Music Career Development

My name is Lisa Canning and I am a musician- a clarinetist- first and foremost. I fell in love with playing music as a child and could not live without it in my life, so I decided on a career in music as my profession. I was fortunate enough to have parents that could afford to send me to Interlochen Arts Academy for high school and fortunate enough to get in to Northwestern University to study clarinet with Robert Marcellus. I was at the top of my class and thought I could accomplish anything I wanted in music.

When I look at the musicians I studied with at Northwestern, I can honestly say that most everyone has made a living in music. Many are performing in a major orchestra. Some combine playing in a second tiered orchestra with teaching private lessons. Still some are teaching music full-time at the middle school, high school, or university level. There are a few of us that did a few other things out side of "the box", but by and large "in the box" is where everyone has made their careers.

Yet, for students graduating from university level music schools today, and for those in high school thinking of careers in music, the future is uncertain. Due to the country's current economic state, symphony orchestras are folding at an alarming rate. Also, those who haven't closed are cutting benefits or are instituting salary freezes. While at the lower levels, schools are cutting or cutting back programs in the Arts. All of this information just begs the question: What are we doing to teach our students how to take something they love and ensure that they can transform it into a full-time career?

Currently, in most art programs, they take students' money to teach them their craft, but they fail many students when they graduate and don't have orchestras lining up for their talents. Or, these students don't have the temperaments to teach. What are they to do; expensive degree in hand and no where to go. To many it seems like a waste of time and talent. So, we must ask ourselves is it right that we either directly or indirectly take a students' money to hone their talent, but not give them the life tools they need to survive in their chosen field?

I have spent the past twenty years in the music industry earning a handsome living, as a self- employed entrepreneur. Also, I have spent the past ten years in the classroom at DePaul University teaching students how to utilize and develop their talents to ensure that they can build the life in music that they want. I have found that students are undeniably hungry to know how to build a life in the music industry. They want to learn what they need to do to continue with the pursuit they love and not have to give it up because they need to eat! I applaud schools like DePaul University, which has made a commitment to an undergraduate degree in Arts Management. This degree is an option for its performance oriented music student body, in addition to offering a course on career development in the arts.

Every one of us, who have chosen music as a career, continue the pursuit because we have a love and need of music. One way for students who may not be able to earn a seat in an orchestra; not for lack of talent, but for lack of a seat, may want to explore creating their own chamber group. For the past eight years, I have been a founding member of The Pilgrim Chamber Players. It has its own resident composer, Donald Draganski. In addition, we have an annual budget of more than $100,000. We perform all around the city of Chicago. Our audiences average more than 200 per concert. I love a live audience. There is nothing more stimulating than performing to an appreciative audience.

Once there was a niche for music students who were able to spot and promote quality products. In fact, I owned International Musical Suppliers, Inc. for 20 years. I started it in my dorm room at Northwestern, and grew it into a Top 100 retailer nationwide. However, the products side of the industry is facing collapse and is under extreme financial pressure in every market segment. Music stores are closing and there have been more mergers and acquisitions than in the past thirty years.

Another area that is quickly changing is the recording industry and the affect that free downloads has had on royalties to artists and CD sales. Markets that were once open to music school graduates are disappearing. I could go on and on here, but I think you see my point. Now think of the student who has just graduated. How many of them do you think will make a living in the first three years exclusively working in the music industry? A modest few at best I am afraid is your answer. Our industry is not in good shape for our future generation, but universities like DePaul are on the right track. If we train our young musicians not just in their craft, but in how to promote their craft, we may be able to turn this trend around. Personally, I can not imagine my life without music. So, I can't I imagine not encouraging others who have similar passions in music, despite the grim report on the state of the music industry.

