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Overview
Conduct, direct, plan, and lead instrumental or vocal performances by musical artists or groups, such as orchestras, bands, choirs, and glee clubs; or create original works of music.
Highlights
Undergraduate program resulting in the highest median salary ($69K): General Business
Largest undergraduate program (47.5% of workers): Music
Explore Pathways
Titles for this career often contain these words
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Responsibilities and activities
Music directors typically do the following:
- Select musical arrangements and compositions to be performed for live audiences or recordings
- Prepare for performances by reviewing and interpreting musical scores
- Direct rehearsals to prepare for performances and recordings
- Choose guest performers and soloists
- Audition new performers or assist section leaders with auditions
- Practice conducting to improve their technique
- Meet with potential donors and attend fundraisers
Music directors lead orchestras, choirs, and other musical groups. They ensure that musicians play with one coherent sound, balancing the melody, timing, rhythm, and volume. They also give feedback to musicians and section leaders on sound and style.
Music directors may work with a variety of musical groups, including church choirs, youth orchestras, and high school or college bands, choirs, or orchestras. Some work with orchestras that accompany dance and opera companies.
Composers typically do the following:
- Write original music that orchestras, bands, and other musical groups perform
- Arrange existing music into new compositions
- Write lyrics for music or work with a lyricist
- Meet with orchestras, musical groups, and others who are interested in commissioning a piece of music
- Study and listen to music of various styles for inspiration
- Work with musicians to record their music
Composers write music for a variety of types of musical groups and users. Some work in a particular style of music, such as classical or jazz. They also may write for musicals, operas, or other types of theatrical productions.
Some composers write scores for movies or television; others write jingles for commercials. Many songwriters focus on composing music for audiences of popular music.
Some composers use instruments to help them as they write music. Others use software that allows them to hear a piece without musicians.
Some music directors and composers give private music lessons to children and adults. Others teach music in elementary, middle, or high schools. For more information, see the profiles on kindergarten and elementary school teachers, middle school teachers, and high school teachers.
For more information about careers in music, see the profile on musicians and singers.
Salary
Median salary: $52,250 annually
Half of those employed in this career earn between $33,990 and $76,000.
Context: Median Salary
How do salaries for this career compare to other jobs' salaries?
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Salary growth for music directors and composers
Is this job likely to reward you for sticking with it through pay raises and promotions? The higher a job’s “experience quotient,” the more you are likely to get as you stay there.
Experience quotient percentile
Take a minute to look at how much you might expect your salary to increase with each five years' experience, as well as how the numbers working at each age change. Does this seem to be a job for the young or the old, or could it be a career offering steady salary growth for many years?
Salary distribution
Number employed
About Music Directors and Composers
How do benefits for this career compare to other jobs? The availability of health care, especially employer provided health care, and pension plans can add significantly to the value of compensation you receive in a career. These charts compare how this career compares to other careers with regard to health care and pension plans.
Employee has health insurance
Employer is providing health insurance
Employer-provided pension plan is available
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Personality and skills
Can you see yourself in the ranks of Music Directors and Composers? Here are the skills and traits that could lead to success.
Discipline
Talent is not enough for most music directors and composers to find employment in this field. They must constantly practice and seek to improve their technique and style.
Interpersonal skills
Music directors and composers need to work with agents, musicians, and recording studio personnel. Being friendly, respectful, and open to criticism as well as praise, while enjoying being with others, can help music directors and composers work well with a variety of people.
Leadership
Music directors and composers must guide <a href="/ooh/entertainment-and-sports/musicians-and-singers.htm" title="Musicians and Singers"><u>musicians and singers</u></a> by preparing musical arrangements and helping them achieve the best possible sound.
Musical talent
To become a music director or composer, one must have musical talent.
Perseverance
Music directors and composers need determination to continue submitting their compositions after receiving rejections. Also, reviewing auditions can be frustrating because it may take many different auditions to find the best musicians.
Promotional skills
Music directors and composers need to promote their performances through local communities, word of mouth, and social media platforms. Good self-promotional skills are helpful in building a fan base and getting more work opportunities.
Education pathways to this career
Education attained by music directors and composers
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), music directors and composers typically hold a bachelor's degree.
Sometimes the typical education identified by the BLS differs a bit from the reality of the how much education current workers actually have. The donut shows the education level held by people currently working as music directors and composers as reported in responses to the American Community Survey.
Details: Education and training recommended for music directors and composers
Employers generally prefer candidates with a master’s degree in music theory, music composition, or conducting for positions as a conductor or classical composer.
