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Artivate: A Journal of Entrepreneurship in the Art  Volume 7, Issue 2 
http://artivate.org         pp. 27-40 
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Copyright © 2018, the author   
 

SUGGESTIONS FOR INCORPORATING ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION IN 
THE CLASSICAL PERFORMANCE STUDIO 
Andrew Michael Friedrichs 
 

Abstract 
As music institutions strive to embody the nature of entrepreneurship in greater capacities, 

both a lack of understanding and a lack of pedagogical knowledge serve as detriments to this end. 
The purpose of this exploratory study is to equip classical brass performance professors, whose 
goal it is to incorporate entrepreneurship in their studios, with practical suggestions on how to do 
so. Information from a survey of brass players was combined with literature regarding 
entrepreneurship education teaching practices, as well as practices from content areas generated 
from the survey in order to devise a set of suggestions for brass professors. The survey found that 
most brass players thought entrepreneurship should be taught in the private studio and that hard 
work, perseverance, and learning from failure were viewed as the most valuable content areas for 
a career in music. The suggestions are broken down into four themes: attitude; experiential 
learning; moving outside the studio; and character development. Subthemes are acting as a mentor, 
assisting in students' pursuit of individual goals, diverging from a didactic teaching approach, 
learning by doing, learning through failure, reflection, interacting with the community, social 
engagement, interaction with entrepreneurs, and grit. 

Keywords: music entrepreneurship pedagogy; brass studio; brass pedagogy 
 
 
 

A relatively nascent field, entrepreneurship education has grown exponentially since its 
inception and is quickly becoming a popular subject in music schools (Katz, 2003; Beckman, 
2007). Many music schools have addressed the need for entrepreneurship by adding courses 
devoted to music entrepreneurship or music business to the music curriculum (Beckman, 2005). 
However, because studio professors occupy such a prominent role in the education of the music 
students, a discord may emerge between the professors’ espoused values and the values addressed 
in entrepreneurship courses. Beckman (2005) argues that entrepreneurship in music institutions is 
most effective when it is not just presented in the form of courses but integrated more deeply into 
the curriculum and, by integrating entrepreneurship education effectively into the studio, the music 
institution may more successfully and holistically impart entrepreneurship to students. 

As effective as entrepreneurship courses may be at instilling entrepreneurship skills and 
mindset, the private studio teacher may possess a more effective pedagogical platform, holding a 
position that bears strong potential for influence and application when interrelating with the music 
student (Cox, 1994). Before the student initially enrolls in a college, the private studio professor 
acts as one of the strongest factors influencing the decision of where high school or college music 
students attend music school (Bergee, 2001). The private studio professor typically spends at least 
one hour a week teaching the student one-on-one and generally retains this role for the duration of 
the student’s tenure at the college institution, which allows the studio professor to have one of the 
greatest influences in terms of duration of time with the student (NASM, 2002). The studio 
professor also functions as a mentor and can adjust the subject matter to the specific needs of the 
student.  

Despite this, the use of entrepreneurship education in the instrumental studio is not a 
pedagogical area that is frequently addressed. Therefore, there may be professors who agree with 
the rationale of incorporating entrepreneurship into the studio but have little guidance as to 



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pedagogical techniques that are most relevant or suitable for the studio. There may be certain areas 
of entrepreneurship that are better addressed in a music business classroom than in lessons or 
studio class (Beckman, 2005). Conversely, there may be elements of entrepreneurship that are 
quite compatible with the common responsibilities of the professor in the studio environment.  

The private brass instrumental studio presents certain pedagogical advantages to the 
professor, such as direct influence, individual customization, application of learned materials, 
along with others. Although entrepreneurship education practices are being adopted by many 
music schools and conservatories, there exists little research relating to the integration of 
entrepreneurship education practices into the instrumental studio. 

