A Career as a Musician

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The process of choosing a career is, many times, a difficult decision. Many factors must be taken into account while deciding a career. Such factors usually include pay, work environment, and most importantly, what the person is interested in. Becoming a musician would be a highly fulfilling career for the reasons of broadening one’s musical abilities, people enjoying something that an individual made, and traveling the country, possibly even the world, for musical opportunities such as teaching, performing, and writing.

Musicians play an instrument, either for a recording or in front of live audiences, and usually choose to play multiple instruments, as well as write their own music (BLS). One will choose to play multiple instruments mainly because that skill will usually make the person more marketable and/or popular (BLS). A musician can also choose to play alone, in a small group, such as a band, or in an orchestra band (BLS). Many times, one will either choose to perform popular music, which draws in more attention than that of the second choice, a classical musician, which usually obtains paychecks more often (Greenwald.)

As an alternative to being a solo artist or part of a band, many people will choose to be a session musician, which means one will move from group to group while playing backup for each group, or for a solo artist (BLS). When first starting out, performers need to start out at fairly small venues, including bars, nightclubs, and parties (Greenwald). Though, if successful, a musician will become more famous among such local places and move on to bigger jobs and venues such as baseball games, on the radio, or even in movies (Greenwald). They get such opportunities usually by being discovere...

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...cons include your work being critically judged and the likelihood of rejection (Greenwald). Many can say that becoming a musician is a drastically complicated road, but no one can argue that successful musicians are some of the most influential individuals in society.

Works Cited

“Art/Music Therapist.” Career Cruising. N.p.. Web. 26 Nov 2013.

Dable, Jill. Personal Interview. 27 Nov 2013.

Greenwald, Ted. Music. Princeton: Peterson’s, 1992. Print.

“Music Teacher/Instructor.” Career Cruising. N.p.. Web. 26 Nov 2013.

“Musicians: Job Outlook and Career Information for Becoming a Professional Musician.” Education-Portal.com. N.p.. Web. 25 Nov 2013.

“Musicians and Singers.” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. N.p.. Web. 26 Nov 2013.

Radbill, Catherine. Introduction to the Music Industry: An Entrepreneurial Approach. New York: Taylor & Francis, 2013. eBook.

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