Occupation
Musician
Musicians perform and record music on stage, in studios, in pits, and in places of worship and education. Most careers are assembled from several strands at once, so practice, teaching, session work, and self-promotion usually run in parallel.
Also known as: Instrumentalist · Session musician · Performing musician
Occupation content
Part of Arts, design, media and communications
What the work involves
- Practise technique and learn repertoire or parts for upcoming dates
- Rehearse with an ensemble, band, or musical director
- Perform live, adjusting to the room, the audience, and the sound engineer
- Record parts to a click or arrangement in a studio session
- Maintain instruments and equipment and arrange transport to venues
- Handle bookings, contracts, and promotion for your own work
How people commonly enter
- Conservatoire or university degree in music performance
- College diploma in music or contemporary performance
- Long-term private tuition and graded examinations
- Self-directed practice with live and session work building a reputation
Typical training: Varies by employer or jurisdiction
Licensing: Not typically licensed
Typical work context
Works independently · Team based · Involves travel · Shift work · Public facing
Related interests
Artistic (creative) · Realistic (hands-on)
Related aptitude preparation
These are preparation links only. They do not measure eligibility for this occupation and no score here qualifies or disqualifies anyone.
Skills to practise
Related learning
Family-level learning links for Arts, design, media and communications.
Official sources
Labour-market facts such as pay and employment projections are not reproduced here. Open an official source below for figures, with its own geography and reference period.
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics - Occupational Outlook Handbook: Musicians and Singers · United States
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- O*NET OnLine - Musicians and Singers (27-2042.00) · International
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- UK National Careers Service - Explore careers job-profile index · United Kingdom
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Labour-market context (not part of exploration match)
This is broad family-level context for Arts, design, media and communications in Canada, not a figure for Musician. It does not affect matching scores and is not an eligibility determination.
This is a broad Arts, design, media and communications family. Explore the official profile for the chosen occupation; entry education and training can differ within the family.
Canada Job Bank Career Planning · Canada · Current official profile; consult source for its release period
Arts, design, media and communications: education pathways
Some roles in Arts, design, media and communications may be regulated. Confirm whether the specific role requires registration, certification, or a jurisdiction-specific licence.
Canada Job Bank Career Planning · Canada · Current official profile; consult source for its release period
Arts, design, media and communications: licensing
Find jobs
These are live, user-controlled searches on each source's own site for “ Musician”. Novus Learn does not fetch, store, or rank these results, and job availability never changes your exploration match score.
- Search Canada Job Bank · Canada
- Search USAJOBS · United States federal
- Search EURES · European Union / EEA
- Search Indeed · International (choose location on Indeed)