How accurate is this article?

[Rick Denney]

Small world. Dr. Jones was my advisor.

He advised me, too, but in a different context.

Rick "who has met few who could so obviously read minds" Denney

[BMadsen]

Well, in the context of having a career playing just tuba, incredibly accurate.

However, about having a career in music, well….. that's debatable.

I'm going to preface all of my comments with this statement, originally stated to me by Jack Schatz (I'm distilling and paraphrasing what was discussed in about 30 minutes here, but it boils down to this simple bit of advice). If you can be happy making a living doing anything else, and playing music as a hobby, you will likely lead a far more comfortable lifestyle and still be happy. Only pursue performing music as a career if you CAN'T be happy doing anything else.

So, who am I? A busy freelance musician in the NYC metro area, known around town but with little (or no) national name. I've experienced growth of 8-10% in my income every year for the past 5 years since I left teaching music as a full time teacher for the NYC DOE, although I have yet to make that kind of money. I played over 400 rehearsals/gigs last year, and have a very small (but growing) private student base. Why do I tell you all of this? Because it's important to put my advice in the proper context, and take it or leave it based on your own situation.

You are young. You have lots of time to decide what you want to do, and what you don't want to do. If you want a career in music, you need to decide what that career looks like, and then seek out those players to figure out what that looks like. A lot of pro musicians are very nice people who will happily answer questions for no more than a cup of coffee at Starbucks, or will write to you if you aren't local to them. (A lot can be dicks as well - don't get me wrong - but you have nothing to lose by reaching out to those players who have the career you aspire to). You also need to have flexibility, and decide how happy you will be if you don't achieve the ideal career (which, in this business, most don't).

The reality is, no matter how much you think you enjoy something, when it becomes your job, there is drudgery attached. Daily practice becomes a grind for almost every pro I know. Most pro's spend a lot more time than you'd expect on the computer and phone hustling gigs, setting up rehearsals, hiring musicians, etc. And, if you want to be busy, you have to be as good at all of that (and keeping well organized books, both financial and musical), as well as a great player. Every busy musician I know has regular gigs that keep the lights on, food on the table, etc, and sometimes you dread going to those gigs. But you do it because it's your job. There is no such thing as sick pay, vacation time, etc - so if you aren't working, you aren't making money. It's a very hard life, and getting busy can be both a blessing and a curse. My wife and I talk a lot about how frustrating it is to plan vacations, because if I get too many good calls for when we thought we'd leave town with our daughter for a weekend (or week, or whatever), all the sudden things are off and I'm working (because, you don't want to leave that money on that table, seeing as things can change in an instant in this profession).

Stability is a joke - I can typically count on november and january being terrible months. This january has been good "for a january," but january of 2015 was so dead I might as well not have worked. So you have to get very good at managing your money - good months, you put extra away, so when the bad months hit, you aren't screwed.

And, you are facing a market with slowly diminishing prospects with an ever expanding pool of applicants. So, competition is not only fierce, but insane at times. Before I decided I didn't want to pursue the orchestra chair, I was on the audition circuit (as a trombonist), and I kid you not, 300 trombonists showed up for a part-time orchestra near Lake Erie. Job paid $10k a year, no travel benefits, and limited subbing potential. I saw lots of fellow NY players taking the audition, in the hopes of being able to commute from NYC for the gig (a 7 hour drive one way).

I don't tell you all of this to scare you away - but if you are going to pursue this, you need to be aware of what you are in for.

So, my advice? If you are going to try to be a professional musician, explore the idea of doubling. A lot of musicals use a "low brass" chair, so being able to play multiple instruments at a very high level only increases your employability. I regularly work on tenor bone (both large bore for classical and small for commercial/jazz), bass trumpet, tuba, and bass bone, and can also play alto bone, euphonium, tenor herald trumpet, and valve bone. The most logical double to get into would be bass trombone, as it's a similar range, and a similar role (although there are differences), and the mouthpiece, while smaller, is about as close as you can get. Tenor bone would make you more employable, since it's called for a lot more, but it will be a little more work to get used to. And, the ultimate compliment is to have whatever instrument you are playing be mistaken as your primary. That's when you know you are getting to where you need to be to work.

Learn to play all styles of music, and as you master new instruments, be able to master their role in those settings - so, as a tubist, be able to improvise bass lines for Dixieland and NOLA brass bands, as well as play in brass quintets, concert bands, orchestras, etc.