Applicants to postsecondary programs in music typically are required to submit recordings, audition in person, or both. These programs teach students about music history and styles, and educate them in composing and conducting techniques. Information on degree programs is available from the National Association of Schools of Music.
A bachelor’s degree typically is required for those who want to work as a choir director. Those who work in public schools may need a teaching license or certification. For more information, see the profiles on teachers.
There are no specific educational requirements for those interested in writing popular music. These composers usually find employment by submitting recordings of their compositions to bands, singers, record companies, and movie studios. Composers may promote themselves through personal websites, social media, or online video or audio of their musical work.
Education level of Music Directors and Composers
About 65% of music directors and composers have at least a bachelor's degree.
Education attained by music directors and composers
None
High School
Some College
Associate's Degree
Bachelor's Degree
Master's Degree
Professional Degree
Doctorate
Top college degrees
Here are the top college degrees held by the 63% of people in this job who have at least a bachelor's degree. Some of degrees may link to multiple programs due to the way Census classifies college majors. Click on a program to learn more about career opportunities for people who major in that field.
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College majors held by music directors and composers
This table shows the college majors held by people working as music directors and composers. If you see "**" before the name of a degree/program, that means this field is one that the Department of Education believes is preparatory for this career. However, you can see from this list that those recommendations are far from your only path to this job!
Major
Select any title to learn more about that degree
Salary comparison for bachelor's only
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Education for Career and Major
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The link between degrees and this career
With the following sankey diagram, you can follow the top ten bachelor's degrees held by people working as music directors and composers, and then, in turn, you can see the 10 occupations that hire the most of each degree's graduates. We hope this provides ideas for similar jobs and similar fields of study.
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Where are the jobs
State-by-state employment numbers
Some careers tend to be centered in specific parts of the country. For example, most jobs in fashion are in New York or California. Let's see if your dream job is easy to find in your dream location! We have a few choices for viewing the data that can help you get a full employment picture.
Select a state to see local area details
Number of Music Directors and Composers per 1,000 workers (ACS)
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Job density versus job count
Which states hire the most music directors and composers? We wonder if that's a fair question since states come in all sizes, so instead let's start with the question of which states have the highest density of people working as music directors and composers. You can choose to view the number of jobs per state if you prefer.
Salaries by state
Let's get a feel for where music directors and composers earn the highest salaries. There are several choices for which data we consider and how we view that data, and each can lead to different conclusions, so please read on...
Median salary versus state ratio
We use two methods to compare salaries across states:
- In-state comparisons: the ratio of median (middle) salaries for music directors and composers compared to the median salary for all people working in each state, or
- Median salary: the unaltered median salaries for music directors and composers.
The darkest shading corresponds to states in which music directors and composers earn the highest salary when compared to other jobs in the state. We think this figure might be a better indicator than the actual salary for your buying power as a state resident.
Select a state to see local area details
Location-adjusted median salary for Music Directors and Composers (ACS)
Employment
51% of Music directors and composers are working part time.
We’ve found that some jobs have a huge number of part-time workers, and typically that is because they are unable to find full-time work or the job itself can’t provide full-time hours. With 51% part-time workers, this occupation has a higher percentage of part-time workers than 95% of careers.
Employer types
This donut shares the break-down of workers by employer type, giving us a picture of what employers most typically hire for this career.
Employers of undefined (ACS)
Private for-profit
Private not-for-profit
Local government
State government
Federal government
Self-employed incorporated
Self-employed not incorporated
Working without pay
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Distribution: Salaries of music directors and composers by type of employer
Here are the salary distributions based on employer type.
Gender
Music directors and composers and gender
With 23% women, this occupation has a lower percentage of women than 63% of careers.
Gender of Music directors and composers
Men (77%)
Women (23%)
Distribution: salaries by gender
Does gender greatly influence your salary in this career? The closer the bars are, the less discrepancy there is.
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
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Context: Women in the workforce
How does this career compare to other careers with regard to the percentage of women in the career.
Context: Salary inequity
The median salary for all full-time male workers in the
US exceeds the full-time median salary for women
by 19%.
The situation is a little better for music directors and composers, with the
median salary for men 14%
higher than the median salary for women.
Race/Origin
Race and origin of Music directors and composers
This donut shows the distribution of race and origin among those employed as Music directors and composers.
Race/origin of music directors and composers
White (79% )
Black (11% )
Asian (4% )
Multiracial (3% )
Other (2% )
American Indian (0% )
Hispanic (0% )
Distribution: salaries by race/origin
Some careers might have a pay disparity based on race or origin, the closer the below bars are the less of a discrepancy is present.
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
