The Approach
Through coaching, modeling, collaboration and conversation, Eighth Blackbird is dedicated to a learn-by-doing approach. Their teaching style invites risk-taking, the embracing of failure, and the ability to adapt.
The key tenets of the Lab are interpretation, collaboration, and execution.
The ensemble’s commitment to mentorship both creative and practical is born from their own experience. Upon entering the professional music world, they discovered through trial and error the many aspects of what it takes to thrive as an artist – including being agile collaborators, effective communicators, and savvy producers. Recognizing a vital gap in training, they launched the Lab in 2017 as a space to foster a community in which musicians could cultivate the practical, creative and strategic skills needed to sustain themselves as artists.
In addition to members of the sextet, the Lab is guided by field leaders across various sectors, including stage directors, composers, astronomers, and technical designers and offers immersive experiential learning and strategic visioning to equip participants with unique tools for their creative and professional work.
The Method
Eighth Blackbird’s direct experience as artist-entrepreneurs drives the curriculum of the Lab. Lab commissions, a core aspect of the immersion, are developed throughout the Spring by the selected composers, who are supported in collaboration by their assigned ensembles and Lab faculty. At the Lab, performers rehearse and play side-by-side with Eighth Blackbird, gearing up for a culminating musical event, which takes place across the building of the masterful Yerkes Observatory. Simultaneously, Lab artists participate in daily coaching sessions, salons, workshops and presentations with faculty, guest artists and field leaders.
The cohort is encouraged to embark on a journey of site-specificity, exploring the resources of the historic observatory as a key piece to unlocking the creativity that lives at the intersection of art and science.