Learn how to teach. It's an art that few take the time to learn, and if you become known as a great teacher, you can command high rates, making you good money while not taking up a lot of time (or stupid good money while taking up a lot of time - whatever you want and can attract).

Learn music software. Sibelius and/or Finale, Protools and/or Logic, etc. Be well versed in them. There is a slowly growing market for remote recording that you can get yourself into if you can setup a home studio where you can produce excellent sounding tracks of yourself, and if you can arrange, it becomes another salable skill (or, a skill that will keep you in groups if you are handling all the charts for them).

Don't be passive. Go out and network, form groups, setup rehearsals, get things going. If you are proactive in trying to create work, you will have other musicians who want to be on your call list, and will in turn call you for work.

I can go on, but I have to start getting ready for a gig tonight. Best of luck!

[roweenie]

BMadsen,

Everything you say is right on the money when it comes to being a free lancer, especially in NYC.

...since I left teaching music as a full time teacher for the NYC DOE, although I have yet to make that kind of money. I played over 500 rehearsals/gigs last year...

However, I don't quite understand the math of this statement. You mean to say you play an average of almost 2 gigs a day, every day (probably actually more than two a day, considering you had a "January of 2015 [that] was so dead I might as well not have worked"), and don't make as much money as a public school music teacher?

If this statement is accurate, things are worse than I thought they were nowadays.

(I was at one time both an "active full time professional " free lancer and a community school board member in NYC, so I have a little insight into what I'm saying).

[BMadsen]

BMadsen,

Everything you say is right on the money when it comes to being a free lancer, especially in NYC.

...since I left teaching music as a full time teacher for the NYC DOE, although I have yet to make that kind of money. I played over 500 rehearsals/gigs last year...

However, I don't quite understand the math of this statement. You mean to say you play an average of almost 2 gigs a day, every day (probably actually more than two a day, considering you had a "January of 2015 [that] was so dead I might as well not have worked"), and don't make as much money as a public school music teacher?

If this statement is accurate, things are worse than I thought they were nowadays.

(I was at one time both an "active full time professional " free lancer and a community school board member in NYC, so I have a little insight into what I'm saying).

Hi roweenie,

Thanks for calling my attention to the typo - it was supposed to be 400, not 500, although I didn't officially count in this year (2014 was about 375, and I worked a lot more this year than I did last year). And I do have many days where I have 2 services in a day (gigs/recording sessions/rehearsals/etc), and, if I average it out over the year, probably have about 20 days with 3 services in a day.

And that's not only gigs and recording sessions, but rehearsals, whether unpaid or paid. Often, I will have a rehearsal and a gig tied together - if you don't do the rehearsal, you don't get the gig. And, there are lots of rehearsals I do that are for networking and don't pay anything (and, since 99% of those are in Manhattan, I lose money because my roundtrip expenses are close to $20 for that). And, some gigs net me negative pay (they do pay, but it's just enough to help cover some travel expenses), but again, are great for networking with certain players, such as Broadway players. But, the vast majority of my work pays.

I also looked back at Jan 2015, and while I didn't make much at all, I did have a fair number of rehearsals such as I described above. So, I suppose my earlier statement about working so little in January I might as well not have is also a little off the mark (although I made so little money it feels that way sometimes).

And teachers are doing pretty well here. When I left in 2011, I was up to $60k a year, without a masters degree - that masters would have added $5k to that figure. Pay has gone up since then.

I could talk about the decline in the work around NY - and there has been a decline - but what I'm noticing, from where I sit, is a decline in good paying union work and club dates. My average gig pays (if I take all the rehearsals I do out of it) $125 - 150 a hit, and that includes the 100 or so chinese funeral gigs that only pay $50 a hit (more if we go to the cemetery).

What I am seeing, however, is that unless you are one of the top 1% of young players trying to break in, union work is essentially gone. And, the ones I see making a good living are the ones who are thinking about their gigging like starting a business - they are not only trying to network, but they are creating their own products to sell (in the form of bands, accompanying merch, etc).

It's always been hard to make a living in this business. But, from everyone I've met who has come before me, seeing the struggles the current crop of under 30 players face (and, even the under 40 like myself), they feel it's harder than ever, with diminishing opportunity and more and more difficulty even planning for retirement. I'm lucky that I'm happily married to someone with a good job and health insurance, and we are putting away money for retirement, but it would be extremely difficult to do that living in the NYC area on what I made last year if I was single. I'm sure I could do it, but it wouldn't be easy.

