This Week’s Musician Jobs – Feb 16, 2009

The Surflight Theater in New Jersey is seeking an Assistant Music Director and 2nd Keyboardist for it’s summer season. The AMD also serves as the music director of the kid’s shows at Surflight. The pay isn’t listed, but rumor has it that it ain’t rock-star pay. Nevertheless, Surflight is a very well respected theater a few hours south of NYC and this is a great job for a young MD looking to get their foot in the door.

Also looking for music directors are the College of New Jersey, the Library Theatre at Feltre (Chicago), and two theaters in upstate NY – the Theater Barn and the Forestburgh Playhouse.

There doesn’t seem to be any music jobs posted at ChicagoPlays.com right now.  I hear from a contact that the scene has been really slow in Chicago since Wicked closed.  I understand there are a lot of tours going through, but it unfortunately seems like homegrown shows have more musicians than they need right now – an all too familiar story these days.  Sorry Chicago, you’re not alone.  Don’t miss our feature on Unemployment Benefits for Musicians.

We recieved a great email this past week from the website AudioFanZine.com, that is looking for musicians to write gear reviews on their site.  Reviews need to be a minimum of 300 words and you’ll be paid $6 a review, up to $150.  Sounds like a good opportunity for somebody that likes talking gear.  Visit their site for submission information.

There are still Broadway tours going out this year, due to what seems like a strong case of producer optimism that is sweeping the scene (did you see 19 shows are opening on Broadway this spring? Don’t get too excited, only 5 of those are musicals).  The best way to get your foot in the door with tours is to start with non-union tours.  Check out troika.com and NETworkstours.com for info on non-equity tours.  Here’s a bonus: it may be out-dated information, but according to their website, NETworks is looking for reed players and an electric guitarist for immediate replacements.  The webpage lists emails to send your resume to – and what the heck – the rest of us might as well keep that contact info as well.

I understand from my contacts in the cruise industry that talent agencies have more musicians than they know what to do with right now, but I’m not convinced that’s true.  I still see advertisements for Landau Music, and I’m sure some smaller talent agencies like Landau or Oceanbound would be glad to have more talent in their books.  Try Proship anyway, although you can expect that a influx of available musicians means that you’ll have to take whatever terms they offer you in the contract.  Hello 6 months on a boat. Check out our guide, How To Get a Cruise Ship Musician Job.

In the classical world there are quite a few orchestras auditioning new musicians – the New York Phil is auditioning for a timpanist (there’s a good gig), and there are string openings in Milwaukee, Austin, Chicago, Charlotte, Louisiana, Oregon (I could keep going…).  Check MusicalChairs.info, MyAuditions.com and, if you have a membership, afm.org.

No surprise here – the military bands are still hiring.  Check out the Army Band, the Air Force Academy Band, the Fife and Drum Corps and the Military Academy Band at Westpoint.  And if you take this gig, come back and write us an article on it, will you?  We’ve been trying to find somebody to tell us about this gig for months.

Cirque Du Soleil is hiring musicians and auditioning in NYC in March and Las Vegas TBA.  Check out their jobs website for details.

There have been some interesting gigs nationwide on Craigslist lately:

• A band in NYC asks for a keyboardist with a valid passport (always intriguing).
• A cover band in Boston is looking for a guitarist and keyboardist that are “willing to be ridiculous.” Sounds like good times there.
• A dance band in Chicago is looking for a trumpet to sub on February 24th at the Three Olives in Norridge, IL. From their MySpace page it seems like it would be a pretty easy gig of standards.
• A bride and groom in San Francisco are looking for a Beatles cover band for their wedding reception.
• A place in Burbank, CA is looking for a guitar teacher for $30/hr.

That should send some leads your way.  Best of luck to you in a tough economic climate.  Don’t forget to check out our Musician Jobs page for live feeds of musician jobs from around the internet and a list of other websites that list musician jobs. If we’re missing a good website on our list – please let us know.

Thanks and happy gig hunting.