4. Music (starting annual salary: $34,000; mid-career annual salary: $52,000)
Hey, if being a musician were easy, everyone would do it. Some of us are guitar heroes; most of us just play the video game.
Read here.
Truth be told, when I decided to go into music I didn’t even think about money. Honestly. I just did it because I liked it. Do kids think about income levels when they are choosing careers now? Did they back when I was going to college and was I just clueless? (I’m guessing the latter … seems to be common with me!)
My private students here in my home studio rarely tell me they want to major in music. Most of their parents make it pretty clear that they aren’t to go into music. The majority major in some sort of science. It makes me wonder about the ones who are now adults; wonder what their income levels are.
I still don’t think about the income level. I live comfortably. I have everything I need. And more. I love my job. Making music brings me joy. Teaching students does the same! Well, I hate stressing over reeds but .. I love my job. I don’t think I’m missing out on anything.
(And, really, the mid-career annual salary … isn’t that sort of okay? Or am I out of touch with what people make these days?)
When I decided I wanted to become a professional musician I knew I probably wouldn’t make a lot of money – isn’t that the stereotype? (What’s the difference between a large pizza and a musician? A large pizza can feed a family of four)
And especially with oboe, I mean, in my town there is excactly one oboe student, so it would be hard to make a living out of teaching, and an orchestra job is hard to get.
I’d rather live in a camper and be a musician than live in a big house and be something else. Sadly, it’s going to be the second one (though I don’t know about the big house :p)
So you are not going into music then, Eefje?
Nope… my teacher doesn’t think it’s a good idea :( I just don’t have the talent, I didn’t progress enough this year. My pitch is still horrible most of the times, my sound isn’t as good as it should be, and I play the notes to much apart, instead of as one line of music. Just all sorts of things.
So now I’m probably gonna be a biologist. And an amateur musician, of course. And a music lover and concert-goer.
Well, I’m really sorry. :-(
BUT … we rely on you music lovers to come to concerts, and playing at an amateur level is a fantastic thing to do! So I encourage you in that.
@Eefje: Never stop playing if you can help it (I have made that mistake myself).
Realistically for me, if I had pursued a career as a professional musician, I might have been a second or fourth horn substitute in the Freeway Philharmonic (more likely second, and that is because my low chops were only mediocre and I wasn’t good enough to play third). More likely I wouldn’t have been able to stay in the Bay Area and eat (eating is important to me, for some reason).
So I did choose my job (and college major) for the money, in part. Not because I wanted to make lots of money (I don’t make “lots” of money, but it’s so relative it’s almost not meaningful), but because I found something more marketable that I also enjoyed (and with which I was reasonably competent).