Musicians and Singers
Musicians and Singers
Career Overview
Musicians and singers use their musical talent to perform for audiences and on recordings. They may perform with bands, orchestras, choirs, and theatre groups, or record music for films, television, commercials, games, and other media.
Education
Professional musicians and singers develop their skills through music programs at colleges or universities, private lessons, vocal coaching, and extensive practice. Classical singers and musicians often pursue a university music degree, while many popular-music performers build their careers through training, auditions, live performance, recording experience, and a strong portfolio.
Work Environment
Musicians and singers can perform in concert halls, theatres, clubs, recording studios, churches, schools, festivals, and other venues. Work may include rehearsals, recording sessions, live performances, auditions, and travel, with schedules that can include evenings and weekends.
Future Outlook
Music offers many different ways to build a career, from performing locally to recording vocals for films, commercials, games, and streaming content. Digital platforms have also made it easier for artists to share their music and build an audience. With exceptional talent, determination, confidence, strong connections, and a willingness to keep developing, successful performers can move into major productions, touring, recording, and higher-profile
opportunities.
Earnings vary widely depending on experience, type of performance, contracts, audience, and whether you work independently or for an organization. Successful professional singers and musicians can earn considerably more as their careers grow.
Recommended High School Courses
- Business
- Entrepreneurship
- Drama & Theatre
- Music
- Vocals
- Music Technology
- Active Learning - Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
- Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
- Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Time Management - Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
- Fine Arts - Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness - The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
- Auditory Attention - The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
- Category Flexibility - The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
- Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Finger Dexterity - The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
- Flexibility of Closure - The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
- Fluency of Ideas - The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
- Hearing Sensitivity - The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
- Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
- Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Manual Dexterity - The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
- Multilimb Coordination - The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
- Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
- Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Originality - The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
- Perceptual Speed - The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
- Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
- Selective Attention - The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
- Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
- Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
- Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
- Practice athletic or artistic skills.
- Perform music for the public.
- Study details of musical compositions.
- Train others on performance techniques.
- Audition for roles.
- Perform for recordings.
- Promote products, activities, or organizations.
- Create musical compositions, arrangements or scores.
- Coordinate musical rehearsals or performances.
Schools
Abilene Christian Univers...
Adams State University
Allegheny College
American University
Amherst College
Appalachian State Univers...
Arizona State University
Asbury University
Assumption College
Auburn University
Azusa Pacific University
Ball State University
Baptist College Of Florid...
Bard College
Barnard College
Bates College
Baylor University
Belmont University
Bennington College
Berea College
Berklee College
Bethel University
Biola University
Birmingham Southern Colle...
Bismarck State College
Bluefield College
Bob Jones University
Boise State University
Boston College
Boston University
Bowdoin College
Bowling Green State Unive...
Bradley University
Brescia University
Butler University
Cal Poly Pomona
California Institute Of T...
Carleton College
Central Methodist Univers...
Central Texas College
Clackamas Community Colle...
Cleveland State Universit...
Coastal Carolina Universi...
Colgate University
College Of St. Benedict A...
College Of The Atlantic
College Of William And Ma...
College Of Wooster
Colorado College
Columbia College Chicago
Corban University
Cornell College
Culver-stockton College
Cuyahoga Community Colleg...
Dartmouth College
Delaware State University
Denison University
Depauw University
Dominican University
Dominican University Of C...
Drury University
Duke University
Earlham College
East Carolina University
East Tennessee State Univ...
Eastern Kentucky Universi...
Eastern New Mexico Univer...
Eckerd College
Elizabethtown College
Elmhurst College
Evangel University
Fairmont State University
Faulkner University
Fayetteville State Univer...
Fisk University
Florida Gulf Coast Univer...
Florida State University
Furman University
Grand Valley State Univer...
Grinnell College
Hanover College
Haverford College
Hendrix College
Hillsdale College
Hobart And William Smith...
Hope International Univer...
Indiana University- South...
Ithaca College
Jacksonville University
Judson College
Judson University
Julliard School
Kalamazoo College
Kentucky State University
Kentucky Wesleyan College
Kenyon College
Lawrence University
Los Angeles Film School
Loyola University- New Or...
