4. Many Musicians Become Great Professors
You likely already know this, but it is worth saying.
The skills you learn in music school can be directly applied to a career in teaching. Many musicians I know end up getting a Doctorate in performance, which allows them to have the skills to teach in a university setting.
For a doctorate, there are two types of degrees – a DMA as well as a PhD. Find out more about the different types of music degrees here.
3. You Actually Can Make Great Money As a Soloist
As a solo artist, you have complete control over your destiny, and unless you hire back-up musicians, you can essentially take your instrument out anywhere and just simply start performing while reaping all the monetary benefits.
You can also sell your own music online and profit from streaming. Although streaming services don’t provide that much income, you can definitely make a little extra from all the free streaming services out there, like Spotify (keep in mind you would need a great deal of plays on Spotify to make even a $1,000, but hey a little extra income never hurts).
2. There Are Other Lucrative Professions You Can Pursue With a Music Degree
Going back to our article on 70+ careers you can undertake with a music degree, there are actually so many other great, well-paying jobs you can get as a musician. From being a music marketing specialist, a concert booking agent, and a music editor to being a journalist or even a commercial music film scorer, the job market for people with music degrees is actually much better than you may think. Some professions, like being an A&R Representative, seem like they are super fun jobs – I’ve never been an A&R representative, however it does seem like an incredibly rewarding position – basically you are asked for your opinion on choosing top talent for record labels.
1. You Can Start Your Own Orchestra/Ensemble
This might be the best reason on this list yet! In 2014, a well-connected and well-networked musician can start his or her very own ensemble, taking artistic control over the music he or she plays, and likely have greater job satisfaction than that of a prison guard (see above).
Some extremely provocative and successful “modern music” ensembles that started off with a small budget, grass-roots approach include Bang On a Can, Alarm Will Sound, Ensemble Signal, Wordless Music Ensemble, and Eighth Blackbird.
Where Do I Go Next?
I have known many, many musicians who have joined orchestras – some of them are happy, successful, and are able to support their families. If you are the type of musician who is absolutely born to play in an orchestra, than you should absolutely go for it, and by no means is this article a knock on orchestras – orchestras are incredible musical forces that can perform canonical works with great depth and mastery.
However, if you play to the beat of a different drummer, you have many, many options. Should you wish to see more options, I highly recommend you check out and download my premium ebook, How to Start a Music Career – The Ultimate Guide.
Here’s to having a 21st century musical entrepreneurial spirit!
Featured Image by MITO SettembreMusica Via Flickr Creative Commons
Why does everyone assume prison guards hate their job? MSNBC shows a solid 48 hours of “Lock Up” every weekend and every guard I’ve seen there seems like the happiest person on TV
I suppose one may ask what the criteria for “job satisfaction” is in both fields. Having worked in both, my personal criteria as a guard was not getting killed or maimed. The criteria for the second is somewhat more elusive.
Hi Bill. Speaking as a professional musician who has been working in the field for several years, I found many problems with this article.
1. The audition competition you cite in section seven is somewhat outlandish. True, top jobs attract many applicants, but the idea that every musician in america is going to audition for the New York Philharmonic simply isn’t the case. Maybe you don’t want to live in New York City. Maybe your family lives somewhere else and you want to stay close to them. Maybe you like the flexibility afforded to you by not playing in an orchestra that performs every single week. Maybe your current job won’t let you take the time off to take the audition. These are real reasons why people choose not to take auditions. This is not to say that the competition is light – it certainly isn’t. But you really aren’t auditioning against every musician in America for these jobs, and your point would gain credibility by not engaging in hyperbole – which, in fact, you admit that you do in the final sentence of section 7. Why even go there when you know that it’s not really the case?
2. Your reasoning in section five for why orchestral musicians should suffer from job dissatisfaction sounds completely made up. No orchestral musician I know laments not being able to be the soloist, and repetition of repertoire isn’t really a concern for most musicians. Shoot, I’ve been performing the symphonic repertoire for over ten years now, and I still find that 70%-80% of the music I play is brand new to me. Read these articles by Greg Sandow to better educate yourself –
http://www.artsjournal.com/sandow/2011/07/not_so_satisfied.html, http://www.artsjournal.com/sandow/2011/07/more_unsatisfied.html
4. On section four – orchestras are not going on strike all the time. True, there have been several high profile cases in recent years, but your claim that “many orchestras” are going on strike is only true in so far as 15 or 20 is a big number – which it isn’t, when put in the context of the hundreds of orchestras that exist in the United States. Your claim that even the best orchestras are having to accept pay cuts of over 25% is categorically false. The one orchestra that you cite – the Minnesota Orchestra – ended up accepting a 15% pay cut (see my source below). That’s still significant, but if you’re going to claim that these massive pay cuts are becoming “commonplace,” you need to find find even one that has actually done so. This entire section is badly in need of some fact checking.