[ghmerrill]

I believe I could probably own a well-fixed-up 3BR 2BA trailer home on a NOT-in-a-floodplain acre or two of land, probably with the options of a garden, a catfish pond, heating with wood, and c. $100 - $300 yr. property tax...
...that compared to a $2XXX - to $3XXX/mo. 800 - 1000 sq. ft. 3rd story walk-up, quaint HVAC and plumbing, sounds seeping through every wall, and people with their hands out at every turn.

Well, yeah, but how far are you from the MALL? And is Mrs. Bloke pining all day for that five-minute ride to the mall? And how you do you live without the excitement of having quick access to the city center and the night life? And, by the way, how do you get that wood? Most of the people I ever worked with, and certainly almost all of the faculty I taught with years ago, find the description you just provided to be not just unattractive, but terrifying. Good god, man! You're describing something out of "Deliverance".

Different strokes for different folks, and sacrifices may need to be made.

Depressingly, people often think they get what they want and need, but sometimes it's at least partly illusory. I still remember a conversation many years a go with a colleague when I was teaching at Loyola and we were having dinner with him and his wife at their home. He asked (imagine a fairly heavy German accent) "How can you guys live so far away? I couldn't stand to be so far away from the city. It's great to be able to go to the museums, restaurants, and concerts." We were living in Zion -- about a 40-minute train/el ride to campus. He was living in a development in Evanston (about a 20-30 minute drive from campus). I asked him "But Hans, how often do you do that?" He thought for a minute and said "Two or three times a year," and I said "Well, I think then we do it more often than you." But he HAD to live in the urban area. Anything else made him feel creepy.

On the other hand, in 2001 I worked for a VP at Novartis who had to live in the alps and was willing to endure some inconvenience in terms of commuting to do that. Anything else made him feel creepy.

Some people just have to live in urban areas. I guess the rest of us should be grateful that they do. I also guess that if you're going to try to live as a professional musician, you'd better be pretty close to where there is the largest and most constant clustering of jobs. Somehow I'm thinking that rural Tennessee might not make the cut.

[Mark]

...that compared to a $2XXX - to $3XXX/mo. 800 - 1000 sq. ft. 3rd story walk-up, quaint HVAC and plumbing, sounds seeping through every wall, and people with their hands out at every turn.

HVAC? You think that for that low rent your getting AC?

[roweenie]

It's all well and good for someone to decide to leave the rat race (and stiff competition) of a large city, and move to a less populated area, in order to live better off the money they earn. This happens daily here in the NYC area, especially regarding folks who are on a fixed income.

The truth of the matter, however, is that if he's making $20K a year as a tuba player in NYC, that doesn't necessarily mean he will be making $20K as a tuba player in Bozeman, Montana, where Mr. Soandso teaches at the local high school, the local college, and is the "go to guy" for all the "tuba gigs" in the area. In point of fact, he will be most likely making far less, not simply due to the lack of work, but also due to his status as an "unknown outsider", and a firmly established clique of players who have all the work "sewed up".

It's far easier to be a little fish in a big pond, than a small one.

[Three Valves]

...that compared to a $2XXX - to $3XXX/mo. 800 - 1000 sq. ft. 3rd story walk-up, quaint HVAC and plumbing, sounds seeping through every wall, and people with their hands out at every turn.

HVAC? You think that for that low rent your getting AC?

"Heating and Ventilation not included"

[tokuno]

...that compared to a $2XXX - to $3XXX/mo. 800 - 1000 sq. ft. 3rd story walk-up, quaint HVAC and plumbing, sounds seeping through every wall, and people with their hands out at every turn.

HVAC? You think that for that low rent your getting AC?

"Heating and Ventilation not included"

Andres Trujillo, the tubist cited in the article, lives in San Francisco:
http://blog.sfgate.com/ontheblock/2015/ ... lous-4225/
But at least the "sounds seeping through the wall" are his tuba music

[Dylan King]

I left Los Angeles nine years ago for a "many hats" TV producer job working for my Church, where I make less money in a year than I got for scoring one TV movie or a couple of cartoons out West. I am so much happier now, even though I haven't played one tuba gig since I got here. I haven't even tried.

