Percussion H.S. freshman

soccerguy315
Mon, 25 May 2015 03:25:25 +0000

I’ve got some friends (some from HS and some from DCI) that went this route, one of them was percussion… something of the things you might notice from the list, is that they basically all have Masters degrees. My friends have had good luck with the military bands. These groups are very good, but they are definitely a notch or two down from the bigger symphonies (but probably pay better and have more stability than smaller symphonies). These were very good musicians, of the all-state variety (multiple years) and competitive summer music camps. One of them, the one that attended Juilliard, was on a completely different level (perfect pitch, national level solo competitions, etc), and you can see he now has one of the most coveted music jobs in the world.

Friend 1 (Bassoon):
Ithaca: Performance and Education
SF Conservatory: Performance (Masters)
Job: Elementary Music Teacher
also plays gigs on the side

Friend 2 (Flute):
Eastman (Rochester): Performance
New England Conservatory: Performance (Masters)
Job: Military Band (after bouncing around small and seasonal symphonies for a few years)

Friend 3 (Trumpet):
New England Conservatory: told he wasn’t good enough after 2-3 years.
Now has an engineering degree.

Friend 4 (Percussion):
Julliard: Performance
New England Conservatory: Performance (Masters)
Job: Boston Symphony Orchestra (some freelance gigs while looking for a permanent job)

Friend 5 (Violin):
Cleveland Institute of Music: Performance
Cleveland Institute of Music: Not sure (Masters)
Job: Teaches at 2 colleges

Friend 6 (Tuba):
Eastman: Performance
Rice: Performance (Masters)
Job: Military Band (1 tour with Blast!)

Friend 7 (French Horn):
???
Boston University: ?? (Masters)
Job: still looking (1 tour with Blast!)

Friend 8 (French Horn)
Eastman: Performance / Education
Northwestern: Performance (Masters)
Job: still attending school

Friend 9 (Trumpet):
South Carolina: Performance / Education
Cincinnati: Performance (Masters)
Job: Military Band

Friend 10 (Trumpet):
Texas State: Music Ed
left without finishing
Job: USMC Commandant’s Own Drum and Bugle Corps
… is now back at school finishing the ed degree

I also have a number of friends that went the straight music ed route. Most of them have elementary/middle school teaching jobs with their undergrad degree (most of them took 4.5 or 5 years I think).