<p>There is no doubt that going into the arts is daunting business, but in reality it never was a very assured living, even back in ‘the golden age’, if it existed. The chief music critic of the NY Times, Anthony Thomassini, in one of a series of Q and A’s with readers, was asked about how dismal it looked going into music as a vocation/avocation, and he said it always seemed to be. It can be daunting, something like 15,000 kids a year are graduating from music programs (not sure how many of those are academic, how many of those are performance) in the US alone, and on top of that music in all its forms is undergoing a seismic shift, orchestras are folding (and quite a few of them are almost pickup in status or pay very little with no benefits), session work is a declining art, in part because of synthesizers but also because of low wage musicians from Eastern Europe often getting those jobs, the recording industry is retrenching across the board and so forth…so it is challenging. Sure, it is great to think of getting into the NY Phil or BSO or LA Phil or the lSO, etc, where musicians make well into 6 figure salaries with benefits, but those jobs are incredibly hard to get into and competitive as hell, and with the incredible influx of kids coming out of Asia looking for jobs (given that the internal markets in China and Korea are more illusory then would otherwise be though), the competition is even fiercer for what does open up (among other things, musicians are often with the orchestras several decades). </p>
<p>I don’t think there was ever a great era for going into music realistically but it is a lot more challenging across the board then it ever was. There is always talk of the ‘instant superstar’ in more popular forms of music, but for every group that ‘makes it’ there are people eeking out a living doing various things, and always have been (same with dancing and acting) or any art (same with writers)</p>
<p>I agree with others, if someone has the passion then they would need to find a way. A lot of it depends on opportunities gotten through networking, through knowing people and putting together new ways of doing music. The digital download era, for example, might be putting a crimp of traditional record companies, but it also gives the opportunity for young musicians to get their sound out there, rather then waiting for some AR guy to 'discover them, they can put out their own videos and so forth to promote themselves…but it is tough sledding. </p>
<p>I have seen a lot of young classical musicians, especially on the solo instruments, who I kind of feel sorry for, they are the ones who really think that because they have won competitions, have gone to top level conservatories and had people swoon over their great technique, thinks this means they are going to get representation and become a top level soloist playing all the major orchestras and so forth; and quite frankly, many of those kids have shirked the very experience they need, in ensembles and chamber, because they and their teachers ‘look down’ on ensemble playing; likewise many of them have the attitude of ‘soloists’, and don’t work well with others. That world has always been rarified, and these days is even more competitive than it once was, but frankly many music teachers and students don’t recognize that. </p>
<p>I liked what another poster wrote, about what you do outside of playing tells a lot. The kids who live this stuff, who when not playing are going over scores, who actually listen to the music, go to concerts, are fascinated by the theory, love the kinds of things you do in ear training, who listen to a wide range of music, are the ones who are going to make it in music in some way. Recognizing music for what it is, they may not turn their nose up at recording with an indy band, they may not have a problem doing a chamber performance one night and backing a pop group the next. To be honest, if someone narrowly focuses on getting into an orchestra as their ‘goal’ of doing music school, or being a soloist or being a chamber musician, are going to have a hard time, rather then maybe having that goal but being as well prepared as possible to handle anything. </p>
<p>Others pursue other vocations and do music “on the side”, IT is full of people like that, who get their fill of music outside of their day jobs.</p>