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How much do musicians make?

Author: Mikey
Date: 2003-05-06 16:22

I am not trying to be rude by asking this sensitive question, but I am curious about how much musicians make. What is the typical salary of a principal clarinetist in an orchestra?

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Re: How much do musicians make?

Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2003-05-06 17:29

Hi Mikey,

I did an on-call job on tenor sax for a 5 person section a few weeks ago with the Toledo Symphony Pops. The gig was for the Ronnie Milsap show. There was a rehearsal of 2 1/2 hours and the performance of about 2 hours of which 1/2 was the Pops and the rest was Ronnie.

Minium union scale for the gig and rehearsal is about $175. The Pops people are probably doing this service as part of their annual salary though. For me though, it was good part-time money. I had a great time, the charts were tough (many, many difficult key changes very quickly) but very nice, and Ronnie was absolutely terrific.

The local summer professional concert band does a series of 8 Sunday night band concerts. Same pay for about the same length rehearsal and gig; TSO players are still probably doing a service while people like me that are on-call get the amount shown above.

HRL

PS I'll bet though that a good portion of a symphony player's income comes from either college or private teaching.

Post Edited (2003-05-06 18:31)

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Re: How much do musicians make?

Author: supernova_khr
Date: 2003-05-06 18:59

My part time programmer is also a part time brass player (local symphony, assorted jazz groups, weddings etc) . He makes 15-20K per year from his music. He makes 30K per year from his computer talents, plus gets full health and retirement benefits. The other musicians I know round out their performing earnings with teaching. I've one friend who lectures at two local universities (one the major public university in our state), has about 10 private students, plays one local symphony and does weddings/parties with a string quartet. She pulls in ~40-50K per year. Another friend performs (on clarinet), teaches private lessons, and teaches in the local school district. Again, ~50K per year, but with benefits from the school district job.

I'm in a minor metropolitan area...I'm sure pay rates are better in bigger cities, but so is the cost of living.

Bottom line...in this area, music doesn't pay all the bills unless you're willing to work multiple jobs.

Kay

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Re: How much do musicians make?

Author: pzaur
Date: 2003-05-06 20:31

Here's a page that shows the what the base salary was for the 2001 season for many orchestras across the US. I can't confirm the accuracy of the numbers, but they seem to be about what I would guess they would be.

http://personal.zcloud.net/timzart/orchestrapay.htm

pat

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