 
Statement of Purpose and Research Questions 

The purpose of this study is to explore entrepreneurship education practices that may be 
used effectively by classical brass performance professors, hopefully propelling further research 
in this nascent field of study. Specifically, this examines the following research questions: 

1. Should entrepreneurship skills be taught in the classical brass performance studio? 
2. What entrepreneurship content areas are most valuable for brass performance 

students developing careers in music? 
3. What are the perceived responsibilities of the classical brass professor? 

 
Review of Literature 

Entrepreneurship education literature indicates that entrepreneurship possesses pecuniary 
value for both society and the individual. Specifically, several researchers credit entrepreneurship 
with the capacity to catalyze job creation (McMullan & Long, 1987; Tengeh, 2015). By analyzing 
data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Haltiwanger, Jarmin, and Miranda (2013) find that it is the 
newness of businesses as opposed the size of businesses that is an indicator of positive job growth. 
Thus, entrepreneurship, which is present at the inception of a business, can account for job growth. 
Entrepreneurship education has also been shown to lead to higher employment and self-
employment levels among university graduates (Premand et. al., 2015). Blanchflower and Oswald 
(1998) indicate that self-employed individuals report both higher levels of job satisfaction and life 
satisfaction than those who are employees. Researchers also note the various non-pecuniary 
benefits that entrepreneurship education offers to the individual, such as independence, autonomy, 
and creativity (Gibb, 2010; Luke, Vereynne, & Kearins, 2007). These benefits may be particularly 
valuable to musicians, who, as Chesky and Devroop (2003) observe, experience twice the level of 
unemployment as that of other professions. Benefits to music schools that offer an entrepreneurial 
music education may include increased funding streams, improvement of recruitment and 
retention, and adherence to NASM guidelines, as Beckman (2005) points out. 

Various researchers divide entrepreneurship education into requisite areas such as 
creativity, opportunity recognition, leadership, initiative, autonomy, risk taking, and the ability to 
tolerate uncertainty (Gibb, 1993; Boyle, 2007). Lumpkin and Dess (1996) identify five main 
content areas of entrepreneurship that are based on the new entry process. These are: autonomy; 
innovation; willingness to take risks; proactiveness; and competitive aggression. In a survey of 
100 chief executives, Hood and Young (1993) observe the highest valued entrepreneurship content 
areas to be business knowledge, commercial knowledge, and venture creation. Gartner (1988) casts 
a more holistic perspective, arguing that entrepreneurship education should focus less on the 



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individual component areas and more on what entrepreneurship is, namely the creation of an 
organization.  

Sirelkhatim and Gangi (2015) divide extant entrepreneurship education into programs that 
teach “about,” “for,” and “through” entrepreneurship. In “about entrepreneurship” programs, 
students typically learn the theories of entrepreneurship in a passive manner, commonly through 
lectures, guest speakers, and case studies. Both “for” and “through entrepreneurship” programs 
include experiential learning approaches, but “through entrepreneurship” is focused on teaching 
entrepreneurship by recreating the learning environment that characterizes the entrepreneurial 
process. Many researchers expressly support this type of “learning-by-doing” approach to 
entrepreneurship (Gibb, 1993; Garavan & O’Cinneide, 1994; Cope & Watts, 2000; Honig, 2004; 
Gibb, 2007; Essig, 2013). Additionally, several anecdotal studies depict favorable outcomes of 
this mode of entrepreneurship education in institutional courses (Vincett & Farlow, 2008; Mason 
& Arshed, 2013). 

