Music Careers and Educational Debt

College Majors Music Major
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<p>One of the biggest ones I would say, based on what I have seen, is the same one they tell people in other fields, and that is to network, to use the network you build. A lot of music comes about through gigs that happen through referrals, and this comes from networks. The network itself can be through teachers, fellow students, or at summer festivals, you name it. In some forms of music, this always has been true, but the reality is music is rapidly changing on all fronts, things are blurring. The violinist David Garret for example has taken the idea of violin soloist and changed it, critics can pan him because he isn’t ‘pure’ classical, but he is making a successful career. Laugh at Andre Rieu, but his re-invention of Vaudeville is providing a liveleyhood for a lot of musicians, as well as pulling in audiences. </p>

<p>Another point, never turn down a gig for being ‘beneath you’, or "not my type of music’. That funeral gig may not seem like a great deal, but you never know who will hear you, in the military they say ‘never turn down an assignment’, in music, ‘never turn down a gig’. If an indy rick group approaches you about doing something with them and you are a violinist, go for it, from everything I can see, there is no reason not to (unless, of course, you don’t like the group or its music:). The days of Dorothy Delay telling Nigel Kennedy not to play with Stephanne Grappeli because ‘it will ruin your career’ are long over IMO. </p>

<p>One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was to stay aware of all aspects of what I was doing, and that always pays. I worked for years in the equities side of the financial world, but I also kept up with other newly developing areas, like derivatives and such, which allowed me to get my present job. With music, keep your ear to the ground, see what is developing, where things are going on. New performance groups, new venues, you name it, are part of a musician’s lifeblood these days from what I can tell. Even if you think or are on the cusp of a solo career, that has changed a great deal as well. From what I can tell, even jobs like orchestra positions are being filled, at least in part, by networking, rather than open auditions, it often comes down to asking people to audition they know, so again, knowing what is going on is crucial. </p>

<p>Like with most jobs these days, assume that change is the norm, and if you are risk averse it may not be the best place to have a career,to be honest, it always has been difficult, but today it requires a lot of skills beyond merely playing well, and it takes someone who can face that fact and rather than regret how hard it is, find ways to overcome the difficulty.</p>

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<p>@musicprnt - great post. I have an acquaintence who took an understudy position with the (now sadly defunct) New York Opera Company for Rufus Wainwright’s Prima Donna. She ended up doing the show several times, and now she’s friends with Rufus Wainwright, who has hired her for other gigs - not the opera career she planned on having, but connections and collaborations can have far reaching effects. </p>

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<p>The things being put forth here may be great for some, but not for others so one must pick and choose what applies in the particular situation. Singers, for instance, most certainly can not accept any gig precisely because it may not be their “type of music”. My D has had church gigs since she was in high school. but this year, she has had to turn down her old position because to sing in the style that one service demands could now damage her voice. But it’s a issue of technique as opposed to turning it down simply because she “doesn’t like” the style of music. Another problem for young singers is that they may be pushed into roles that are beyond what is safe for their voice at that point in time either because they need the money or because the need things to put on their resume.</p>

<p>The 19 year old hired into the London Symphony Orchestra came up through their artist development program, which has also propelled 9 other young players into positions with the orchestra. Training is different in Europe- while the US funnels kids into grad school, their EU peers may be auditioning or performing. It remains to be seen whether that will shift and send students in greater numbers for higher degrees.</p>

<p>Our family counts quite a number of performing musicians and composers as personal friends and not one has a “side career” other than a few of the instrumentalists who teach either at the conservatory level or who maintain private studios.They’ve come up through the ranks in the US and their respective countries, but the three youngest are in their late 20s now and are working in opera houses in two different countries in Europe and the other had his opera premiered in Vienna last year while another piece will be debuted in this country this winter. It’s so important to be “adaptable” and know how the importance of contacts, just as Irishmomof2 has said.
By the way @Irishmomof2, I believe that in your last post above, you meant to type “New York City Opera”, which performed “Prima Donna” as part of their abbreviated season while they were struggling to survive. I’m glad that your friend was able to make something good come out of that and is doing well!</p>

