[Trish]

Do people who have or are graduating from college and plan to be professional musicians (classical or other) really end up as only waiters, etc. these days? Or is this a misconception?

User Detail :  

Name : Trish, Gender : F, City : Springfield, State : VA, Country : United States, 

[Frank]

Music performance majors are usually very talented people – bright, sensitive and gifted in their specific performing medium. The reason this perception exists is because talented musicians who look for work in a classical setting such as a symphony, compete for a very small pool of livable salaries. There are only so many professional symphony positions open and the people who have them tend to keep them for a very long time. Many talented performers end up in jobs that they would rather not have in order to survive economically.

User Detail :  

Name : Frank, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Italian, Religion : Christian, Age : 44, City : Atlanta, State : GA, Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Rick Steuart]

I have found that throughout my life as a professional musician, no one ever asked me if I had a degree. The question has always been ‘Can you play?’ It doesn’t have to be that you end up as a waiter or bartender, etc. You simply have to work at finding a ‘gig’ doing what you love. Until then, unless you want to be a ‘starving artist’, you will probably have to find work in another field (at least temporarily). Hang the degree on the wall, and practice, practice, practice.

User Detail :  

Name : Rick Steuart, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Disability : Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 35, City : Snow Camp, State : NC, Country : United States, Occupation : Disabled Programmer/analyst, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, 

[Becky23303]

I recently graduated from college and have quite a few friends with performance or music degrees and I don’t know of any of them who are working in that field. I have a friend with a music composition degree who is now going back to get a second bachelors in computer science. My guess is that most of them will eventually work their way into performance, but it isn’t really something you can do right out of college.

User Detail :  

Name : Becky23303, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 24, City : Los Angeles, State : CA, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Jitpring]

From my observations here in Hollywood, the entertainment capitol of the world, 98 percent of aspiring actors and musicians fall short of hitting the big time. Unfortunately, actors and musicians are a dime a dozen, so the competition is fierce. Thus, only the best (and luckiest) of the best make it. While trying to make it, aspiring actors and musicians have to do whatever they can to make ends meet, and waiting tables, bartending, etc. is a viable way of doing it.

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Name : Jitpring, Gender : M, Age : 28, City : Los Angeles, State : CA, Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, 

[Bob]

I have been in the music business for many years and taught music in schools and privately. What I have seen is that almost all schools of music fail to prepare students for the demands of the music business as it exists today. The schools tend to ‘show what they know’ which is music as it was hundreds of years ago. Virtually no-one coming out of music school has even a small chance of having an occupation as a musician. Until the arrogance of most music depts. is contained it is unlikely that things will improve.

User Detail :  

Name : Bob, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 66, City : Grove City, State : PA, Country : United States, Occupation : Musician, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, 

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