Researchers suggest that entrepreneurship in music and the arts is learned in a similar 
manner, with several possible areas of emphasis and a few points of differentiation. Beckman 
(2005) argues for the integration of entrepreneurship past the bounds of the business school and 
into all areas of the music school. Kuuskoski (2010) emphasizes the importance of the mentorship 
role that the professor occupies and suggests that professors capitalize on this in order to effectively 
encourage entrepreneurial growth in their students. Essig (2013) constructs a framework based on 
various researchers’ mindset theories, presenting an arts entrepreneurship pedagogy that also 
emphasizes the importance of mentorship and additionally addresses the need for collaborative 
team projects among heterogeneous disciplines and experiential learning through incubated 
venture creation. Via naturalistic inquiry of four interviews from arts entrepreneurs in higher 
education, Pollard and Wilson (2014) argue that arts entrepreneurship should be taught in a 
different manner than entrepreneurship exclusive to the business realm. They propose five 
elements of an entrepreneurial mindset unique to the arts: 1) a capacity to think creatively, 
strategically, analytically, and reflectively; 2) confidence in one’s abilities; 3) ability to 
collaborate; 4) well-developed communication skills; and 5) an understanding of the current 
artistic context. Although entrepreneurship in the arts may be taught differently from 
entrepreneurship in the business realm, Welsh, Onishi, DeHoog, and Syed (2014) stress that the 
venture creation element of entrepreneurship, despite not being readily embraced by arts students, 
is an integral element of entrepreneurship education and should not be ignored. 
 

Method 
A survey questionnaire was created and deployed using Survey Monkey. The survey 

addressed the research questions directly as they apply to the classical brass studio. Question one 
asked: should entrepreneurship skills be taught in the classical brass studio? Research question 
two was then presented as follows: from the following categories (behavioral attributes, business 
know-how, cognitive skills, interpersonal skills,  and context), which items do you feel are most 
valuable for brass students who aspire to successful careers in the music industry? (Items are 
ordered alphabetically.) In order to generate choices for this question, entrepreneurship content 
areas were compiled from relevant literature (Gibb, 1993; Gibb, 1996; Gibb 2007; Hood and 
Young, 1993; Ronstadt, 1985; Lumpkin and Dess, 1996; Sirelkhatim and Gangi, 2015; and 
Ibrahim and Goodwin, 1986). All areas relating to entrepreneurship behaviors, skills or attributes 



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were assembled, comprising a list of 103 terms or short phrases. Direct duplicates were eliminated 
and the remaining qualitative data were then coded based on qualitative contextual codes (Bigdan 
and Biklen, 1998). To facilitate the coding process, items were sorted into six contextual 
categories: cognitive skills; behavioral attributes; philosophy; interpersonal skills; and business 
know-how. Using this process, the list was reduced to 36 items (see Appendix B). Each item was 
listed on a separate row with four option bubbles seen to the right of the question based on a Likert 
scale format: no value; low value; moderate value; and high value.  

The respondent was then asked the following question: do you play a brass instrument? If 
the answer yes was selected, the respondent was asked (yes or no) whether or not they teach. If yes 
was selected, the respondent was asked to choose from the following options: college/ collegiate/ 
graduate studio; high school; middle school; elementary school; privately; or classroom. If the 
respondent selected college, they were asked the following question: what do you feel are your 
primary responsibilities as a studio teacher? These questions were used to generate qualitative 
data necessary to examine research question number three. 

 After construction of the survey questionnaire was completed, links to the questionnaire 
were posted on relevant brass Facebook groups. Terms involved in the search query were: 
trombone, tuba, trumpet, horn, French horn, and brass. Facebook groups were chosen as the 
desired means of dissemination due to their potential demographic diversity as well as efficiency 
in terms of speed and cost. In addition to the Facebook pages, the link was also shared on the 
researcher’s own Facebook timeline. Along with the link, different messages were posted in an 
attempt to customize the post based on the perceived qualities and intentions of the Facebook page.  

Results were recorded and Likert scale values from each corresponding content area group 
were added together to form a cumulative total for that content area. The content areas were then 
ordered from highest to lowest based on mean. From this section, the content areas with the most 
cumulative points were chosen in order to generate suggestions. 

