I know right? I can see where they get that number though. There was a period of time where I was working a church job, teaching a decent schedule of students and doing some random gigs and I was making somewhere around 20k. I’ll bet I could have worked my way up in each of those lines of work and made my way to 30k or 35k/yr. If you were to have a position as a staff accompanist at a college or university along with some of these other jobs I could definitely see that.

I’ve been checking out this place called keyboard concepts for various reasons lately. They seem to be a major piano store in the area. There are several locations.
http://www.keyboardconcepts.com/employment.html

I don’t know if they sell used electronic pianos but they do have rental options. you can also look at their employment listings if you’re interested in a job at a piano store. it may be a bit of a drive for you but it’s at least worth the look. but really, craigslist would be the place to look also. you can always find electronic pianos and keyboards in the LA area. I got a broken 88 key monster from CL sitting next to me now with all the guts hanging out. I’m trying to fix it up.

Poor P-90. maybe you can find a new P-90 out here somewhere.

this conversation has officially gone off-topic.

No worries – it cool that you guys are helping each other out here.

Ok, I’ll tell you some numbers. I never usually do this, but not everyone will see this.

When I worked as a freelance musician in Elgin, IL I made $30k/yr. I accompanied at a college, music directed shows, I had 6 regular students and I played a lot of cocktail music gigs. I think $31,000 was the final number my last year there.

As a music director for regional theaters and tours I worked pretty regularly and I pieced together somewhere between $30k and $40k, depending on the year.

These days I’m very fortunate enough to have moved into the Broadway scene. Working musicians in long-running shows can make $75k-$110k+. It’d be nice to get there someday, but I have some time before something like that happens.

There are other scenes out there that pay musicians well. Church work, tours with Broadway shows or celebrity entertainers, orchestration, and a small handful of songwriting/composition jobs.

My best advice is all pretty well documented here on the site. But one thing I don’t often say is this: try to make money. If you want to make money as a musician, then focus on it. People can call it selling out or whatever they want – I’m grateful to have found ways to make a living doing what I love.

My second advice, which I have said before, is this: adjust your geography. You don’t see fisherman living in Kansas trying to make a living off it. No, they go where the fish are. Musicians need to go where the gigs are.

Is that helpful?

A wealth of information as ever David, thank you so much for this insight. Whilst I live in a different part of the world to most MW visitors, you always provide the best advice, so thank you for this once again :)