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<p>Obviously, my comments about taking gigs and such is always going to have caveats to it, obviously if something would hurt the musician physically, or for example they took a gig that required they play for hours the day before their juries or something, there are always valid reasons for not taking a gig. My point simply was that gaining experience performing is invaluable, and the contacts you make through this kind of thing can be important. Help out a friend who had someone cancel on a gig, and they may very well remember you for future gigs, etc. When I spoke of hurt, I meant the old attitudes that somehow a classical musician can only do classical and so forth, and that the world is changing a great deal:)</p>

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<p>The higher education system is very different now than it was when our generation was in college–particularly financially. As all of us here are keenly aware. But you cannot expect your parents or your friends without children or with younger children to really comprehend this. All of the conventional wisdom we grew up with (“work hard and you’ll get scholarships to pay your way” or “it’s possible to work your way through college”) is just no longer applicable. </p>

<p>Things are changing so rapidly that it’s difficult to make decisions. On top of that, you have to wade through a lot of noise disguised as well-meaning advice. Just this weekend I mentioned to my mother that we were planning to use retirement savings to pay off unsubsidized Stafford loans (you know, the 6.8% ones where the interest keeps growing). She told me not to do it. “It will be good for them to have this debt.” “They will find a way to do it if you don’t coddle them.” (Note: we are not paying off the subsidized loans, just the high-interest ones.)</p>

<p>My parents didn’t have to pay for my education at a school that now costs $62K/year. Because the cost was much lower, I had scholarships, I had very low-interest loans, and I was able to make up the rest with summer jobs and work-study. This arrangement is simply no longer possible. And after going through the loan end-counseling with my two daughters who graduated this spring I realized the folly of having taken those Stafford loans because the interest has caused them to blimp up alarmingly. If we didn’t have the retirement savings (which we will need to pay a 10% penalty on, in addition to taxes) we’d have to help them with monthly payments, but that would be much more expensive. </p>

<p>In retrospect I realize that we should have withdrawn retirement savings earlier and used to pay tuition directly because we could have then avoided the 10% penalty. Why didn’t we? Our parents advised us strongly not to touch our nest egg. Coming from their perspective, not understanding the costs our family faces, they gave poor advice. </p>

<p>When my own kids are my age and grappling with whatever now-unimaginable issues life brings their generation, I’ll think first before dispensing my wisdom. And for our youngest, who still has 2 years of undergrad, we will go to the retirement savings (without the penalty because you are allowed to withdraw for educational expenses, although to to pay back edu loans).</p>

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<p>@SpiritManager …I am very curious about what you said about your son considering going for a PhD instead of a MM. Don’t you need a Master’s degree before you can go for a Doctorate? Also, in general, is there tuition for a Doctorate and a stipend, or just a stipend. I have never looked into any of this, but my D, still in HS, has just started talking about getting a Doctorate in the future. Thanks for any info on a brand new topic for me!</p>

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<p>Symphonyart - my son is a composer and not a performance major, so the higher ed options are different. It is possible for advanced composition students to go directly into a PhD or DMA program. These programs usually offer fellowships to their top applicants - tuition free, plus a living stipend. Some schools require the students to teach in exchange for that stipend, but others have no work requirements. I’ve seen the living stipend range from a low of $6,000 to a high of $30,000. I have no idea what the finances are for performance students pursuing a DMA.</p>

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<p>I also know only about composition grad work. Some PhD/DMA programs do require a master’s first. You really need to look into each individual school. Financially, we have found Canada and Europe to be good alternatives. Some BM or BA grads really want the additional time to develop a focus that the master’s provides. </p>

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<p>I don’t know about music performance vis a vis the PHD, in academic grad school you can enter a PhD program right ater undergrad, it used to be the common track (you end up with a master’s degree in the course of getting a PHd…boss of mine never finished his Phd in comp sci, but had his master’s as part of what he did finish). </p>

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<p>And then there are “terminal masters degrees”-- like MMs (plain or peanut?), MBAs, MLAs, and MFAs.</p>

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<p>A MM (in either flavor!) isn’t necessarily a terminal degree, GH. While some schools don’t offer anything beyond that, there are others that do have a DMA degree. </p>