I'm satisfied professionally. I have a job that keeps changing, and have grown from being a freelance tubist, to a film composer, to someone who now produces and directs his own documentary films. I'm able to score and record myself playing real instruments (with some amazing sample libraries) on all of my projects as time permits, so in a way I am still getting "paid to play." And I have finally started contributing to my YouTube page again, so I am still connecting to the tuba world---all of you! I am very happy to keep that connection going with this small tuba family; puffing on the best instrument in the world as long as I have breath and can hold one up.

Happiness is so important. One does not have to be successful financially or professionally to be happy. I find happiness in my faith, in my family, and in what little bit of character God allows to grow in me every day, hopefully... Happiness is fulfillment, whatever that is to you. Try to find it in whatever you set out to do. If it is going to take decades of struggle to succeed in becoming a professional tubist, is it really worth it?

The opportunities I left behind in LA may have bought me a big house some day (if I continued on that path and got a few more lucky breaks). Moving to NC allowed me to afford a big house NOW on MUCH less. Not to mention, we have a football team here---and they are very, very good.

Music is something that cannot be explained through the Theory of Evolution. It is a gift from God, and He is well pleased that His creation has so much talent in music. Musicians should keep playing as long as they can, for the love of it and if they believe, for the love of God above all.

As far as the profession of making music, I think that it is coming to an end. Kids these days will not be going to orchestras in twenty years. Sample libraries sound (almost) as good as the real thing. The music business is much different; some say that it is DEAD. Who knows for sure, but looking into the future I see a much different outcome for musicians. The typical orchestral musician will dwindle, while those who innovate and can create new music and ideas will succeed in a world that is becoming more and more filled with EVERYTHING, ending up in less and less room for creative growth.

Look for new ways to succeed. New ways to play. New ways to grow. The old ways are just that. Old, wearing out, and falling asleep.

[BMadsen]

It's all well and good for someone to decide to leave the rat race (and stiff competition) of a large city, and move to a less populated area, in order to live better off the money they earn. This happens daily here in the NYC area, especially regarding folks who are on a fixed income.

The truth of the matter, however, is that if he's making $20K a year as a tuba player in NYC, that doesn't necessarily mean he will be making $20K as a tuba player in Bozeman, Montana, where Mr. Soandso teaches at the local high school, the local college, and is the "go to guy" for all the "tuba gigs" in the area. In point of fact, he will be most likely making far less, not simply due to the lack of work, but also due to his status as an "unknown outsider", and a firmly established clique of players who have all the work "sewed up".

It's far easier to be a little fish in a big pond, than a small one.

Well, as you might remember from my post, tuba is just one of many instruments that I play gigs on. Last year, I gigged on all of the following instruments (roughly in order of volume of gigs)

Small Tenor (jazz/commercial music)
Large Tenor (classical)
Bass Trumpet
Tuba/Sousaphone
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Valve Trombone

I currently have students on the following instruments/subjects:

Piano
Trombone
Trumpet

Last year, my gross was $42k, give or take a few hundred. My first full year (2012) was $28k, give or take. Over 4 years, that's an increase of 50%, which I would say is pretty good. And this was the point of my first post - in today's modern world, if you are going to make a living in music, as a brass player, you need to know what the world is expecting of you. Less and less it's about being a tubist or trombonist, and more about being a Low Brass musician. Spiderman had a low brass chair held by Marcus Rojas. He played tuba, euphonium, bass trombone, and trombone as part of the show. The Big Apple Circus typically has a trombone/euphonium chair and a tuba/bass trombone chair. The current run of Fiddler is a Trombone/Euphonium chair. Allegience is Trombone/Bass Trombone. Probably, in my rough estimation, half of Broadway (and the tours that result of them) are low brass chairs in that they have doubles.

Want to specialize on one instrument? Be prepared to not work nearly as much.

not a comment about music or musicians, but about comparing regional economies and costs of living.

...that compared to a $2XXX - to $3XXX/mo. 800 - 1000 sq. ft. 3rd story walk-up, quaint HVAC and plumbing, sounds seeping through every wall, and people with their hands out at every turn.

When I had my own apartment in Brooklyn in 2008 (moved into my wife's apartment in 2009, and we bought a house in NJ in 2012), my rent on an 800 sq ft 6th floor elevator building (no AC - heat provided, good plumbing, but a tiny kitchen) was $800. I'm sure that's gone up, but even if it's $1200, it's not the $2000 - 3000 a month. If you want to live in Manhattan proper, or one of the trendier neighborhoods in Brooklyn or Queens, rent goes up significantly. There are good deals to be had, but you have to either travel a little further on the train, or live with roommates.

