There may be music everywhere, but are there jobs available? The answer is yes, no and maybe for Cal State Long Beach music students, who upon graduation typically look for jobs in three areas with their bachelor’s degrees: performance, composition or music education.
For the students and graduates seeking careers in performance, whether in a professional orchestra, jazz group or other small ensembles, the job outlook is difficult, even in a large market like the Los Angeles area.
“[Work is] not guaranteed. There is less work in Los Angeles because of what’s happening around the world,” said Jim Atkinson, French horn professor at CSULB. Atkinson is also the principal horn in the L.A. Opera, a regular substitute for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and a frequent studio musician for films and television programming.
The major recording markets used to be New York City and Los Angeles, according to Atkinson. But now, the recording markets are much more diversified.
Recording work is now subject to outsourcing to other U.S. cities without musician unions and to other countries where the musician costs are cheaper.
But despite this, Atkinson stressed the important of education. “Very few people that graduate with a bachelor’s are going to find some type of work,” he said. Atkinson said with more education, aspiring performers can gain the playing experience, contacts and time to mature their playing abilities.
According to Atkinson, years of experience, in addition to solid playing, can be the key to winning some auditions. But sometimes simply age is a factor.
“[An older musician] has playing experience, where a younger musician that’s just out of college doesn’t have a lot of playing experience. [The younger musician has] experience playing in the university groups but not necessarily playing in a professional group.
“It’s a catch 22. How do you get the experience without having the opportunity of getting the experience? That’s the vicious circle.”
Some auditions are even more difficult because, in an effort to curb down what may be hundreds of applicants for a single position, even semi-experienced musicians will not have a chance to step up to the musical plate.
“A lot of times a person is rejected from an audition that doesn’t have much experience,” Atkinson said. “[For] some of the major orchestras, the top five orchestras, if you happened to play in a regional orchestra, they automatically think you’re not good enough. But, you may be playing in a regional orchestra because that was the only place you could find work.”
Atkinson gave advice to an up-and-coming L.A. musician.
“First of all, you would have to be willing to starve, and you would have to be willing to possibly have some kind of a part-time job to pay your bills [like aspiring actors]. Struggling actors? What do they do? They’re waiters. New York has thousands of waiters that are actors and actresses.”
Atkinson also advised studying with someone who’s working in the studios or getting to know some of the people in them. Musicians also should pick up jobs in places like churches and community orchestras such as the Long Beach Symphony.
But the process is definitely a long one – for most.
“They used to say it would take you five years,” Atkinson said. “That was in the mid-70s. Now, it’s more like anywhere from eight to 15.”
Mark Lilienthal, a senior music performance major who plays French horn and also studies with Atkinson, aspires to become a professional musician. After CSULB, Lilienthal plans to attend a prestigious graduate music school such as Northwestern or the New England Conservatory. But for the time being, he understands the nature of the music business.
“Because the music industry is so difficult, you have to focus and concentrate a lot on performing to the highest standards and make sure you’re available and on time for gigs,” Lilienthal said.
When it comes to auditions, Lilienthal said, “You have to make sure you’re not distracted in any way. You have to focus on playing your best at every moment. The music has to be well-prepared so you already know how you’re going to perform.
“You have to prepare your audition material above what is acceptable because when you get into the situation, your nerves kick in and it’s gonna throw you off. So you have to be more than 100 percent so that when you get there and your nerves are going and your adrenaline is pumping, you are still performing at a 100 percent ratio.”
But not everyone plans on performing for a living. Some prefer to make the music themselves.
For recent CSULB music major graduate Seth Shafer, he said he felt a calling in composition. Luckily for him, that calling was already calling his name.
With the help of CSULB tuba professor John Van Houten, Shafer will be an intern for an up-and-coming Hollywood composer Michael Giacchino. Giacchino is best known for his compositions to Disney’s “The Incredibles,” the TV series “Lost” and “Alias,” and the “Medal of Honor” and “Call of Duty” video games series.
“I had an ‘in’ with Mr. Giacchino simply after [Van Houten] placed the phone call,” Shafer said. “The ball was in my court to deliver a portfolio of my film scoring work that would entice him into taking me on as an intern.”
“The job of delivering music for a movie requires a lot of people involved in the process, and I’m hopeful that this internship will lead me on to forming new contacts, which in turn will lead me on to new opportunities,” Shafer said.
For those who would rather teach a love of music rather than perform or compose, the job market appears more consistent and better. The three levels of education other than college are elementary, middle and high school.
For senior instrumental music education major Darren Loney, he said he isn’t sure which grade level he would like to teach. But he did clarify, “Not elementary!”
Loney did say, though, that starting teaching at a high school immediately is “a mistake a lot of people make … They’re like, ‘Oh, I can run my own school? Awesome. Small high school, small band program? I’m gonna run it. And [then they’re] just like, [they] don’t know what to do.”
Loney has been told by his professors to take an assistant teaching job first to help learn the educational process or to pick whichever job is offered first. Newbies in the music education world cannot be picky.
Senior instrumental music education major Geoff Ruud also said about teaching, “You have to know all the methodologies really well. And you have to know how to start the kids, what to introduce them to.”
As for Ruud’s plans, “Initially I thought I wanted to go into high school teaching, but now I’m leaning probably more towards middle school and then eventually going into high school. I think I’m probably going to start out as a middle school director because that’s what I’m likely to get a job as.”
Ashley Cothern, a junior double majoring in music and business management, has even different plans. She wishes to use her education to be an orchestra manager anywhere she can.
“My feel at the business world is better than my feel as a performer because I’m too shy and I need to be out there [as a performer]. I’m way better at the business stuff,” Cothern said.
