The demands of an orchestral musician

Not very many musicians are able to become full time musicians in an orchestra. And the ones who do make it to that point have a long road ahead of them. According to Douglas Yeo (http://www.yeodoug.com/articles/text/procon.html) there are many pros and cons to becoming a full time musician. Douglas Yeo is a brass player in the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

For many instrumental musicians, getting the chance to be part of an orchestra as your job might sound like a dream come true, and in many ways it is, but you have to keep in mind all of the details to the job. For example there are many hours of practicing on your own to perfect the music you are given. And in some cases it involves some travel which can seem like a great thing, but it involves leaving for family for varied amounts of time.

“The average week for the Boston Symphony Orchestra involves four 2.5 hour practices and 4 concerts” (http://www.yeodoug.com/articles/text/procon.html ) for a new musician in the band that might seem way over whelming and might have them rethinking their choice in joining the orchestra. But some people in the orchestra might completely love it because of the chance to do what they love, play their instrument, and get paid for it.

The average salary for instrumental musicians is about $108,000 a year on the low side to about $143,000 a year for the top orchestra. Looking at the salary for one year of playing your instrument all day every day, all the hard work might seem worth it. Although it isn’t the highest paying job by far, it is a very good paying job even on the low side the salary is way good enough to make a living on.

Just like any other job that is out there for any type of person there are always pros and cons. No matter what kind of job you get or look for you will find that. For example a doctor or surgeon, a pro is the salary and you are helping a lot of people and a con is sometimes people come and they can’t help them. For an orchestral musician a pro is you get to play your instrument for many hours a day and get paid for it, and a con for this is, it takes up a lot of time and you have to have your music perfect with almost no mistakes.

If you are an instrumentalist and you love to play, keep practicing and if being a player in an orchestra sounds fun or like something you would want to do as a life-long career then go for it, the only thing that is stopping you from becoming one is yourself.