http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/music/240153421.html
5. In section three – “you can essentially take your instrument out anywhere and just simply start performing while reaping all the monetary benefits.” You appear to be referring to busking – playing on street corners. Most professional musicians wouldn’t refer to that as being a soloist, and very few of them would say that there is “great money” in the business – more like enough to buy lunch. As for streaming, read the following link. It’s true that every little bit counts, but the section header promises “great money.” $35 is not great money, and given the raw deal that artists tend to get from streaming services, I’d rather not support that business model.
http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2014/04/03/streamingstatements
6. Section one is a great artistic idea, and having been a part of three start-ups while I was in graduate school, I can say that it’s fun and interesting. It does not pay. At the time that I left the area, one of the groups was talking about securing grant money so that maybe they could pay us a small fee next year, the second wasn’t even that far, and the artistic/executive director of the third, which did pay (not a livable salary, by the way), was literally falling apart at the seams because of all the work this person was putting in so that the group could meet budget. Starting up your own grassroots ensemble is incredibly difficult. The pay usually starts to come only after years of hard work, and statistics say that most fold within five years. The high profile examples that you cite are simply the exceptions that prove the rule.
All in all, there were some kernels of truth in here, but they were obscured by hyperbole, poor research, and bland acceptance of common (and largely debunked) industry myths. Perhaps you should consult with a professional musician who has experience in these matters before publishing your next article on how to be an entrepreneur in the arts.
Thanks for the thoughtful comment Dana. It means a lot to me to have a well written comment on this article. At the end of the day, if your heart is set on playing in a symphonic orchestra, then do whatever it is you need to achieve your goal. I would never argue against that.
That said, I firmly stand by all my points.
Concerning the first point, of course not every musician who went to juilliard for the last 40 years will audition for the same job. Still, the degree of competition I discuss is certainly not outlandish. It was only sometime in the last decade that the Pittsburgh Symphony received 500 applications for one flute posting. Music entrepreneur specialist David Cutler talks about it on his blog: http://www.savvymusician.com/blog/2009/12/the-working-musician-full-time-orchestra-member/. That means the job acceptance rate is well over 10 times more selective than a place like Curtis, the most selective academic institution in the entire world.
Concerning your second point, it is not made up, a study in 1998 did actually conclude that orchestral musicians have as much job satisfaction as prison guards. It is linked in the article. Other sources have also ranked orchestral job satisfaction very low. It is up to you to decide whether YOU PERSONALLY feel that the orchestral job makes YOU happy. I have known some musicians to be dissatisfied or even worse complacent with all the repertoire they consistently play.
Concerning your third point, the San Francisco Symphony, the Detroit Sympony, and the Minnesota Orchestra have all gone on strike recently. True, there are many orchestras in the country, but when you have three of the “tier-one” orchestras going on strike (and how many tier-one orchestras are there really…15?), it becomes inevitable that other arts organizations could follow. On top of that, the New York City Opera, one of the most established arts institutions in New York, went out of business last year.
Concerning your fourth point, I don’t mean subways specifically. Why not libraries, museums, coffee shops, on-air radio stations, senior centers, weddings, corporate lounges, charities, YOUTUBE (with advertisements), and college residencies, just to name a few non-conventional performance places? If you are born to be only a recitalist or symphonic musician, that’s fine, but for those who want to be something else, there are so many options. We can interact with so many things. I have seen musicians in these settings make anywhere from your $35 to well over a thousand per gig. Depends on your draw and perceived value, often times.
And your fifth point, in order to make an ensemble work and make you money, no question Dana, you do have to work like hell. This is very true. But look at the likes of Claire Chase and ICE, Alan Pierson and Alarm Will Sound, David Bloom & Dylan Mattingly and Contemporaneous, David Lang, Michael Gordon, and Julia Wolfe and Bang On a Can, all the avid contemporary music guys in Eighth Blackbird, all the amazing supporters of string quartet music in the Kronos Quartet. Or how about Steve Reich and Musicians, the Philip Glass Ensemble? If you work, network, and market effectively, your dreams could come true.
I am a professional musician, and I am entirely supportive of both musical entrepreneurs and orchestral musicians. I will continue to publish plenty of articles supporting musical entrepreneurship, since there is no question that that is where a great deal of the future of many classical musicians lies. Thanks for taking the time to write Dana.
Hi Bill. I just reread my initial post, and… I haven’t been such a rude little prat since I was a freshman in college, and I’d like to take this opportunity to apologize. I suppose we could chalk this up to a last pang of adolescence, but I’m almost thirty, and I’m a father. I should know better, and I’m very ashamed of the tone I took with you. I guess I still have some growing to do.
