DMusic.com | for indie musicians and fans | Free MP3 music downloads

Forums > News

Studying music pays off...

Israfel	Date: November 14, 2007 @ 9:46 PM TORONTO (Reuters Life!) - Those hours practicing piano scales or singing with a choral group weren't for nothing because people with a background in music tend to have a higher education and earn more, according to a new survey. The poll by Harris Interactive, an independent research company, showed that 88 percent of people with a post-graduate education were involved in music while in school, and 83 percent of people earning $150,000 or more had a music education. "Part of it is the discipline itself in learning music, it's a rigorous discipline, and in an ensemble situation, there's a great deal of working with others. Those types of skills stand you well in careers later in life," said John Mahlmann, of the National Association for Music Education in Reston, Virginia, which assisted in the survey. In addition to the practical skills gained from studying music, people questioned in the online poll said it also gave them a sense of personal fulfillment. Students who found music to be extremely or very influential to their fulfillment were those who had vocal lessons and who played in a garage band. Nearly 80 percent of the 2,565 people who took part in the survey last month who were still involved in music felt the same way. "That's the beauty of music, that they can bring both hard work and enjoyment together, which doesn't always happen elsewhere," Mahlmann added in an interview.
ShadowMom	Date: November 15, 2007 @ 10:27 AM And then there's always the rest of us who to be the exception to the rule! is for fun, I'm glad I took lessons, but it's one of the fun things I've done, unless you'd like to hear a hymn or two? Seriously, it's an obvious plus-- look at the discipline it teaches. Can't be beat in early school years, not by sports or anything else because it is you and you alone who do the work.
Distilled1	Date: November 15, 2007 @ 10:49 AM is that what made me down to earth those confounded piano lessons
ShadowMom	Date: November 15, 2007 @ 11:22 AM You little alien love god you
NosmoKing	Date: November 15, 2007 @ 11:32 AM Interesting article to be sure. I studied accordion for two years at the ripe old age of 10. After that I started playing drums and certainly spent my junior years in garage bands. Weird thing was I played drums professionally, full time for nearly two years and realized I had better start to take some drum lessons. I did but even that was a long time ago! Back to the article.. "Show me the money" because I live in Toronto!
evansorchid	Date: November 15, 2007 @ 7:43 PM Gee, that salary range ain't even in the ballpark for what I earned last year. I'd say that the 83% in the $150,000 dollar bracket were probably smart enough to get the heck out the music scene.
LiQuidMetamo...	Date: November 15, 2007 @ 11:21 PM I've earned 200 dollars from music this year and thought that was amazing, until I remembered that I spent over a thousand on music software, softsynths and plugins Don't give up the day job Leeds
LiQuidMetamo...	Date: November 15, 2007 @ 11:45 PM More importantly though, this year I had some recognition in that CBC Radio 3 played 2 of my tunes on their new musician's podcast (1 of which went on Sirius satellite radio). My electronica project, 'Umbriel Rising' got some recognition with 3rd place in the mix2r.fm best electronic track for Opus R (1 vote away from joint first) and Theme From Umbriel made it to the final round of nominations here in the DM competition. All of this is a better reward to me than monetary recompense.
FraDonaghy	Date: November 17, 2007 @ 3:00 PM This does kind of look at things backwards - music lessons would be a far more common thing for children from privileged family backgrounds to undertake, and so they may have had a lot more things helping them reach those high salaries other than their musical ability.
LiQuidMetamo...	Date: November 17, 2007 @ 3:07 PM Oh yeah, growing up on a council estate in Yorkshire, with all the usual monetary and social problems meant lessons were a non starter for me as a child and adolescent. My first guitar was cobbled together from cast off parts of a local band members 4 or 5th choice guitars, so subsequently had no volume or control knobs, the neck was glued on and the intonation menat anything played beyond the 12th fret was sharp and any kind of bending the strings would immediately put it out of tune. Was 18 before I got my first real guitar and my dad had to work a second job to afford that for me and new soccer boots for my brother who became a professional until injuries led to him having to retire early. Still, as much as I admire technicalities and skillful trained musicians, anyone with drive and determination and practice can achieve a heck of a lot.
ajpresentsky	Date: November 29, 2007 @ 3:39 PM Probably like others here I'm self taught (with a 10 quid guitar with action like a cello). Much as I'm happy with what I'm doing musically I do find it frustrating to get down on paper so to speak what I'm hearing in my head. I've reached the conclusion that some theory would be beneficial so I'm gonna start taking lessons. I think the best way for me would be to improve my non-existant keyboard playing so piano lessons are about to start.
GeneHilbert	Date: November 29, 2007 @ 4:03 PM I'm a product of public school music programs, and I highly recommend them. Some instructors are better than others; still the skills developed if honed will serve you well.
HenriRoger	Date: November 29, 2007 @ 5:06 PM The poll doesn't say studying music brings more money later if you make music for a living . It says it does... if you don't ...

Post A Reply
From:	guest	(Icons - Linking)
Post: