Music majors (university, degree, public schools, pay)

[20Hope20]

Which professions music majors choose if they aren’t going into music industry? Is it a necessity to get graduate or professional degrees or is it easy for them to break in to other careers?

[North Beach Person]

Many music majors become music teachers or tutors.

[ebbe]

There are also interesting positions in business and management.

[RamenAddict]

I worked for a state public benefits agency. One of our deputy directors was a music major and another woman who is a top manager was an opera major. The latter is an absolutely incredible trainer- probably the best I’ve had in my career. They always tried to remove her from training, but she was so good that she kept doing encores. The former was also very good at her job.

[Formerly Known As Twenty]

Originally Posted by 20Hope20

Which professions music majors choose if they aren’t going into music industry? Is it a necessity to get graduate or professional degrees or is it easy for them to break in to other careers?

I not only come from a long line of musicians and music majors, but also spent a great deal of time around music majors when I was in college. (I was not a music major myself, but I participated in several university musical organizations and occasionally worked as an accompanist for extra cash.)

Some music majors ended up becoming music educators. Others ended up auditioning for various military bands with several of them making a career of it. One became a music therapist. Still others ended up applying their skills in other, non-musical ways but still gig a fair bit and/or give private lessons.

Depending upon what direction a person would like to go with their major, an undergraduate degree might be all that's necessary to achieve a given goal. For others, more education might be required.

Like so many things in life, the answer to this is, "it depends."

[20Hope20]

Thank you

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by 20Hope20

Which professions music majors choose if they aren’t going into music industry? Is it a necessity to get graduate or professional degrees or is it easy for them to break in to other careers?

My wife has a cousin in LA who has a masters and Ph.D in live guitar performance or some such from USC.
Her general advise to most looking into music as a field of study is to build in a plan B. In other words study music but minor in business or whatever. She didn't do that but she's freakishly talented and was a working pro musician before she went to college.

I heard Dallas Symphony Orchestra concertmaster (first chair violin - he's a professor of music at Indiana FWIIW) Alex Kerr say something very similar.

[kitkatbar]

I was a music major and became a music teacher. That was always my plan from the start.

The vast majority of people from my university who were music performance majors did not get positions in performance where they were able to support themselves full time. One person got a local symphony job, but also has a day job (I believe selling insurance.) Mostly, performance majors become private lesson teachers in the public schools, and if they play an instrument that is in high demand (i.e. trumpet, not bassoon), may get gigs on the weekends, too. Choir majors may be able to get a gig singing in local church choirs. That sort of thing. But pretty much all of them teach lessons or have another day job to make ends meet.

Other friends who didn't go into music ed got a general music degree, but then got a masters in something else, and are working in a non-music field now. One became a non-music teacher. Another works in admin.

[Shark01]

I was once a music major (I could have gone either education or performance), but the more people I spoke with the more apprehensive I became so I went with Plan B ultimately (Mechanical Engineering) which gave me the financial stability I wanted.

Trying to get orchestral jobs these days sounds just brutal, and do not pay what they should considering everything that goes into acquiring that level of talent.