JAM: DECEMBER 2007/JANUARY 2008 Issue: Cover Story

Jazz Grads: Keys to Survival

Insights and Advice from Your Mentors

By Roger Atkinson and Charlton Price

Jazz Studies at the college level is strong and growing. On some campuses, specializing in jazz can be an option for music majors. Each academic year across the nation, perhaps as many as 5,000 or more undergrad and grad students ( JAM 's “swag” estimate) enroll in jazz studies programs.

And each year, upon graduation, a lot of these folks start looking for jobs and careers in “the music” or “our music” (as many in the world of jazz like to call it).

But how many jobs and careers in “the music” (jazz), as a practical matter, are really open or possible for jazz studies graduates? And how are jazz students of today being prepared to make a living, in music or otherwise, tomorrow?

Curious about this, we asked for comments from leaders of university-level jazz education programs in our region. We especially wanted to find out what information and advice jazz studies teachers give their students about making a life, and a living, after graduation. The feedback we got from educators was candid, varied and thought-provoking. Here are key points they made:

• It's a tough world out there

Being in college is a wonderfully comfortable and protected kind of life, as graduates find out quickly when they get out in the world. As a result, many elect to get right back into school, and go for a graduate degree. Because the bachelor's degree, in today's job market, has the potential for earnings almost equivalent to yesterday's high school diploma.

If you want a career in music – performing, composing, arranging, etc. – you need to understand music as a business. Because it is a business, as well as a profession and a calling. The apprentice system in jazz – getting into a group with established performers, then getting a recording on the market, etc. – is largely passé. You will have to do a variety of things – there are lots of ways to be in music besides performing. But you have to be versatile, and you probably will have to do a variety of jobs before you get the kind of job and career in music you want. That takes patience, persistence, and getting and keeping good life habits.

To succeed later as professionals in music, music students need a variety of skills and ability to perform a variety of kinds of music. It's even more important to develop “life skills”: being dependable, keeping your word, showing up on a job or a gig or a rehearsal without fail and on time, taking care of your health and your personal finances (such as savings, health insurance). “It means getting up early and being productive all day long, just like a 9 to 5 person,” said one of our jazz educators. Another observed that: “Graduates find out how expensive it is just to LIVE. [Then] their strategy changes. Paying the bills becomes the main priority, not practicing [their] melodic minor scales…[If] they want to start or join their dream band, they'd better be prepared [to have] a rough life a Snickers for breakfast and peanut butter and crackers for dinner. [But if] you can spend countless hours studying, practicing, starving, and playing gigs, you can do anything.” Another advises: “The first $20 of every gig should be split between your tax payment slush fund and your health insurance slush fund.”

• But a degree in music will be useful, even if one doesn't go into music performance (and related areas such as arranging)

Music education is an important, valued, and interesting profession. “My gut feel from thirty years in this field [is] that over 90 percent of all professional jazz musicians – at all levels --…are involved with education in one way or another…” -- elementary, high school, and college teaching, festivals, visiting “artist in residence” gigs, etc. Full-time teaching now usually requires an advanced degree in education or in music. The educators emphasize, as one put it: “Teaching is an art, a science, and a noble profession in and of itself…[Don't think of] teaching as ‘something to fall back on.'” Added another educator: “I also tell them that they shouldn't be in music education unless they are REALLY dedicated to devoting their lives to teaching little kids, because high-quality teaching is about the hardest thing anyone can ever do.”

• Knowledge, habits and skills from jazz studies can be useful, both for living an interesting and satisfying life, and for making a living.

There are still potential ways of being paid for playing jazz: jobbing or casual work for private parties, touring groups, military service bands, “ghost bands” celebrating the big-band era, cruise ships, vacation destinations like Disney and Busch Gardens, music camps, and even some increasingly jazz-oriented church programs. And arranging skills are in high demand, for example, vocalists often need arrangers to help prepare their musical repertoire.

But to make a career in music, you need “both jazz chops and business chops.” As to music chops, says one of our educators: “The twenty-first century jazz musician should know the history of western music…and be able to navigate different styles of music better than non-jazzers...comping piano, walking bass lines in the left hand...play some solid time on drums.”

All the educators emphasized the need to acquire and maintain competence in business management - in music or for any other career. That means understanding and knowing how to manage the business side of whatever day job or career one pursues. “If music is what you love [you can] find some way to be around it in some capacity, no matter what - work in a record store, music shop, radio, elementary school – do whatever you have to do. Sometimes that means thinking outside the box THIS year, in order to be where you want to be five years down the road.”

From the jazz studies experience, one can apply in any job or career the non-technical skills,“life skills” and good habits of personal management - and, by doing so, can find a rewarding and satisfying life. There is tremendous self discipline and perseverance in learning to master an instrument. It is worth repeating: “If you can spend countless hours studying, practicing, starving, and playing gigs, you can do anything.”

One of our educators eloquently expressed optimism about their students' life after college that all our respondents seemed to feel: “[Pursuing] study and a career in the arts is ultimately a very personal question. It evokes reflection and thoughts about [one's personal identity] and what one wants to do with one's life. Most [jazz] students I have seen who are truly successful are those who could not see themselves doing anything else. But how does one define success? It may be a combination of things that [the individual] as a person can be.”

We at JAM agree! Even if what one does with one's life and to make a living is not in music itself. As one of our educators summed up: “The [main]thing worth taking from [music studies] is the discipline it takes just to be competent at anything [you] choose to do.”

We gratefully thank Wayne Goins, Michael Pagán, and Jim Mair for their input into this article.