majoring in music in college

[brainproof]

well, im going to be a junior in high school next year and there is a lot of talk about my future and college education. I though about majoring in law, but i didn;t really have a drive. Then i heard about studying music, and i thought man, that would be great, but what careers are out there? besides being extremely lucky or fortunate and becoming a rockstar. I know music will be my life. Ive been playing guitar, and not to brag but everyone i have jammed with thinks ive been playing for 2-3 years or so. I've been in a few bands and jammed with tons of people(old, young, extremely expierenced, unexpierenced).

anyways, how many out there have or are currently studying music college. and how hard or easy is it to make a career out of it? I plan on having a band making some money, but mainly just having fun, and having an actual job, like a guitar teacher or something. But what other careers are out there, and anyone know any good colleges in the california are? i live in cen cal, by sacramento.

[Ozduck]

a good job for musicians is to be a classroom teacher... you get weekends off for gigs, and you get holidays

.. and good pay ;)

[Moseph]

Good luck w/ that. Music in college is almost always one of the hardest programs to get into @ any given school: the level of competition is always very high, and the level of talent, skill, determination, and education of the applicants is typically huge.

As for jobs afterward? Most of the musicians I know do in fact play to make money. They also teach, possibly for an entire classroom, or privately, or both. The sweetest gig you could stumble across for a non-touring position would be in a symphonic orchestra for a big city, or working as a studio musician for a record label. The pay is good, the work is somewhat consistent, and you'd probably still have time to play on the side. The problem with that plan is that usually those spots goto the most talented and skilled musicians in the area: typically these are players w/ 25+ years of experience spent honing their craft.

You also seem to have had a late start w/ guitar, so my advice is to take as many lessons as you possibly can if you want to get into a college program: technique in every style you can think of (most colleges prefer classical and jazz guitar, btw), music theory, piano, sight-reading, singing and oral theory....you get the idea.

[Trigger_003]

Just thought I might add that the good pay for a classroom music teacher varies upon where you live. I have no idea what it's like there, but in Aussie teaching (in a high school anyway) is not one of the highest payed professions (my dad's a teacher). If we happened to move to Canada however, my dad would be getting payed significantly more for doing just the same job. If you're interested in becoming one, make sure you do a bit of research.

KKKKKocaine once made a list of careers in the music industry... hopefully he can find that again - there were lots of options mentioned there.

[Ozduck]

i also live in australia... i reakon gettin 40,000 a year is pretty good for a muso ;) with still bein able to have gig time

[airborne50caliber]

getting paid by year is not so convinient

[uriasmetal.com]

is that what he meant??? anyways, if you only specifically are talking about playing guitar as a career, then whats been posted is about as much as i could think of. however, if you just mean music in general, there is tons of stuff. producer, a&r, publisher, etc. more people will list more, i'm too tired ;p ...either way though, what moseph says is very sound advice no matter what... the more you know before you get there the better off you are.

[sk8t1228]

You could be a music teacher for a school, or you could give lessons independently or at a business place.

[KKKKKocaine]

There are a vast multitude of jobs you can take from music. Alot of people say things like "yeah but what if you don't make it in a band?"
And assume that the music industry contains bands and nothing more.

Trust me, I had to list every music industry job I could think of for a music industry assignment, I got two distinctions for the work and the list was by no means complete.
(I won't do the list here because it's almost sleepytime, but I'll try and throw it in tommorrow)
But even if you take law, you can still become an entertainment lawyer.
If you study cookery, you can become a live music caterer.
If you study business and pub ownership, you can become a venue owner.
e.t.c. The list is stunningly vast and will suprise you.

[Innertiac]

Boo law. yay music

I'm going to college next year myself. I was thinking about doing a music major, but like someone else said, its furiously competitive, you really have to know your stuff. But aside from that, you're in a really rigid program where often most of your schedule is layed out for you. (Personally, I like flexibility in what classes I can take, but if you want a nice rigid music program, go for it.) Lots of colleges have seperate music schools that have seperate applications - it aint easy. But dont let that stop you.

Career-wise? Well there's lots. You can teach music, join an ensenble/orchestra and get paid to play. If you're really good, maybe you can work on film scores, either writing or playing. Think about how much music there is in the media - movies, tv, commercials, etc. Someone's gotta write, play, and record that stuff. Working in studio a sound technician would be also be cool. You learn about music and physics and acoustics and stuff in college for something like that. I think it's cool, but whatever suits you.

Take a look at the University of Michigan school of music, Berklee school of music near Boston, UC San Diego has a good music program, or any small liberal arts college. You can also major in music not necesarily knowing much about it, but that's nonperformance and you learn more things like music history, cultural music, and i think some music theory comes in there too. Not as interesting. You get hands on stuff more in music schools. But going to a music school doesnt mean you cant learn other stuff or take other classes and stuff.

[Trigger_003]

I just found this in one of Scott Jones' posts... thought it might be useful here - mainly based on production. Hope it's of use to you :thumb:...

With production education the possible positions are as broad as MIDI Engineering, Music Director, Producer, Program Director,
Recording Engineer, Studio Director or Manager...the producer works mostly on a free-lance basis with T.V. production, theatres and production companies...

With a film score emphasis on arranging you can look at Film Composer, Music Editor, Music Supervisor/Director,
Film Arranger/Adapter, Film Conductor, Film Music Orchestrator, Synthesis Specialist, Theme Specialist...the film composer is hired by the film's director and producer...the music supervisor/director is hired by the film producer. You may act as an A&R scout to find popular songs for the soundtrack...

With a jazz and contemporary music arranging focus then you could be an Arranger, Composer, Conductor, Copyist, Jingle Writer, Orchestrator,
Record Producer, Teacher, Transcriber, Publishing Editor...basically a freelance gig, but sometimes you can find staff arranging jobs in studios or churches, cruise lines or theatre companies...

If you had a songwriting emphasis then you could be a Composer, Jingle Writer, Lyricist, Producer/Songwriter,
Singer/Performing Songwriter, Staff or Freelance Songwriter...staff Songwriters are hired by record companies, music publishers, producers, recording groups...Nashville has many publishing companies with staff writers for example

[airborne50caliber]

There are a vast multitude of jobs you can take from music. Alot of people say things like "yeah but what if you don't make it in a band?"
And assume that the music industry contains bands and nothing more.

Trust me, I had to list every music industry job I could think of for a music industry assignment, I got two distinctions for the work and the list was by no means complete.
(I won't do the list here because it's almost sleepytime, but I'll try and throw it in tommorrow)
But even if you take law, you can still become an entertainment lawyer.
If you study cookery, you can become a live music caterer.
If you study business and pub ownership, you can become a venue owner.
e.t.c. The list is stunningly vast and will suprise you.

I'll contact you when I come out of surrey in 5/6 years and want a job in the music industry. You'll still be here, right? :lol: