How to Become a Professional Musician?

Once your instrument becomes a part of your life, it is very difficult and frustrating for you to do some thing else for a living and it is but natural to think in the lines of becoming a professional musician.

After all, there is this Chinese proverb which says that "Find a job you love and you do not have to work for the rest of your life" and I am sure we all love our music.

Will I make a decent living?
But the question remains, is it possible to earn a decent living out of playing music?

If you are young and single, you might say "Yes, it is possible" and you could be right as most of your expenses would be for your own self. If you a virtuoso in your instrument and if you are located in a place where the style of music you play is popular, then you should get enough high paying live performing opportunities.

But what about those who may not be virtuoso's but are good enough? What if you are married, have a family to support, have to pay your mortgages? What if you main profession is a high paying one like a lawyer, doctor or a software professional? Would you be able to chuck that away?

Perhaps, in these situations it is not so easy to make a decision and you will have to do some planning and think carefully before you take a decision to be a professional musician.

Various opportunities
Even if you love playing your instrument, I am sure you will not mind doing something else, if you have to, which is still related to music.

In fact, if at all you decide to take the plunge and become a professional musician, you would still be doing a lot of activities related to music, besides playing your instrument.

There are various other professions in the music business which you can consider taking up to supplement your income. Some of these are teaching, arranging, composing, studio musician, concert pianist, band, sound engineer, DJ etc.

You can also work on assignments related to music production for Radio, TV, film, or video games.

It may not be very easy to get some of these jobs but you will have to try. You will have to make your demo CD and mail it to various contacts, you will have to personally go for auditions, you will have to visit music studios, production houses, meet a lot of people, and do some initial jobs for free to develop relationships.

But eventually you will find out that you can get decent amount of work and you will feel very happy about it. It is just like finding a new cheese, you will know this if you have read the book "Who moved my Cheese". If not, please read that book. It is a must for people who are thinking of taking up a new profession.

Social pressures
As usual, lot of people may discourage you but as mentioned earlier, if you plan well, you should do fine.

You should also realize that if you are going to take up a lot of performing activities, you will have to be on the roads most of the time, which could affect your personal life so you need to discuss this with your family.

Lastly, if you are planning to chuck your current job to become a professional musician, I would advice you to do both the things in parallel for some time before taking that plunge.

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How to Be a Professional Musician?

Professional musician – Are you on your way to become one?

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