I know a lot of musicians who are now professional musicians. But,
most of them, in my estimation, don't like their profession all that
much. They still love music, but the kind of work that pays the bills
the best is often not very inspiring (private lessons, weddings,
etc).
And, while Oscar Peterson would never let me on a stage with him, I'm
still very happy to be a musician. I play whenever I feel like,
sometimes it's not very much, sometimes it's much more. But I always
feel like a musician, and it feels good. In my opinion, there's too
much focus on the professional part of "professional musician". I
love playing music with friends, and most of them are far from
professional. There's more joy than money in music.
David
On Tue, Mar 25, 2008 at 06:44:33PM -0400, Joe Auty wrote:
>Ben, sorry to take so long in responding to your email you sent me, I
>owe you a response there...
>
>I will add one more thing here though:
>
>For a while I kind of went through a phase where I was questioning
>whether I'm a failed musician because I'm not going to be making the
>bulk of my income performing. However, I'm from Canada and know of a
>few Juno willing jazz musicians up there. One who played with Oscar
>Peterson and is considered a God on his instrument is a carpenter in
>his day job, so it's not at all uncommon.
>
>If players like him have to find ways to piece together a living doing
>stuff other than performing, what hope is there for the rest of us?
>It's not a question of failure or success, it's a matter of earning a
>living, which is another matter altogether. Many players I have talked
>to have found that their music is actually more inspired without the
>burdens of having to rely on getting gigs as a means of survival.
>
>
>On Mar 25, 2008, at 6:30 PM, David Ernst wrote:
>
>>Another musician/computer nerd here. It is common. I personally have
>>my Masters in Music Theory from the good old IU School of Music. But
>>my professional life has been almost all about computers, including
>>(ironically) while I was still in music school.
>>
>>As for how to get into the biz, I agree with most of what others have
>>said... Basically, follow you geek muse, and go get a job. Taking an
>>hourly IU job will lead to something better for just about anyone who
>>is good with computers, in my experience. Get something on your
>>resume and get some real life experience, and soon you'll be pleased
>>with your options. I bet. :)
>>
>>David
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>On Fri, Mar 21, 2008 at 09:00:11PM +0000, Mark Krenz wrote:
>>>
>>>Ben,
>>>
>>>As someone who was a music ed major as well for my first two years of
>>>college, I can say that you're in good company. Probably a quarter
>>>of
>>>people involved in the computer industry are musicians. I think you
>>>should think about leveraging your music degrees to get into the
>>>computer industry instead of how to just approach a computer job like
>>>being a programmer or an administrator.
>>>
>>>The first thing that comes to mind is games. There are many games
>>>that have a large budget for custom music, often recorded using
>>>electronic instruments.
>>>
>>>There are also probably people who act as technology testers or
>>>consultants for music software creators like Reason, Garage Band,
>>>Cubase, etc. Even electronic music equipment manufacturers need
>>>these
>>>people for software that they write.
>>>
>>>So how do you get these jobs? Perhaps just meet some people who are
>>>already in them at conferences, through forums or whatever. I
>>>think the
>>>computer music/audio industry has grown a lot in the past 10
>>>years. For
>>>the first few decades of computing, audio took a back seat to
>>>graphics,
>>>but now its finally caught up and there are careers in that kind of
>>>stuff. There is also the whole emerging industry of streaming music
>>>and
>>>cataloging it. These are just a few ideas, just look around your
>>>own
>>>house and think of how all the electronics are created and realize
>>>that
>>>there are many people behind the creation of each one of those items.
>>>Including musicians.
>>>
>>>I think Joe Auty and some of the other musicians on the list will
>>>have
>>>something to say too.
>>>
>>>Mark
>>>
>>>On Fri, Mar 21, 2008 at 08:03:15PM GMT, Ben Shewmaker
>>>[benshewmaker@yahoo.com ] said the following:
>>>>Hey all,
>>>>
>>>>I was hoping to get a little bit of advice from people on this
>>>>mailing list. After getting an undergraduate degree in music
>>>>education and starting a masters in saxophone performance at IU, I
>>>>quit after a semester because I wasn't enjoying it anymore. I was
>>>>looking at other options and thought I'd like to try electronic
>>>>music and so started a masters in electronic music from the
>>>>University of Miami. But, after a semester there, I find myself
>>>>back in Bloomington again searching for a career that excites me
>>>>and also has a better chance of gainful employment than finding a
>>>>position to teach electronic music at the university level (which
>>>>is what I thought I would do with my masters in electronic music.
>>>>turns out I wasn't that into the program and there are very few
>>>>positions for what I was training myself for. maybe 5 to 10
>>>>positions in the country every year according to a proff at IU).
>>>>
>>>>Anyways, I am again reconsidering my options and was at least
>>>>glimpsing in the direction of some sort of career involved in
>>>>computers or networking. I know saying I want a job here is like
>>>>saying I want a job doing music; music is too broad a
>>>>categorization as there are many specific areas of study within
>>>>music. I was just hoping if anyone could at least point me in the
>>>>right direction to find out what types of positions are out there,
>>>>how hard they are to get, how rewarding they are, etc. And also,
>>>>what type of education is required to enter this field and are
>>>>there any really good schools nearby for computer science type
>>>>degrees. I know IU has a great music school but I know nothing
>>>>about their other departments.
>>>>
>>>>Any help anyone could give me would be really appreciated!
>>>>
>>>>Ben Shewmaker
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>____________________________________________________________________________________
>>>>Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page.
>>>>http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs
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>>>
>>>
>>>--
>>>Mark Krenz
>>>Bloomington Linux Users Group
>>>http://www.bloomingtonlinux.org/
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