The factors of age group and gender were then tested against the data from research 
question one, Should entrepreneurship skills be taught in the classical brass studio?. These factors 
were tested for evidence of a statistically significant influence on the content area data with alpha 
level = .05 and the null hypothesis of no relationship between the demographic factors and whether 
or not the respondent thinks that entrepreneurship skills should be taught in the classical brass 
performance studio. Due to the categorical nature of the demographic factors, a chi-square test was 
used as 

𝑥"# = %
(𝑂( − 𝐸()#

𝐸(
 

Where 𝐸( represents the expected values for age and gender and 𝑂( represents the observed values. 
In addition to data from the content areas, suggestions were also based on the qualitative 

data gathered from the question: What do you feel are your primary responsibilities as a studio 
teacher? All qualitative data was compiled and subsequently categorized based on contextual 
codes (Boyatzis, 1998). Categorization began with elimination of duplicates and functional 
synonyms. A contextual coding process and functional coding reduced the number of terms based 
on common context and common function. 

Once relevant content areas and responsibilities were identified, suggestions for 
implementation were generated. I drew from literature relating to these content areas as well as 
literature relating to entrepreneurship education in order to compile teaching suggestions. 



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Suggestions were formulated by combining responsibilities generated from the questionnaire with 
effective entrepreneurship and content area pedagogy with the intention of remaining exploratory 
in nature. As part of the analysis, I identified extant entrepreneurial practices by classical brass 
professors in order to encourage professors who are already engaging in practices in line with 
entrepreneurship education literature. 
 

Results 
 The survey was open for 12 days; a total of 138 responses were received. Of these, 104 
respondents answered the question: How important are entrepreneurship skills for individuals 
aspiring to successful music careers? Sixty-eight indicated that entrepreneurship skills are highly 
important, 32 indicated that entrepreneurship skills are moderately important, 3 indicated that 
entrepreneurship skills are slightly important, and 1 indicated that entrepreneurship skills are not 
important.  
 The vast majority of respondents agreed that entrepreneurship should be taught in the 
private studio. Of the 104, 94 (90%) indicated that entrepreneurship should be taught in the private 
studio and 10 (or 10%) indicated that entrepreneurship should not be taught in the private studio. 
 
Content Area Rankings  
 All 104 respondents selected a value for each of the 37 content areas. Of the cognitive 
skill selections, learning from failure received the highest mean score. Of the behavior attributes, 
hardworking received the highest score. Of the interpersonal skills, networking received the 
highest score. Marketing received the highest mean score from business know-how, and 
knowledge of suitable career paths received the highest score from philosophy.  
 Of all the individual content areas, the highest scoring was hardworking, with 
perseverance, learning from failure, initiative, and adaptability constituting the five individual 
content areas with the highest mean ranking by respondents. The mean for responsibility was the 
same as the mean for adaptability (Table 1). 

One hundred-three respondents answered the question, Do you play a brass instrument?, 
with 98 indicating that they play a brass instrument and only 5 indicating that they did not play a 
brass instrument. 97 respondents proceeded to answer the question: Do you teach brass instrument 
performance? 66 respondents indicated that they do teach brass instrument performance while 31 
indicated that they do not. 68 respondents answered the question: Where do you teach? Private 
teaching was the most popular option with 47, or 69% of respondents, indicating that they taught 
privately. College/collegiate/graduate studio was the next most popular option with 13, or 19% of 
respondents who had already indicated that they played a brass instrument indicating that they 
taught on the collegiate level.  
 
 
 
 
  



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All Content Areas Average 
Hardworking 3.913462 
Perseverance 3.875000 
Learning from failure 3.836538 
Initiative 3.798077 
Adaptability 3.778846 
Responsibility 3.778846 
Opportunity recognition 3.730769 
Problem solving 3.730769 
Common sense 3.721154 
Ambition 3.721154 
Networking 3.721154 
Creativity/Innovation 3.711538 
Resourcefulness 3.701923 
Envisioning possibilities 3.692308 
Self-awareness 3.567308 
Knowledge of suitable career paths 3.500000 
Marketing 3.490385 
Self-confidence 3.490384 
Intuition 3.471154 
Leadership 3.461538 
Planning 3.455462 
Ethical decision-making 3.432692 
Negotiating 3.365385 
Tolerance for uncertainty 3.326923 
Divergent thinking 3.317308 
Public speaking 3.307692 
Business strategy 3.278846 
Autonomy 3.259615 
Team building 3.259605 
New venture creation 3.230769 
Risk-taking 3.182692 
Economic understanding 3.153846 
Convergent thinking 3.096154 
Competitiveness 3.019231 
Accounting 2.971154 
Respect for the environment 2.932692 