I would like to ensure that the next generation has similar opportunities to make a living focused around music that I have enjoyed. After all, passion and love for music is universal, and each of us should be able to experience a life involved fully in music if we so desire. It's not enough, however, in our business to know your craft. In today's economy and competitive environment you must be able to promote yourself. If a musician develops fully and is well rounded in life skills the chances of succeeding in the music business improves dramatically. Yet, surprisingly, most schools and teachers are still not well equipped to ensure that their students get these skills because of the demands put on what is already required, and needed, to teach. Unlike other professions, the arts take you in a direction that isolate you from the rest of a university student body, usually because of the demands to rehearse, practice and study music. Because of the competitive nature of music, there is little time devoted to defining and shaping the skills one needs to survive and thrive in general in the music field itself.

Music students come in all sizes, shapes, and skill levels. As someone interested in helping students develop their musical careers, I have spent ten years designing course work that will do just that. The first questions I ask my students are: What is the value of money to you? How much do you really need to live? Will that be enough money when you are 30, 40 and 50? What kind of lifestyle do you want and how will you support it? We all know students live on a shoe string. They may not really comprehend that in a few years this style of living will become old. While every person's financial needs are different, exploration about a student's views on money are essential in helping them plan the next career steps based on those financial requirements. If these questions are not addressed early in the development of a student's career, the likelihood they will leave the industry is extremely high. That is because they will face financial pressures that they have not anticipated, due to their lack of planning and understanding of their future needs.

Many of us have tangible skills that we ignore or take for granted. Some of these could be developed to help advance a career. After answering questions about feelings about financial matters, it becomes imperative to help students create awareness of their natural and developed skills. I have tools and tests that I use to help students recognize their areas of strengths and weaknesses. We identify two sets of skills; hard and soft. Soft skills are an aptitude for speaking or communicating with others; an ability to multi-task; or a propensity to organize themselves and others. Hard skills are identified as actual experience; be it in marketing an event, knowing how to read a profit and loss statement, or coordinating a concert. Both soft and hard skills need to be identified in an individual, and sometimes may need to be developed, to help them enhance and then progress in the development of their career.

In addition to knowing our strengths, all students need quality internships in areas that interest them beginning in their sophomore year. These internships should to be strategically identified based on the skill sets students identify that they need to develop. I have seen thousands of resumes, and I can say, with certainty, that 95% of all music majors have extremely little to no work experience in the field of music prior to graduating at the university level. Most have no performing experiences outside of school. And, many also do not have any private lesson or group teaching experience outside of school requirements. These facts are simply shocking.

Following a quality internship, a strong mentor is essential. Students need someone to use as a role model. They need someone to talk to regularly about their career development and progress, just like they need this kind of mentoring when learning to play a musical instrument. . Students need help identifying and understanding what kind of role model they need based on their current and future career goals.

Another skill that students need is how to map out a one, five, and ten year career game plan. Such planning will ensure that students can develop the career in music they want. This may require additional course work, internships, a series of jobs, or even a post graduate degree to develop the necessary skills needed to be able sustain a career in the music industry. However, without such a plan, students will surely flounder and not make the best choices to advance their craft.

Finally, networking is one of the most important skills to develop. This skill, once honed, allows musicians to identify opportunities and create different combinations of income producing endeavors that will allow them to stay in the industry, instead of winding up as a teller in a local bank. Success in the music industry requires career development training in today's economy and market place. While being a bank teller may be a fine job, for a high school graduate, it is not usually the best fit for a university trained musician. It would be like saying you were trained to be a lawyer, but you are working at Office Max instead. This would be unheard of in the legal profession and it should not be occurring in ours, but it does.

If we want our students to become gainfully employed in the music industry, regardless of which sector of the business, it is our responsibility, as those who have gone before, to make sure they fully develop as human beings and graduate with tangible life skills to ensure their success.

All schools should have some sort of business for arts major requirement, but sadly many do not. If your school does not have a music business or arts management program, or at the very least a career development course, I would love to help you develop meaningful coursework that meets the needs of your student body's interests and talents.

Feel free to contact me via email, snail mail, or phone. Working together we can help those in the arts thrive financially.