My strongest skill / specialism in regards to the music industry is my ability on the guitar and my confidence to perform comfortably in any setting. This is the type of work I am aspiring to be doing regularly as my career. In addition to this, I have other skills alongside my guitar playing to further broaden my horizons; Such as being an accomplished bassist, having organisational skills, and basic music production skills.
Here are some of the employment opportunities that most relate to my specialism and skills in the music industry:
- Session Playing (Recordings)
- Session Playing (Live Performance)
- Personal Solo / Ensemble Performance
- Writing Music
- Event Management / Organisation
- Guitar / Bass Tuition
The first few opportunities that I have mentioned are centered around the idea of making a living from performing.
I have been playing guitar for around 8 years now, and have been performing for about 7. I have achieved grade 8 on my guitar performance, and grade 5 on my bass guitar. In the past few years I have started and completed my extended diploma in music, and during this time I have gained a large amount of experience performing in a professional setting. I have also been performing regularly outside of my education, and I am always striving to become even better at what I do. Subsequently, performance has become my forte in music, and is what I enjoy the most.
Session Playing:
One of the performance opportunities that relates back to my specialism is the idea of doing session work for artists. Session performers are musicians who are hired to come and play for an already established artist either live, or just on their recording work. This can be for multiple reasons, an example might be that one of the band’s members can’t make it to a performance, or perhaps an artist needs a certain instrument for a song and can’t play it themselves. In one of these instances, the artist would hire a session performer to come and fill the role. Performing as a musician does not necessariliy mean playing on stage to a live audience, as there are multiple opportunities to play in a different setting. The most relatable performance role that is not on stage in regards to my specialism would be session playing on a recording.
Personal Performances:
Probably the most obvious way for a musician or band to earn a living is by regularly performing at evey opportunity. This could be anything from a solo act to a whole band, and the profit from this varies depending on the level they are at. In my case I ideally want to be performing with a band of my own, as I am personally more suited to that setting due to me not being a vocalist; although that isn’t to say instrumentalists can not pursue a solo career.
Writing Music:
Although this is not one of my strongest attributes in music, I will not disregard the idea of songwriting. Many big solo artists of today have people who compose the music for them to sing over, and this is usually done though a record label. This is potentially something I could branch out into as a further source of income.
Event Management:
While I would always prefer to be the one on stage, I do have a good understanding of how to organise and manage musical events as I have been through the process several times already. Established venues often hire or employ event managers to organise what acts are on when, and to keep things running smoothly. Larger acts often have their own managment team that take care of this for them.
Guitar / Bass Tuition:
Instrumental tuition currently is my short term goal for my music career. Over my years of playing I have progressed to a point where I am able to pass on my own knowledge of playing to others, and this is the most realistic job opportunity for me to go into at my current stage in music. This can be done privately or you could be employed, most likley by a primary/secondary school.
How to access these roles:
So the list above contains the roles I feel relate to my specialism the most, and are what I would be happy to do as a career in the long run. Here are some of the ways you would go about accessing the roles above:
Live Performance:
Playing live is an effective way to build up a name for yourself as a musician. It helps to build up your contacts with venues, promoters, and possibly gain a few fans of your work. Not only this, but every performance is more experience gained, and therefore your performances will increasingly become better and better.
Performances are one of the best ways to gain publicity for an original artist or band. If an act is good enough, word will get around quickly and thus leads to more people supporting them.
To actually access live performance opportunities, you have to get in touch with venue owners, promoters, or even other bands to try and get a support slot. I personally play at quite a few open mic nights at various venues, and from this I have made contacts and occasionally been asked to come back and play again with a full set.
Networking:
Networking is essentially making contacts that can be benificial to you. For me this has been the most effective way of spreading my name around so far. A good example is when one of my contacts suggested me as a potential lead guitarist for a new forming band of which I am still a member today. The way I’ve networked and made contacts is simply by talking to people at performances, which is proving worthwhile.
Collaborative Work:
Working with artists more popular than yourself is an effective way to build up publicity for your own work, and can lead to more performances. This could be by joining another artist on a new song, or by touring with an artist as their support act. This is also another good opportunity to make more useful contacts.
Business Cards:
A good way of networking is by handing out your business cards. I always pass a few out at performances, and occasionally you could get a call asking for your services. Placing business cards in local pubs, shops and businesses is another good way to advertise yourself.
Music Agencies:
Music agencies such as the Musicians Union can be useful to get in touch with as they can give advice if your looking for work, they could place you an advert somewhere, or even pass on some work your way.
Social Media:
The creation of social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram has extended the promotional reach artists have all over the world, and most people now have access to it in some way. Staying active and posting regularly on these platforms can help you to build up a following, and keep your following engaged with what you’re currently doing. It also allows you to keep in touch with any important contacts far easier in addition to this.
