Music student as lottery. (musical instrument study only)

[emanresu]

Hey.

I've been thinking.. because I had a talk with a parent lately. I had to convince her to keep her child in the music school.
So I took out my old trusty trump card of "all the numbers are right, alright?".. Like Jeff Lundegaard. Jerry. Anyway.

I need to pull this one out only once in 3-4 years when the parent is the troublemaker, so I'm always rusty. Thought to prepare for the next one a bit better.

So. The question is:

When we consider a music student who is learning some instrument: how many traits, perks, attributes, features, qualities etc. we
could list and evaluate when trying to predict their success in the biz? The overall success, not just the business.. derail already. Ugh.

There's a lot. But lets get detailed!

Thank you for your input in advance!

[jameslovestal]

Hey.

I've been thinking.. because I had a talk with a parent lately. I had to convince her to keep her child in the music school.
So I took out my old trusty trump card of "all the numbers are alright, alright?".. Like Jeff Lundegaard. Jerry. Anyway.

I need to pull this one out only once in 3-4 years when the parent is the troublemaker, so I'm always rusty. Thought to prepare for the next one a bit better.

So. The question is:

When we consider a music student who is learning some instrument: how many traits, perks, attributes, features, qualities etc. we
could list and evaluate when trying to predict their success in the biz? The overall success, not just the business.. derail already. Ugh.

There's a lot. But lets get detailed!

Thank you for your input in advance!

Yesterday, I met up with a friend I hadn't seen in a few years and asked about his son, who went to GIT in Hollywood CA (the one founded by Howard Roberts, and now the Musician Institute), around 18 years ago. Back then I played with his son and he was a very good guitarist and overall musician. His plans were to try to get into the film industry as a composer and musician. I asked what his son was up to today. He told me he had formed a band and they play small clubs\bars as a live karaoke band: i.e., they play as a cover band and people come up from the audience to sing. I admit I wasn't too impressed (from a musical perspective). I got around to asking if this is what he was doing for a living and my friend told me no, and that his son's main income stream was working for a drone company (which was a non-musical job).

Thus, my POV on this topic is: don't attend a musical school with a goal of being successful as a musician in the music industry. (With successful being narrowly defined as being able to pay one's monthly basic bills).

[Alter]

The whole point of studying music is to have the qualifications to pursue anything relative to it. It's not unlike studying anything else, there are plenty of music related professional and academic endeavors one can choose to follow.

Now if we're talking about just playing, jazz for example, take a look at the professional level players of the genre. If one plays as good as say Peter Bernstein and Pasquale Grasso they'll probably make things work. And these guys also teach of course so,..

[marcwhy]

Fun question, and I appreciate the Fargo reference!


I'd kind of think about it similar to when students say, "Why do I have to learn math?! I'm never going to do math when I grow up!" The main point of learning math (according to my math-teacher friends/family) is NOT to help you do math, but to help you think and problem solve, which are required skills for most (if not all) jobs!

Music helps with a lot of things, so whether the kid will be a professional in the music industry, or just a "successful adult," your music school is helping!

Keep on teachin'!

Marc

[emanresu]

Oh. Two things to fix the OP.

1. Not talking about the business. It was a bad choice of words. It would be a cool topic like : what percentage of music is the business?.. but lets avoid it at all costs here.
2. I meant personal traits and qualities. Like: agility, dexterity, intelligence, timing, musical hearing, memory, relentlessness - those things.

[jameslovestal]

Oh. Two things to fix the OP.

1. Not talking about the business. It was a bad choice of words. It would be a cool topic like : what percentage of music is the business?.. but lets avoid it at all costs here.
2. I meant personal traits and qualities. Like: agility, dexterity, intelligence, timing, musical hearing, memory, relentlessness - those things.

For me Marc provides a solid response: going to school and learning to become a musician will help one in the personal traits and qualities that assist in making someone a successful PERSON. I.e. it gives someone skills that are useful in life regardless of what profession one ends up in to make a buck.

[tbeltrans]

When I returned from Vietnam and was looking around trying to decide sort of job to look for, my dad suggest robbing banks because he felt my previous job and training had prepared me for that pretty well. Fortunately, I did find another path which, oddly involved playing music full time for a few years and I did make a living at it back then. Most any experience will prepare you for something.

From what I have seen, people generally seem to come out of music school and end up teaching either privately or through some school program or both. If they get paid to play, it usually seems to be a side thing rather than a main thing. Of course, that person can go on to other school and end up in a more lucrative career path such as in the tech industry.

Tony