There are no hard and fast figures to provide you with that we trust because so much has to do with where you work and the experience you bring when you apply for a job.

You’ll gain great insights by reading the various career articles on »ĆąĎapp, and we recommend that as a first step.

You may also gain useful information by reading the latest SNAAP Study about careers for those with an arts education:

Yes, pursuing a degree in music will likely open doors for you and provide you with great resources, mentors, people to collaborate with, and of course the kind of training you’ll need to work in music fields. But you’ll need the passion necessary to keep actively going for what you need and want. The life of a working musician is challenging and requires ongoing active involvement, so if that’s not something you want to do, consider keeping music as a sideline or hobby rather than the focus of your career.

Musical proficiency as well as skills in areas such as business, pedagogy, and entrepreneurship will assist alumni of music schools to maintain what’s known as portfolio careers. It’s therefore important for music students to identify and engage with opportunities the career centers at their schools offer so they can best prepare for life after college.

A sound engineer typically trains in sound or audio engineering. As for guitar technician training – it’s always helpful to get a degree in music industry. But you can also check out guitar technician and luthier programs offered by some community colleges, for-profit schools like Full Sail, and luthier training programs. You may want to check out the website of the Guild of American Luthiers at

The value of an advanced degree depends on one’s career plans. An advanced degree is necessary for teaching college-level music. K-12 educators and music therapists in the U.S. find advantages to getting a Master’s degree. But in performance, additional training to advance in one’s proficiency is not necessarily gained through an advanced degree. For more, read “6 Considerations for Deciding on Grad School.”

Review carefully the audition requirements at schools you want to apply to. Be sure to follow those requirements if you want to be considered. Note that many schools offer their scholarships based on the proficiency of your audition.

Every school is different in terms of what they require of students who want to apply. Look at the websites of schools you’re interested in to see whether an audition is required, and then to find out the level of mastery they’re looking for in the audition. Students who need to audition should do so on the instrument they are most proficient on. Once they are accepted to a music school, they are likely to be able to study another instrument as well. Again, this is dependent on each school’s policy.

Besides that I feel not confident that my piano playing is good enough for uni . I’m currently grade8 , makes many mistakes and my vocal is bad (I can’t sing) . Will music unis accept a student like me?

They hadn’t changed as of 2005-2009 – my time doing the time. But it’s been another decade so I guess it’s possible.

Times have really changed! Music schools have gotten hip to the fact that, like you say, training beyond proficiency on one’s instrument/voice is essential to a career in music. They’re offering entrepreneurship training, business skills, internships, master classes and workshops and other opportunities for students to learn first hand what it means to be working in the world of music in the 21st century. Plus, music career opportunities now are so much more than performance. There are many paths to success, and every individual has different needs, goals, methods of learning and need for education. Career opportunities have exploded in various fields of music, and current music school graduates can attest to the advantages that their education and networking opportunities bring to attaining their goals.

You must be able to deliver the goods, and your music school is NOT teaching you this. Why? Because with the rare exception, the person teaching you has NEVER been in the situation and therefore is unable to convey this to you. They know nothing about it. They have no idea how to make the impossible possible, let alone be able to do the impossible on the spot. This is what is required of a pro musician (not school teacher, but performer).

I lived in LA during the 80s, and if you did have a degree in music back then (which I didn’t), you better keep your mouth shut about it. Too many horror stories there. Typically, when you leave college with a “music degree” you are woefully unprepared to do music as a living (other than teach). You MUST be able to play things by site with all the fervor and confidence as if you had ever played it before. You must also be able to create from chord charts, play by ear and memory, and do it with groove, musicality, and in the right style, etc. NONE of this will you get studying music at a music school.

Unless you are attempting to get some sort of job requiring a degree (which ain’t performing, composing, copying, licensing, etc), your degree is not only useless and a waste of money, but you’d be FAR better off getting out there and playing. Learn what is needed to be a working musician. You might as well do it right off the bat… because even after you get that degree… you will have to start in the same place… so you might as well start there first. Get the knowledge, learn, experience, and earn money instead of waste it on college tuition.

What’s the one question most graduates with music degrees want to know the answer to? “Do you want fries with that?”

Just my no degree, lifetime in music business, two cents worth.

When you read the article you wrote in from, you probably saw that there are many careers in music including and in addition to performance. Become familiar with many of these by clicking on any of the careers that are highlighted in red. Also read the article about “Transferable Skills” (put those words in our search bar to find it) to see the very useful skill sets that music majors learn in addition to music that can be applied to any career. Note that many musicians have “portfolio careers” where they do several things instead of holding down just one 9-5 job. You can learn more about this by reading the article here on »ĆąĎapp entitled “Portfolio Careers in Music.”

Explore the field of music therapy. Read our articles about this career field starting with this one: How to Choose a Music Therapy Program.