 
Table 1. Content Area Rankings and Averages 
   
 



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Coding of Brass Professor Responsibilities 
All 13 respondents who indicated that they taught on the collegiate level also replied to 

question 15: What do you feel are your primary responsibilities as a collegiate studio teacher?. 
Upon qualitative analysis of the open-ended responses to question 15, seven distinct codes 
emerged: model/mentor; musical performance; professionalism; helping students become their 
own teachers; pursuit of goals; career guidance; and, music history/music theory (Table 2).  

 

 
Table 2. Perceived Responsibilities of Classical Brass Professors 
 

Discussion 
Interestingly, for the question How important are entrepreneurship skills for individuals 

aspiring to successful music careers? 96% of all respondents selected either highly important or 
moderately important. Only 6 of those respondents (5.7% of all respondents) indicated that 
entrepreneurship was important but that it should not be taught in the private studio. This 
information seemed surprising initially, as expectations were for fewer respondents to indicate that 
entrepreneurship skills should be taught in the private studio. It is plausible that individuals who 
were conceptually supportive of entrepreneurship were particularly inclined to take part in a survey 
with entrepreneurship in the title.  
 After reviewing entrepreneurship literature, it seemed somewhat surprising that the five 
highest ranking content areas from the survey were hardworking, perseverance, learning from 
failure, initiative, and adaptability. I had thought that the highest-ranking content areas would 
correspond with the most frequently appearing content areas in entrepreneurship literature, among 
them being creativity, innovation, risk taking, autonomy, and opportunity recognition. 
Surprisingly, none of these content areas appeared in the top five highest ranking content areas 
overall. This may be attributable to the wording of the prompt: Which items do you feel are most 
valuable for brass students who aspire to successful careers in the music industry? The emphasis 
on career success may have caused different content areas to rise to the top, but if entrepreneurship 
is not directed towards helping students develop successful careers, then its use may be only 

0 2 4 6 8 10 12

Mentor/model

Musical performance

Professionalism

Helping students become their own teachers

Pursuit of goals

Career guidance

Music history/music theory

Perceived Responsibilites 
of Classical Brass Professors

Number of instances category appears n=13



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theoretical in nature. It may be argued that not all career success is entrepreneurial career success, 
as some career successes may have less relation to the act of new venture creation. However, a 
focus on the term entrepreneurship in the wording of the prompt may have directed respondents’ 
focus away from the aim of entrepreneurship and onto their own notion of entrepreneurship, which 
likely differs substantially among individuals. Ultimately, the survey results generated content 
areas that place a slightly different emphasis on entrepreneurship than what is seen in literature, 
but not incongruent with the spirit of entrepreneurship. Conversely, the content areas that surfaced 
from the survey are viewed to be well-suited towards the generating of effective, salient 
suggestions for how brass players may incorporate entrepreneurship education methods in their 
teaching. 
 

Suggestions 
Suggestions, derived from a combination of the results of the study and relevant extant 

literature, are broken down into four general areas: attitude; experiential learning; moving outside 
of the studio; and character development. It should be noted that as the survey had only a limited 
sample, the suggestions that follow are not meant to be grounds for any implications about music 
entrepreneurship in a larger context. 

 
 Attitude 

If a classical brass professor wishes to address the topic of entrepreneurship education in 
their studio, a reasonable starting point may be the consideration of their attitude or mindset. 
Professors may adopt an attitude in line with values upheld by entrepreneurship education 
literature in two specific ways: through an understanding of the mentor/mentee relationship and 
by moving away from a didactic approach to teaching. 