I haven’t read your reply, and I’m not going to, because it doesn’t matter to me whether I’m right nor wrong (probably the latter). What does matter is that this is your place of work, and you don’t deserve to have this kind of disrespect shown to you in a professional environment. I wish I could delete my post, but I can’t seem to figure out how, as I’m posting as a guest.
Please disregard my original comment, accept my apologies, and have a wonderful day.
Dana
Dana, it’s ok to disagree! You should see my inbox
Hi Bill,
I’m also a professional orchestral musician, with a few entrepreneurial side projects. I’m happy that you’re spreading the word that an orchestral career isn’t the only possible route, but it makes me sad to think that some people might be deterred by your article from the artistic opportunities that orchestras have to offer.
I’m afraid you’re misrepresenting both the work of orchestral musicians and the work of chamber and solo musicians here. Perhaps your site could offer some interviews with the people you mentioned in your response to Dana’s comment, or with orchestra personnel managers, union reps, and musicians at different levels in the game.
It’s my feeling that a successful classical musician has to be flexible in our current economic situation. I know that my career wouldn’t be what it is without playing (chamber, solo, and orchestral), teaching, and organizing concerts. There’s always an aspect of balancing your artistic needs and your material needs to find job satisfaction as a musician.
Jessica, that’s a very thoughtful comment, and I’m glad we agree on many things. Musical flexibility is an absolute must in today’s competitive arts world. Certainly, as this website progresses (we’ve only been in existence for around 96 hours as of this comment), interviews with people in the music business will become a valuable asset to this resource. I’m already in talks to do a good one with a new york school.
Anyway, I don’t feel I am misrepresenting any aspect of being an orchestral, chamber, or solo musician. There really are at least 200 applicants, if not far more, for every major orchestral opening in the US, and for all the stress and hard work, the position is not for everyone. Being a solo and chamber musician can be exceptionally gratifying for many people that may not want an orchestral career. Look at cellist Zoe Keating and how she has turned her solo cello playing into a lucrative and well-documented career – she has a million+ followers on twitter. Anything is possible in today’s world. I am happy to hear that you are an entrepreneur who also plays in an orchestra, thanks for taking the time to write Jessica.
Hi Bill, I think your heart is in the right place with this article. But I don’t think it needs to be so disparaging of a career in orchestras. I enjoy a varied career in music that includes teaching, performing, administering organizations and, yes, playing in orchestras! You seem to have cherry picked some very extreme examples of the best and worst in the orchestral world. Many of the salaries and happiness levels of orchestral musicians (especially those in lower paying orchestras) are padded by teaching (privately and at universities), playing with chamber societies and sometimes even non-musical endeavors such as teaching surfing! Also, the FANTASTIC organizations you mention above such as Alarm Will Sound, Contemporaneous, eighth blackbird, etc. are (to me) the most important kinds of organizations in the musical world today but, as with orchestras, almost none of them pay “well” on their own. The highest paid employees (artistic directors, core musicians, etc.) of each of these organizations make well under $100,000 according to their most recent Form 990s. The highest I could find was $60,000. These are of course, as with the orchestral musicians, padded with extensive teaching, guest artist recitals, etc. But money is not everything, variety is what is key for most people and having the possibility and initiative to create opportunities for themselves in whatever circumstance they are in.
Thanks for the final disclaimer. There are potential pro musicians with a real passion and dilligence for classical music that WILL change the course of the future. The American audition system will change in our lifetime, that much is certain.
Your article makes a lot of sense – Dana, you are splitting hairs, Bill has a lot of valid points and concerning your comments on ‘job dissatisfaction’, whereas a lot of orchestral musicians love what they do throughout their career (which is always inspiring) you do come across many musicians who are dissatisfied, especially nowadays. So, in a nut shell, your comments criticising Bill could easily be turned back onto yourself. Many musicians who do not work in orchestras full time can feed their creativity in ways they never thought possible, whereas sometimes (and this is not a general statement for all musicians in orchestral jobs). If Holst has landed a trombone job in an orchestra he may well have been satisfied with that and not gone on to compose such great works. Indeed, I gave up a good job in an orchestra (as a principal), and now I am going on to do a compositional PhD….
Thanks Bill for putting this article together. After watching my wife go through the Florida Philharmonic bankruptcy years ago and how damaging it was to her, we both came to the conclusion that there must be a better way or a way that you can create your own living. Everybody needs to see this article. Thanks, Bill
Hello, I’m writing a paper on the future employment possibilities for flutists with a tertiary classical music degree. I’d be interested to know where you have found your statistics on orchestral employment and number of applicants for auditions – I hven’t been able to find much!
Thanks very much,
Hannah