartic talk. Then there are your past teachers, and your siblings, a mentor you’ve carried with you, or your parents. They may not all move in musical circles, but I bet that many of them are wise, and care deeply about your development.

Draw on the strength of your whole community--the project of forging a life as a musician is layered and requires many helping hands.  Your teacher’s guidance is so important, and you should absolutely seek her counsel. But don’t stop there.  Seek a lot of counsel, from many sources, often.