Attitude: Understanding the Mentorship Role. The studio music professor adopts a 
mentorship role with their students largely due to the personal relationship and position of 
leadership that they hold (Beckman, 2010). In this mentorship role, the teacher mentor bears a high 
degree of influence on the student. Bergee and Thornton (2008) find that the two biggest factors 
affecting a student’s decision to major in music education are love of music and positive teacher 
role model. An effective mentor understands that their influence on the student moves far beyond 
words and teaching doctrine and into their values, motives, philosophies, and even mannerisms. 
Therefore, if studio teachers desire to be effective conduits of an entrepreneurial mindset, it may 
be prudent for them to consider the nature of the support they give to students who wish to pursue 
entrepreneurial ideas and take advantage of industry opportunities.  

Attitude: Moving Away from a Didactic Approach. Researchers criticize the traditional 
classroom teaching approach to entrepreneurship education on the grounds that a didactic teaching 
style is not representative of the manner by which individuals learn how to become entrepreneurs 
in the industry (Garavan & O’Cinneide, 1994). Rather, entrepreneurs learn from whatever source 
they can and there are plenty of sources to which a teacher can direct students. The private studio 
offers professors the freedom to apply entrepreneurship principles directly to the students’ musical 
endeavors while providing a unique opportunity to customize the curricular content according to 
the individual student. 

Instead of envisioning their role as a supplier of information, the studio teacher may 
consider themselves facilitators of learning experiences and environments (Gibb, 1993). Of course, 



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the teacher may provide answers for the student when needed, but it is through uncontrolled 
environments characterized by uncertainty that students learn how to become entrepreneurs on a 
“need-to-know” basis (Vincett & Farlow, 2008; Gibb, 1993; Gibb, 2010). 

 
Experiential Learning 
 Experiential learning is a frequent theme addressed in recent entrepreneurship education 
literature largely because it is the primary way through which entrepreneurs have been observed 
to learn (McMullan & Long, 1987; Gibb, 1993; Garavan & O’Cinneide, 1994; Beckman, 2005; 
Vincett & Farlow, 2008; Fayolle & Gailly, 2008; Essig, 2013; Mason & Arshed, 2013; Welsh, 
Onishi, DeHoog & Syed, 2014; Sirelkhatim & Gangi, 2015). Two ways that brass studio professors 
may cultivate an experiential learning environment are by encouraging their students to “learn by 
doing” and allowing for times of reflection after critical learning incidents. 

Experiential Learning: “Learning by doing.” When individuals become small business 
owners, their environment is characterized by a high level of uncertainty and they are forced to 
learn while on the job, the skills, traits, behaviors, and information that they need in order to 
accomplish their objectives. It is in an entrepreneurial environment where entrepreneurship is 
learned most effectively (Gibb, 1993).  
 Similarly, studio professors may wish to consider that, if the students’ learning process is 
to be effective, a large portion of it must occur outside of the professors’ realm of perceived 
control. This takes a degree of humility on the part of the professors. Gibb (2007) articulated this 
balance by stating that the “entrepreneurial teacher will be one who masters the art of knowing 
how much ownership and control of learning to give to students” (p. 8). The job of the teacher, 
therefore, might not be to serve as a one who supplies all necessary information, but as one who 
places the student in entrepreneurial environments. One example of this is to take the student out 
of a recital or on-campus performance, ubiquitous in music schools, and encourage the student 
instead to organize and perform in a scenario from which revenue would be generated. The student 
would work on what they need to know in order to successfully execute the task, which would 
likely include not only performing the music skillfully, but also promoting and marketing the event 
effectively, securing and funding the venue, developing partners for the event, and accounting for 
the resources earned and spent.  