Happiness is so important. One does not have to be successful financially or professionally to be happy. I find happiness in my faith, in my family, and in what little bit of character God allows to grow in me every day, hopefully...

This is so important, and why I play music for a living. I made more money, and worked fewer hours, as a teacher. And I was good at it. But I was incredibly miserable. I'm happy now, with a growing career that I love, a wonderful, supportive wife, and a crazy cute daughter, and I could not imagine being or doing anything else.

Plus, now that I am starting to hit a point where I feel confident in a certain level of work coming in, I can feel free to relax on a Friday night when I don't have a gig, instead of freaking out wondering why nothing came in.

As far as the profession of making music, I think that it is coming to an end. Kids these days will not be going to orchestras in twenty years. Sample libraries sound (almost) as good as the real thing. The music business is much different; some say that it is DEAD. Who knows for sure, but looking into the future I see a much different outcome for musicians. The typical orchestral musician will dwindle, while those who innovate and can create new music and ideas will succeed in a world that is becoming more and more filled with EVERYTHING, ending up in less and less room for creative growth.

Look for new ways to succeed. New ways to play. New ways to grow. The old ways are just that. Old, wearing out, and falling asleep.

I don't think the profession of music is coming to an end. I think the ways that many musicians think of making a living in professional music is coming to an end. But there are still gigs out there, and some live music scenes are growing. And there are more and more musicians who are finding new ways to support themselves by playing music. Your example of making movies, scoring the music, and then recording all the parts you can (and using samples to fill out the remainder) is one example. Another is youtube - I know a trombonist who is an expert in looping, and is now a conn-selmer artist performing all over the country as a solo artist. Like I said in an earlier post, the musicians that are my age or younger making a good living are all entrepreneurial in some way - leading groups, seeking new avenues of musical employment not yet explored, etc. Those struggling? Sitting at home, waiting for the phone to ring.

[sloan]

...

That's a bleak way of looking at things. Would they consider having a job playing better or worse than sitting behind a computer, if you know?

There's a lot to respond to, but I'll pick this one.

I do both. I do both because I have a passion for doing both. I get paid a whole lot more for one (but even there, I get paid to profess it as much as to actually do it. I do the other for nothing (actually, at non-insignificant cost to me).

There are several points to this. First - if you are lucky, you get to do something that you truly enjoy, both as a job and as a hobby). You must balance it all. But first, you need to find the things that excite you, and you must be prepared to be good enough at them (if you expect anyone to pay you to do it).

The job that you envision as a high school (or even college) student isn't really that exciting, or fulfilling, in *any* field. In the computer field, sitting at a keyboard and doing routine tasks for 40 years is not an exciting option. Similarly, in music, even the job of principal (somewhat redundant...) tubist in a top orchestra will not be fulfilling IF THAT'S ALL YOU DO. As Bloke says "it's a job". It's a grind. Being a "note machine" is something that requires an immense amount of talent, and training, and work - and it's really the bottom of the ladder, in the grand scheme of things. Consider: would Arnold Jacobs be revered (as he is) if he had done nothing but rehearse and perform?

Tuba playing is a job. Music is a profession. Look at your local schools. They hire tuba players as adjuncts; they give tenure to musicians.

I have seen some musicians put in a 40 year career playing an instrument - and when they retire, they put down the instrument and never play again. I've seen others who immediately look for a community band to play with.

Someone mentioned above that Carol Jansch "has to" get "side gigs" to survive. I think that's amusing. I suspect that the "side gigs" are part of the passion. Many of them are available for her *because of* her visibility from the main job, but I wonder what she would do if she could keep *all* the "side gigs" while giving up the chair in Philadelphia?

At every stage in your career, there's something up ahead that looks like the goal line. When you are a music major in college or conservatory, a tenured seat in a major orchestra looks like that goal line. The question is: what do you do then? Are you done? Or, will another goal pop up on the horizon. Change - or die.

During school (and, well...it continues) you must follow your dream - but you must also PREPARE for the unexpected. Your world *will* change - and if you are a one-trick pony, you will struggle. A very few are so driven by that one trick that this is acceptable to them. But, I submit, you will have to look long and hard before finding an example that you really want to emulate.