Showreel:
A good thing to have when applying to studios or labels for session work is a showreel. A showreel is a short video that showcases what you are capable of on your chosen instrument, and if a band thinks you’re good enough, it can lead to work.
Webpage:
A good idea is to make your own website or blog where people can read a little bit about yourself, and see what you can do. This is easier to do than you would think as there are many services online to help you set up your own site, for example Wix.com
Adaptability:
Your adaptability to play various styles can open up a much wider range of playing opportunities. If you are versatile enough to be able to play any style of music, from Jazz to Metal, you can play for a wider variety of acts, and in turn increase your income from this.
Certification:
Something you can do to increase your level of employability is completing instrumental grade exams, or further/higher education courses in music. These will increase your chances of being employed by record labels, companies, schools, etc…
These are all things you can do to maximise your employability, and increase your chances of accessing these roles.
I am confident in my ability to perform in various scenarios, however there are still skills that I can work on and develop to further my own development as a professional musician, such as:
- Stylistic Confidence
- Communication
- Practice Planning
- Activity on Social Media
- Understanding of Music Theory
- Aural Perception Skills
- Transposition Skill
- Problem Solving
While I do have an understanding and a level of skill in each of the above attributes they can always be improved upon.
Stylistic Confidence:
While I am confident in my ability to perform live in most genres, I am yet to master many stylistic techniques and then put them into practical work. The way to improve this is by practicing a variety of styles, and looking into what I should be doing to give them an authentic sound.
Communication:
Communicational skills go a long way in the music industry, or any industry for that matter. I am by no means bad at communicating, but it would be worthwhile making sure I am staying in touch with contacts, and communicating effectively in a live performance scenario.
Practice Planning:
Arguably, this is my weakest skill. I practice on my instruments every day, however I don’t tend to plan a practice out much. I feel as though I now need to begin reminding myself to plan out my practice to truly focus on the specific attribute I am trying to improve upon. This way I will start seeing a faster rate of improvement in my playing overall, and in turn perform better live.
Activity on Social Media:
I find social media to be a very useful tool in the promotion of myself as a professional musician. Something that I need to work on is posting much more regularly, whether that be with photos, videos, or even just status updates. Seeing a page post often helps to keep you involved with what they’re doing, and that’s what I need to start doing in order to keep my audience engaged.
Understanding of Music Theory:
Currently I have an okay grasp of the main music theory concepts thanks to my past two years of studying music in further education. I now need to start looking at more advanced concepts in order to play more complexly constructed compositions, such as substituion scales, and unorthodox time signatures. While learning these concepts takes time, I really feel as though understanding more advanced concepts will help push my performance work to the next level.
Aural Perception Skills:
The ability to learn a piece of music by ear is an incredibly valuable skill to have, as this can make the process of learning set lists as a session player far faster than before. My ability in regards to this isn’t poor, but I struggle picking up the type of chord in a piece, normally when it’s an extended chord or inversion. The way to improve on this is to simply sit down and practice learning songs by ear.
Transposition skill:
Transposing music is when you change the key of the original piece and play it in a new one. Being able to do this on the spot will further increase my ability as a session musician, and improve my general musicianship on the whole. I have experience transposing music from previous college projects, and occasional live performances, however I am yet to get to a point where I can do this on the spot. Once again the way to improve on this is by practicing changing the key of a piece.
Problem solving:
Finally, it is a wise idea to improve upon my problem solving skills. Anything can happen during a live performance, and you must be ready to work around any set backs that might occur. While you can’t exactly practice this, you can prepare yourself by bringing extra gear to a gig in case something fails, having the necessary skill set to fill in if your act or another is a man down, and by taking the necessary precautions to minimize the risk of problems occurring.
My Career Goals:
Short Term:
Right now my current goal is to make the necessary improvements listed above to ensure that I am doing the best I can to become the best that I can be. I am also currently gaining experience hosting events and performing in various bands to maximise my progress as a professional musician and start opening the doors to my career path.
Medium term:
Within the next couple of years or so I aim to have established a small private instrumental tuition business and from there I plan to grow it to eventually become my full time job. In addition to this I am hoping to be performing far more frequently with my current band and if all goes to plan, be playing some bigger support roles while gaining further publicity.
Long Term:
In the long term, I would be making a living touring with my band in an ideal world, but realistically I currently intend to be tutoring full time, and perhaps even branch out into teaching music as a subject in schools or colleges.
Overall I want to build a career around my work on the guitar, and there is plenty of opportunity to do so in the music industry. In order to maximise my potential of doing all this, I will be planning out my practices accordingly, and building up all the skills I previously mentioned. Hopefully my goals will be achieved as a result of this.