Career Goal: Gigging/Freelance Musician

Talented players can make a good living playing gigs. They sometimes do this in combination with other musical work like teaching private lessons, playing in symphonies, having university teaching jobs or doing recording sessions. The whole concept of living the gigging life is being ready for anything and having the technical skills and personality to play many styles and work with musicians of all types.

So, what degree should you get? Good question! The most obvious choice would be our Bachelor of Music in performance degree. This will hone your playing skills to a high level and give you opportunities to explore different styles, play with chamber groups and get ready for working in the field.

If you want the security of having qualifications to teach if needed, then the music education degree would be a good fit.

If your interest is to play gigs more in the commercial music realm (rock, pop, hip-hop, country, etc.), then it might be smart to also learn some audio engineering skills by majoring in our sound recording technology degree. This degree would be particularly helpful if your playing takes you into a recording studio.

Concentrate on getting as much playing experience as you can in many styles while you're pursuing a degree. SFA is the perfect place to do that, giving you a full range of performing opportunities including pit orchestras, big band, chamber groups, rock groups, orchestra, band and much more.