On another tack..."Math is hard". Well, yes, it is - but high school math is not. Most of undergraduate college math is not. It may require *time*, but it's not *hard*. The few people who get to actually "do mathematics" do the hard stuff because they love it, they have a talent for it, and they prepared for it. Actually, the really good ones either didn't prepare, or were actually bad at, the lower level stuff. I think Music is like that, too. Everything up to "principal player in college band" is preparation. It's not a particularly good guide to who will truly succeed. And, no - I don't think winning a chair at a mid-level orchestra and then doing nothing else for 40 years is "success". But...to someone who does this, and considers it so...I won't argue the point. Actually, I don't really believe that anyone actually does that.

So, what is the poor student to do. Well, if you have to ask "what do I *HAVE TO DO* in order to *WIN THIS PRIZE*", the answer is - don't bother. It's too hard, and you won't enjoy the prize. The top performers do it because they would do it even if there were no brass ring. It's all about the process, not the goal. You don't know the goal. So - do what excites you. At the same time, spend some time doing what everyone else tells you is "good preparation for the future". That means a broad based education, trying to at least master the basics, if not excel, at everything from Fine Art to Physics to French Literature to Computation...and also practice your scales and excerpts 4 hours per day. Be alert to possibilities. But- be warned. You can and should devote a huge amount of time to what excites you - but that doesn't give you license to slack off on everything else. You still need to do everything else. The "sacrifices" you make must come from your time.

Getting good at anything requires a lot of slogging and a lot of BS. You will know you have found your niche when you find the field in which you don't mind the slogging and the BS. It will still be there, but you will be willing to pay that price...not for the goal in the future, but because it's what you have to do. What you would do even if no one paid you to do it. Which, in music performance, may well be the end result.

You can do what you love, and you can do what's necessary to survive. The lucky few get to do both at the same time, doing the same thing. That's an excellent result - but not one you should necessarily plan for. You should, however, plan to give yourself the opportunity.

The good news is that there are a LOT of things you can do to survive. And perhaps only a few that you love. Prepare to do both.

[Lew]

,...but they were able to get by because across-the-board taxation levels were so much lower. ...

Actually the average income tax levels today are lower than they were when you and I were born in the 50s. Marginal tax rates in 1956, for example, started at 20% and went up to 91% for the top bracket. Current federal tax brackets start at 10% and go up to 39.6% at the top. Even when you include State, local, and sales taxes, the total tax burden in lower now. The reason it was easier to live on less was primarily because prices were lower and wage increases for the vast majority have not come close to matching the overall inflation rate.

That said, it's still tough to live on what full time musicians are paid unless you are one of the very lucky and talented ones who can land a gig at one of the top orchestras. Otherwise you do what my sister does as a professional horn player. She plays in multiple regional orchestras and takes a lot of private students. Or you do what I do, which is get an engineering degree and play tuba as a hobby.

That said, I would not tell someone who really wants to be a professional musician to not even try. Going to school for business, engineering, information systems, or some other field that you think will get you a job, but won't be what you love is not the way to start out. I encourage anyone entering college to follow their passion. If that is playing low brass, then go for it. Then again, I am currently a professor teaching information systems and analytics in a business school.

My daughter decided that she wanted to major in art and she wanted to go to Cornell. Her degree didn't get her a career in art, but it did allow her to work in marketing and promotion and she is doing OK. Our son majored in digital media and is having a great career in the high tech industry in California. You can have a career that pays the bills and you find fulfilling via many different paths and degrees.

[proam]

You're in the wrong part of Tennessee. Here in the east tags are $24. And while our state tax is 9.25%, Virginia is 5.3% and just 5 miles away.

Now the school tuition .... that is indeed a pain. The "maintenance fee" (didn't dare call it "tuition" for in-state students back then) at Tenn Tech was $137 a quarter when I was there. My daughter has so many differently labeled fees that I cannot compare one-to-one but I do know it is a whole lot more expensive. BUT --- Tenn Tech is still a good bargain. 5 kids are graduates - one more to go!

[TubaNick]

I'm a bit closer to the OP's age than many others commenting here, so maybe I can add a new perspective. Since I'm still pretty young at 23 years old, I'm not going to try to give any life advice. I just want to share my experiences so far over the past few years, since choosing whether or not to continue seriously playing tuba has been a challenge for me. In the end, the issues mentioned in this article have been very influential on my decisions about my future. I hope pineapple-power might be able to relate to me, or at least take my experiences into consideration.