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<p>Also, it was mentioned earlier that performers rarely go for DMA’s–that it was mostly an academic degree if one wanted to teach in a non-conservatory setting. I have to disagree on that one. I hold a DMA in piano performance, and many of my classmates went on to performance careers or conservatory level teaching. It might, however, be instrument-related. But almost every M.M. piano performance major I knew went on to the DMA. Of course, that was quite a number of years ago… :slight_smile: and tuition costs were considerably less…</p>

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<p>^^The exception to no terminal Masters is when its a multi discipline degree confers a MFA. Rare but crops up in electronic/multimedia degrees.</p>

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<p>I don’t think MM coursework counts towards a DMA, but I could be wrong in that at some institutions it may.</p>

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<p>

I think what was meant is that it’s not required to teach performance in a conservatory, but to teach performance in a non-conservatory setting (e.g., in a music department of a university) a DMA is useful (although not always required.) And yes, there are absolutely DMA performance degrees. (But you had to write a dissertation, correct? I can think of quite a few performers who would not be able/willing to do that.)</p>

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<p>S looked into the DMA and I will share what I learned. DMAs are relatively new degrees (came about in the second half of the 20th century). They do not take as long as a PhD (3 years if already have master’s degree) and the dissertation seems to be much less complicated than a PhD. Most seem to take candidates that already have a MM or MFA. They vary in terms of the foreign language requirement (PhDs usually require reading competency and test for this midway through the grad program-I spent much of a summer relearning French many years ago). The DMAs and music PhDs usually want German or Italian (makes sense).</p>

<p>Music PhDs are usually for those going into musicology, history, theory and, often, composition. One’s academic skills (liberal arts courses, music theory and history) are given the most consideration in the music PhD candidate selection. The GRE also becomes much more important (though the math is weighed less). For the PhD candidate, performance on the instrument is less of a concern or not considered at all. Several of S’s classmates went into to music PhD programs. Most of S’s cohorts choosing this route were not the stronger players at his school but were academically quite sharp-they did not live in the practice rooms as undergrads. The denizens of the practice rooms seemed to head off to the MM programs.</p>

<p>S played in five regional orchestras as a sub while an undergrad (his weekends were very busy-very little social life this past year). These orchestras were heavily populated with young MM grads from schools such as Julliard, Eastman, CIM and CCM who were working on DMAs at the flagship state U. Most had ended up in the middle of the south as they were married and balancing needs with a spouse who was attending grad, law or med school so I do not want to imply anything negative about these schools. They had healthy stipends and, combined with the sub monies, did not seem to be going into debt.</p>

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<p>S’s take on teaching performance-if you are a member of a competitive, well-respected orchestra with a national reputation, you do not need more than a bachelor’s degree to teach at a college and be called “professor”. Colleges value these teacher’s affiliation with the orchestra and often market this information. Those with MM and notable and/or extensive professional careers are also employed and called “professor”. </p>

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<p>My cousin has a Bachelor’s in music therapy and masters in music education from a state flagship with strong music therapy program, did advanced Orff Schulwerk training and got a PhD at a large research U where she was received funding. She continues to perform on her principal instrument and is assistant professor of music at a public liberal arts university. She is very pleased with her career and happy to have no debt! All of her education and her current position are located in the same area of the country (3 adjoining states) which I think made a difference.</p>

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<p>@hornet I am not sure what you meant by “professor” but the term does have real academic meaning. It do not necessarily have to mean a Master’s or Doctorate but instead is a term used to denote rank and years of service. It is not a term to be taken lightly. To reach the rank Professor is indeed a big deal.</p>

<p>Distinguished and/or Endowed Professor’ and/or Emeritus’
Professor (“Full Professor”)
Associate Professor (On-Track to be a “Full Professor”)
Assistant Professor (On-Track to be an “Associate Professor”)
Clinical Professor, Instructor, Lecturer, Research Associate, and Research Professor (non-tenure track positions)
Adjunct Professor or other faculty rank (for part-time faculty)</p>

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<p>Scubachick- I am sure readers from non-academic backgrounds will find the information helpful and interesting. Thanks for posting. The different titles can be confusing.</p>

<p>I used “professor” in quotes to emphasize the fact that the doctorate is not necessary to be called a professor. I have been fulltime faculty at a college for the past seventeen years (and am called professor and am ABD).</p>