On our instrument, we know the stories of folks, myself included, who got a late start in music, and have had successful careers. With fewer jobs and more students graduating- along with the level going through the roof (Graduate literature when I was in school is now High school and undergrad lit!), it makes sense to be marketable! When I have students inquire about performance degrees, I try to be absolutely honest about career options and difficulties from the start before I even hear them play. I am not trying to dissuade them, just prepare them for what is expected of them. In our school, a lot of our music business, Education and therapy majors are auditioning for major grad schools in performance and moving on that way and many of these folks did not even consider performance when they first came to school… with the right environment, anything is possible. I hope this rant makes some kind of sense. You can tell this is a subject close to my heart!! Thanks again Jason for keeping this all going!!

I took a look at several students who are graduating, or have graduated with performance degrees and they just don’t seem to have any kind of future mapped out, or, in one case, they have an unrealistic goal of practicing a few extra years so they can get into one specific orchestra. I keep wondering… what are they going to do now to pay the rent?

I also took a look at the level of performance of a variety of students in various performance organizations. I really did not see any strong pattern suggesting that performance (classical and jazz studies) majors here perform at a higher level than education majors, or even better than a few students who are not music majors at all!! I have also taken a look at a number of working pros, and they all are teaching on some level and are really out there doing some kind of marketing for themselves. Even if I end up not going for the teaching credential itself, I will have a solid base of knowledge in teaching that I can apply to many situations.

I think its time to bury to maxim that those who can’t teach. Its silly and outmoded and certainly does not reflect that quality and level of professionalism that has existed in playing and teaching abilities of my music teachers.

Another plus I have going for me… I once received formal training in marketing in the securities field. I learned that this is a skill that I can apply to music. My suggestion.. take a course or two in marketing and get your hands on books that have been written on how to be a professional musician. There are some books that have some very good information that can be applied to building a career. I am no monster player yet, and I am older than many of my student peers, but I understand the music business enough to know how to get out there playing gigs in a variety of genres. Now I think I am also going to take a look at some kind of part-time teaching job I could get as an education major. even if its only a few hours a week, to get going in teaching activities.

Finally, it surprises me how unwilling many of my peers are to make efforts to market themselves and get out there. These are the folks who will end up in another field or just end their musical activities. What a loss.

I can’t help but chuckle every time I reread the above comment (from anonymous) stating that k-12 teachers “get more respect”. That’s pretty funny. Are they hiring in your district? Yes, the living is better than that earned by an untenured or adjunct professor, and there’s certainly more job security. However, that’s usually because most people don’t want to go into the schools, or if they do go, they get out as soon as they can. Pension be damned.

Seriously, from where I sit, I would say that anyone with a university teaching job gets loads more respect than any K-12 educator I’ve ever worked with.

The grass is always greener, I guess.

1. If you want to have respect and a good living as a teacher, go into the K-12 field rather than college teaching. You’ll generally get a better salary, benefits, and more professional respect than if you go into the den of wolves that is college teaching, where chances are you’ll be toiling away at the sessional level for less than $2000 per course with no benefits.

2. Whether teachers or performers, schools of music are churning out waaayyyy to many music majors. Where on earth are these people going to work? It’s simple Marxist economics. With a surfeit of highly qualified teachers and performers on the market, their value will go down. I already see a trend towards self-employed contractors teaching at college programs with little or no benefits, on year-to-year contracts, to be hired without due hiring process and let go as soon as they cease to become flavor of the month.

Getting back to the subject of your post, a working musician simply has to both teach and perform if they wish to survive. If anyone tells you otherwise I would question if they have ever been in the real world.

–Name withheld