Here's a bit of background. I just graduated college last year and have been working full time for about 6 months now. Before going to college, playing tuba was the one thing I took the most pride in. Like many musicians, I was also just generally a good student in school, but being a great tuba player was the thing I enjoyed the most. I went very far with my tuba playing, including holding the top chair in West TN honor bands for 4 years, going to Governer's School for the Arts, placing in the top chair all state, winning soloist competitions, etc etc. So, when it came time for me to go to college, everyone expected me to go to some great music school and major in music. I seriously considered taking up music as a career, and even auditioned and got an offer from a top music school, but deep down I knew that taking the path of becoming a professional musician was not very practical for me.

First of all, I knew that if I were to pursue music as a career, I had no interest in being a band director. I loved performing, and that was what I wanted to study. That cut out a huge chunk of potentially decently-paying jobs for me. Second, college is expensive, and it ain't getting any cheaper. It is one of the most expensive investments people make throughout their entire lives. Furthermore, most of the great music schools in the US, which practically speaking should give you the best chances of one day holding a chair in an orchestra, are private institutions that are incredibly expensive. You're looking at paying $50k-$60k+ per year at those schools, which is a lot even for someone who is going to study engineering and make decent money out of college. This makes pursuing a performance degree a double whammy, because it is often very expensive to study with the best, and even then it's quite likely you won't make much money after you graduate.

In my case, I managed to get my "dream offer" to get a tuba performance degree and computer science degree in a 5 year dual degree program at great university, but in the end I turned it down because it was simply going to be too expensive. I believe I would have had at least $60,000 more in student loans right now had I gone that route. Now that I am out of school, I do not regret saving that money in the least. Instead, I accepted an offer from another school that gave me a much more generous financial aid package and studied computer science there. The university I went to happens to also have a strong music school and tuba studio, so as I had time throughout the semesters I would participate in small ensembles, concert band, and took a semester of private lessons. I also participated in the school's marching band for 3 years and played in a community brass band one summer while I had an internship. Choosing not to major in music does not eliminate your opportunities play tuba. It does make keeping your skills as a player more difficult, though. It was hard for me to see the tuba majors surpass far beyond my level of playing. However, we are all friends and I am very proud of them for their accomplishments.

As I have transitioned into being an adult it has been harder to find the time, motivation, and opportunities to play tuba as much as I used to. Even so, I do not regret all of the time I invested into learning to be a musician. It was definitely not a waste. I have never been paid to play my tuba, but being a musician has given me things money cannot buy. It has given me a good work ethic, taught me how to work with others, and helped me make some of my best friends. I have my job as a software engineer to help me pay off my (thankfully small) student loans and give me a comfortable lifestyle. I have my hobby as a musician to enrich my life. I do not say I have "given up" being a tuba player because I didn't major in music. I am still proud to be a tubist, and it's actually something that my coworkers find interesting about me. Being a musician is a great hobby, and being a programmer is a great job. I personally wouldn't have it any other way.

[toobagrowl]

To your point, pipe organs for churches are rarely paid for by a single donor.

I personally know of a guy who completely paid for a new $250,000+ digital/electronic Allen organ at his church. Not a pipe organ, but the point still stands. This guy is wealthy -- he inherited his father's computer/software biz years ago and sold it for a lot of money. He is also a fine trumpet & horn player and paid outside musicians ("ringers") at last year's Christmas production at his church because the church didn't have the budget to pay the ringer musicians. He did NOT openly talk or brag about paying for all that -- I "heard it thru the grapevine" from other ppl. That makes me respect him even more.

What bloke said.

[Donn]

I'm slightly acquainted with a guy who has a pipe organ in his home. I would say he's fairly well off, though not in the captain-of-industry league. I will say he's a musician who pursued a more lucrative career, if he hasn't retired he would be in the attorney's office of a fairly affluent county.

Whatever bloke might have said or not said.

[qofeel]

Definition of a successful tuba player------- one with a day job.

Most accurate post in this thread so far

[bisontuba]

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-1 ... -investmen" target="_blank

[Three Valves]

Every year I go to Longwood Gardens and sit it for at least two recitals.

http://longwoodgardens.org/events-and-p ... wood-organ" target="_blank

Even duPonts can't afford to live like they used to.