Experiential Learning: Reflection Following Failure. Failure is often inextricable from 
the entrepreneurial learning process. Fayolle and Gailly write, “…the learning process of new 
entrepreneurs is therefore based on experimentation where trial and error can succeed one another 
at a fast pace” (p. 583). Reflection is a useful tool for dealing with student failure during the 
entrepreneurial process and is one that may be easily incorporated by the studio professor.  
 Cope and Watts (2000) suggest two ways an entrepreneurial mentor can help students 
reflect on what they refer to as critical incidents, or experiences that have a significant effect on 
the student regardless of positive or negative perception. The first is by simply being there for the 
student. The teacher can help the student step back from the situation and observe it in a more 
objective manner, discussing why the situation occurred or what the most effective solution would 
be. The second way the teacher may help the student reflect on a critical incident is by helping the 
student develop a strategy to avoid inhibitive critical incidents in the future. In this manner, the 
studio teacher can help the “entrepreneur to learn ‘how to learn’ from these memorable events” 
(Cope & Watts, 2000, p. 5). 



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Moving Outside of the Studio 
 Part of the function of entrepreneurship education in the context of the private music studio 
can be to prepare music students for a successful career so that they may have fulfilling 
opportunities to continue to utilize their musical skills once they leave school. In order to replicate 
these types of opportunities, the student will need to move outside the confines of the music studio. 
The professor may facilitate doing so in any of three possible ways: by encouraging students to 
interact with the community; by encouraging students to engage with their social environments; 
and by arranging interactions with real entrepreneurs. 

Moving Outside of the Studio: Community Interaction. Mason and Arshed (2013) 
emphasize the need for entrepreneurship education to go outside the walls of the classroom and 
into the community. McMullan and Long (1987) suggest that students should have hands-on 
experience working with community ventures. Beckman (2005) places a strong emphasis on 
audience development. The studio professor can facilitate community interaction in multiple ways. 
One starting point might be for the professor to encourage the student who has already thought of 
a new venture idea to begin thinking about potential customers or stakeholders within the 
community. The studio professor might push the student to make contact with a potential financial 
partner in order for the student to experience pitching their idea (Gibb, 2007). Vincett and Farlow 
(2008) support this notion, insisting that students in entrepreneurship programs validate their ideas 
through market research and direct contact with potential investors. Doing so enables the students 
to obtain a notion of the organizations and entities within the community that would be inclined to 
support their musical product.  

Moving Outside of the Studio: Interdisciplinary Collaboration. Different forms of 
social interaction may enhance the venture creation process, bringing skillsets from different 
individuals together in a complementary fashion. Bell and Bell (2016) observe that the most 
successful group from a new venture business creation competition was one that featured an 
eclectic mix of students from several different disciplines. Pollard and Wilson (2014) and Essig 
(2013) both emphasize the entrepreneurial value for arts students of collaborating with students 
from other disciplines. 
 What does this mean for the classical brass professor who wants to implement 
entrepreneurship education? The professor might encourage students not only to pursue their 
entrepreneurial ideas in groups or teams but to compose teams of individuals from outside the 
realm of their studio, even from outside their music school. Many intriguing possibilities exist for 
music student-led entrepreneurial ventures when they are working in tandem with engineers, 
filmmakers, dance majors, environmental science majors, or even business majors, to name a few. 
Wilson and Mantie (2017) describe an example of this type of collaboration in which music 
students and community development program students of the same university work together to 
set up community music events. Wilson and Mantie observe that university students’ involvements 
in the community not only foster greater entrepreneurship skills, but also achieve various positive 
outcomes within the community.   

Moving Outside of the Studio: Interaction with Entrepreneurs. In a proposed model 
for entrepreneurship education, Boyle (2007) includes opportunities for students to meet with 
entrepreneurs, giving the students a chance to interact, ask questions, and spend time together. 
Kelman (2015) emphasizes the importance of providing exposure for students to real 



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entrepreneurs. Seikkula-Leino et. al. (2015) also stress the value of student interactions with 
entrepreneurs in the field. This is a useful avenue of entrepreneurship education for studio 
professors to facilitate. Although bringing in outside entrepreneurs to work with students in the 
context of lessons may prove difficult, inviting entrepreneurs from the field of music to present to 
a studio class or orchestrating opportunities for students to interact with music entrepreneurs 
outside of classes may be a more viable option.  