Macalester College
Manchester Community Coll...
Mansfield University Of P...
Marietta College
Middlebury College
Mills College
Mississippi College
Morehead State University
Morehouse College
Morningside College
Mount Vernon Nazarene Uni...
Muhlenberg College
Navarro College- Corsican...
New College Of Florida
New York University
Nicholls State University
North Carolina School Of...
North Greenville Universi...
Northern Arizona Universi...
Oberlin College
Oklahoma Christian Univer...
Pikes Peak Community Coll...
Randolph College
Reed College
Rider University
Ripon College
Roberts Wesleyan College
Rochester University
Rollins College
Saint Anselm College
Saint Mary's University O...
Saint Olaf College
Sam Houston State Univers...
San Antonio College
Scripps College
Shorter University
Southeastern Oklahoma Sta...
Southeastern University
Southwestern Christian Un...
Southwestern College- Mai...
Spelman College
St. Mary's College Of Mar...
Sterling College
Suny Adirondack
Suny At Geneseo
Suny At Potsdam
Suny At Purchase
Suny Dutchess Community C...
Suny Jamestown Community...
Suny Monroe Community Col...
Suny Niagara County Commu...
Suny Onondaga Community C...
Suny Orange County Commun...
Suny Plattsburgh
Suny Rockland Community C...
Suny Schenectady County C...
Suny Ulster County Commun...
Swarthmore College
Sweet Briar College
Tabor College
Tarleton State University
Taylor University
Texas A & M University- K...
The New School- Nyc Campu...
Thomas Nelson Community C...
Toccoa Falls College
Transylvania University
Trinity College- Hartford...
Truett Mcconnell Universi...
Tuskegee University
Union College- Kentucky
Union College- New York
University Of Alabama- Hu...
University Of California-...
University Of Mary Washin...
University Of Minnesota-...
University Of Minnesota-...
University Of Mount Olive
University Of Northern Co...
University Of Northern Io...
University Of Oregon
University Of Puget Sound
University Of Redlands
University Of Richmond
University Of Southern In...
University Of Southern Ma...
University Of Tennessee-...
University Of The Arts
University Of Toledo
University Of Valley Forg...
University Of West Georgi...
University Of Wisconsin-...
Valley City State Univers...
Vassar College
Virginia Wesleyan Univers...
Viterbo University
Wabash College
Wake Forest University
Waldorf University
Washington And Lee Univer...
Washington College
Wellesley College
Wesleyan College
West Texas A & M Universi...
Western Washington Univer...
Westminster College- Penn...
Wheaton College- Illinois...
Wheaton College- Massachu...
Whitman College
Whittier College
Wilkes University
Willamette University
William Jewell College
Williams College
Ambrose University
Banff Centre For Arts...
Bishop's University
Brandon University
Burman University
Cambrian College
Canadian Mennonite Uni...
College Of The North A...
Douglas College- New W...
Eston College
Faithway Baptist Colle...
Glenn Gould School
Holland College
Kwantlen Polytechnic U...
Lakehead University- O...
Macewan University- Al...
Mohawk College- Fennel...
Mount Allison Universi...
Renison University Col...
St. Lawrence College-...
Tyndale University
University Of Alberta-...
University Of Alberta-...
University Of Lethbrid...
University Of Prince E...
University Of Windsor-...
Vancouver Community Co...
Vanier College
Concordia University Of...
Approx Salary Expectation
Low End:
$40,000.00 /yr
Avg/Med:
$99,000.00 /yr
High End:
$220,000.00 /yr
References
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/.
Trend Analysis - Explorer the Market, Labour Market Information, Government of Canada https://www.jobbank.gc.ca/trend-analysis.
O*NET OnLine, National Center for O*NET Development, https://www.onetonline.org/.
Trend Analysis - Explorer the Market, Labour Market Information, Government of Canada https://www.jobbank.gc.ca/trend-analysis.
O*NET OnLine, National Center for O*NET Development, https://www.onetonline.org/.