My son is a freshman jazz player and is starting to think about summer jobs. Last year he worked as a counselor at a local day camp but it wasn’t music related. Where do kids look for summer jobs, from working at music camps (a bit tougher with jazz) to cruise ships, Disney or the like? What does your kid do in the summer?
Great question! I will be following with interest.
This summer past, S played all summer at Hershey Park in their Soda Pops band. There are other bands there and at other parks as well. The Soda Pops performed 340 shows over the summer. They are easily YouTubed.
It is a physically demanding job which enhanced S’s stage-movement skills. It did generate some income. S also met a nice cross-section of musicians and music theater people.
A friend’s D did a combination of giving music lessons, and playing at nursing homes and for weddings.
This will vary by genre, but many classical performers and composers end up going to festivals, which means not only not making money for the summer but actually spending it. Many schools will fund these, and the travel, which is something to look into while applying to schools.
I wonder if anyone has figured out a way to make money the rest of the summer, when a festival may be in the middle of the summer months.
@akapiratequeen - The SodaPops job that S got was through a recruiter called Windish Music. So they find talent and populate shows with it. There are other such agencies as well. The performers got to compare notes on which agencies they liked best. So you can audition thru them, and they might place you in a certain show somewhere. I recall S saying that there were 300 saxophone applicants in the pool either for any Windish show or for the SodaPops - I don’t recall which. Then there were fewer but many applicants for other instruments, and only about 6 for the bass. And S was the only bassist applicant, or one of the few, who also sang.
This upcoming summer will be S’s final summer as an undergrad, as he should graduate about 13 months from now. He plans to stay in his local area (Dallas area) and see how much of a living he can make. Kind of like a dry run of what he plans to do after graduation.
Classical music freshman son - he’s applying to festivals this summer. If that doesn’t work out, he’ll wait tables poolside at the local country club, same as last summer.
If festival placement comes through, he’ll wait tables poolside around the festival schedule. Either way, it will be a busy summer.
I have no clue what freshman performance majors do to earn money in the music field during the summer. Tutoring middle school kids maybe?
Do jazz kids not attend summer music festivals?
@jadedhaven my jazz kid did university workshops and the Berklee five week over summers in high school to build skills, but I don’t know of anything analogous for college. Theoretically he could help out with music workshops at his college or elsewhere, but those are only a couple of weeks long. Last year (after he’d been accepted to his school) he worked as a counselor to save money for school. Not music related and they require a 10 week commitment. A summer gig like the soda pops job could be cool but he’d be one of 300 saxes applying so not great odds! I suggested he ask his studio head but thought I’d check here as well.
I know my kid will be doing festivals (classical) and maybe a Broadway percussion program. Hoping he can slide in some work in between - maybe at the dojo where he used to teach (they do summer camps), so definitely NOT music related. But, good to start thinking about. Maybe a music gig or two but won’t count on that to bring in any significant $$$.
Being a classical vocalist, me D was too young to do festivals her first summer. So she came home and worked unrelated to music. The next summers she did do festivals and could do some work but one summer could not work since she was in Italy for a few months.
I bring this up for people planning the financial side. I assumed (incorrectly) my D would be able to work summers and earn her spending money. For freshman and sophomore year that worked. But for jr and particularly senior year it did not. Luckily her school froze tuition for juniors and seniors with a certain GPA and on track to graduate in 4 years. So we used that “found” money to help with living expenses and pay for some of the Italy program. So be careful when considering offers as there can be hidden costs…particularly to do festivals in the summer.
And then your student may have a 12 month lease including summer months. Luckily my D could sublet her place. But still we ran into these extra costs/hassles…but were happy we weren’t on the razor edge cash wise…so we could afford some extras.
@GoForth - my D has a colleague who started a theater company (emphasis music performances) with her spouse (a jazz guy) who spent a summer at Hershey (she was MT and is now in her mid 30s). They met on a cruise ship. My D did a new works performances with their company. They are very interesting - teaching, gigging and running 4 or 5 shows a year…and my D said they just bought a house. So it’s interesting where people end up.
Since our jazz instrumentalist son left home for college in August, we don’t hear back much from him. We have very minimum text exchanges…a lot less that what we expected…But we discussed with him before he left home briefly about summer jobs, particularly being a mentor at our local youth performing art center where he got many trainings / lessons since middle school. It is a 5-week commitment (9AM-3PM). According to him, a pay is little. If he has no other plans yet, he may end up applying to a position. Since he can play / teach both jazz and classical, he will work 5 days a week.
I prefer him having some real job experiences plus traveling (away from home). So a cruise gig tour would be very nice if he has the opportunity. He is still 18 years old whole summer. I am not sure if he is old enough or not.
I haven’t heard any particular summer jazz programs / workshops for college musicians. But my son has attended summer intensive classical workshops mainly for college students by auditions (plus some high school students) during in his high school years. There were “financial aid / scholarships” to support those college musicians (but not high school musicians).
When looking at schools, it is helpful to find out whether summer festivals (and travel) are funded!
@compmom I am adding this question about funding of summer festivals to our list of “questions to ask” at the audition visit (if not answered before!)
Can you think of any other questions like that – important to know, but maybe not obvious to a newbie – that we should be asking, and using to compare schools? (And maybe this deserves its own thread: “Questions You Didn’t Know You Should Ask…”)