 
Character Development: Grit 
 Grit, as defined by Duckworth (2016), refers to a combination of passion and perseverance. 
This definition differs only slightly with the top two results from the survey, which were 
hardworking and perseverance. The term passion was not explicitly featured on the survey; 
however, because the term grit encompasses both hardworking and perseverance, and because 
passion is not unsuitable for musicians, advice from the world of grit research interface easily into 
the realm of the classical brass professor.  
 Duckworth (2016) writes that recent research on teaching suggest that many of the same 
principles of good parenting apply to good teaching. She notes that children will emulate their 
parents to a greater extent if they perceive their parents as both supportive and demanding. If 
children perceive their parents, who are supporting and demanding, to exhibit grit, it may be 
assumed that those children will subsequently emulate that grit. Studio professors might consider 
establishing such a balance between a supportive and demanding studio atmosphere. The studio 
teacher may seek to demand a strict adherence to such rules as punctuality for lessons and adequate 
rehearsal preparation for performances while simultaneously expressing encouragement for the 
student in matters such as auditions, recitals, and entrepreneurial ventures. 
 

Limitations and Suggestions for Further Research 
If further exploration is to be done regarding entrepreneurship education for brass 

professors, it is important to acknowledge a few of the ways this study may have been limited so 
that future studies may improve upon the knowledge gained herein. The first limitation regards the 
sample of respondents for the survey questionnaire. As the survey was disseminated solely using 
Facebook and primarily using Facebook brass pages, this excluded people who do not use 
Facebook, do not use Facebook frequently, are not members of such Facebook pages, or do not 
check such Facebook pages frequently. It is unclear whether or not this possible effect skewed the 
sample of respondents in any way. A future study that chooses to use Facebook as a means to 
disseminate a survey may also consider involving supplemental distribution methods. 

The second limitation is regarding the possible effect the title of the survey had on 
individuals who voluntarily took the survey. Were individuals who had more positive impressions 
of the notion of entrepreneurship more inclined to partake in a survey that was explicitly about 
entrepreneurship than individuals who were not as partial to entrepreneurship? Random rather than 
voluntary  selection may strengthen the generalizability of the survey results. 

A third limitation of this study is regarding the underlying argument that brass professors 
should teach what brass players consider to be most valuable for their careers. This is based on the 
assumption that brass players know what is valuable for their careers. In one sense, some may 
argue that brass professors should cater their teaching to the preferences of brass players because 
brass players comprise the students and, therefore, the customers. But what happens if what brass 



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players perceive to be valuable is ultimately not what is best for brass players? This area of research 
should be supplemented by future studies with different methodologies, perhaps ones where 
common themes are observed among successful brass entrepreneurs that are thereafter discussed 
on a pedagogical level or in which multiple phenomenological case studies are done to identify 
possible determinants of successful entrepreneurship pedagogies in the world of brass.  

 
Conclusion 

 Many brass professors might find that they are already incorporating entrepreneurship 
education practices in their studios. Some brass professors may be surprised to find that they have 
been teaching entrepreneurship for many years and have not referred to it by the word 
“entrepreneurship.” Additionally, professors may find that they have been using elements of 
effective entrepreneurship education to teach brass fundamentals, solo literature, or orchestral 
audition preparation. For example, brass professors might use a “learning by doing” approach to 
teach orchestral audition preparation, wherein the student is encouraged to implement means of 
improving the excerpts firsthand in the practice room and practice simulating the audition scenario 
though the means of mock auditions. Maybe the student is encouraged to record their own excerpts 
and listen back so that they can have the firsthand experience of critiquing their own excerpts in 
the same manner that a committee would. Finally, the student is encouraged to go and take an 
actual audition, with the teacher understanding that this is where orchestral audition learning is 
ultimately directed. A “learning by doing” education culminates in firsthand student experience 
and refuses to stagnate at the conceptual level. Teachers who understand this type of approach 
understand that they must eventually let go of the tightly held attachment to a didactic teaching 
model and allow the student the freedom to fully experience the appropriate environment in which 
the desired form of learning takes place. 
 

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