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Music Directors and Composers

It's a bright outlook for

This career will grow rapidly in the next few years.

Learn more about what they do.

Conduct, direct, plan, and lead instrumental or vocal performances by musical artists or groups, such as orchestras, bands, choirs, and glee clubs; or create original works of music.

Related: Art, Drama, & Music Teachers, Postsecondary Choreographers Musicians & Singers Producers & Directors Talent Directors

Industries: Service Arts & Entertainment

Summary
Details

Meet with soloists and concertmasters to discuss and prepare for performances.
Perform administrative tasks such as applying for grants, developing budgets, negotiating contracts, and designing and printing programs and other promotional materials.
Transpose music from one voice or instrument to another to accommodate particular musicians.
Use gestures to shape the music being played, communicating desired tempo, phrasing, tone, color, pitch, volume, and other performance aspects.
Experiment with different sounds, and types and pieces of music, using synthesizers and computers as necessary to test and evaluate ideas.
Transcribe ideas for musical compositions into musical notation, using instruments, pen and paper, or computers.
Perform administrative tasks such as applying for grants, developing budgets, negotiating contracts, and designing and printing programs and other promotional materials.
Arrange music composed by others, changing the music to achieve desired effects.
Fill in details of orchestral sketches, such as adding vocal parts to scores.
Assign and review staff work in such areas as scoring, arranging, and copying music, and vocal coaching.
Coordinate and organize tours, or hire touring companies to arrange concert dates, venues, accommodations, and transportation for longer tours.
Apply elements of music theory to create musical and tonal structures, including harmonies and melodies.
Audition and select performers for musical presentations.
Write musical scores for orchestras, bands, choral groups, or individual instrumentalists or vocalists, using knowledge of music theory and of instrumental and vocal capabilities.
Study scores to learn the music in detail, and to develop interpretations.
Audition and select performers for musical presentations.
Plan and schedule rehearsals and performances, and arrange details such as locations, accompanists, and instrumentalists.
Position members within groups to obtain balance among instrumental or vocal sections.
Confer with producers and directors to define the nature and placement of film or television music.
Collaborate with other colleagues, such as copyists, to complete final scores.
Copy parts from scores for individual performers.
Explore and develop musical ideas based on sources such as imagination or sounds in the environment.
Create original musical forms, or write within circumscribed musical forms such as sonatas, symphonies, or operas.
Study films or scripts to determine how musical scores can be used to create desired effects or moods.
Transcribe musical compositions and melodic lines to adapt them to a particular group, or to create a particular musical style.
Write music for commercial mediums, including advertising jingles or film soundtracks.
Direct groups at rehearsals and live or recorded performances to achieve desired effects such as tonal and harmonic balance dynamics, rhythm, and tempo.
Consider such factors as ensemble size and abilities, availability of scores, and the need for musical variety, to select music to be performed.
Rewrite original musical scores in different musical styles by changing rhythms, harmonies, or tempos.
Perform administrative tasks such as applying for grants, developing budgets, negotiating contracts, and designing and printing programs and other promotional materials.
Determine voices, instruments, harmonic structures, rhythms, tempos, and tone balances required to achieve the effects desired in a musical composition.

Monitoring
- Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
Equipment Selection
- Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
Social Perceptiveness
- Understanding people's reactions.
Service Orientation
- Looking for ways to help people.
Programming
- Writing computer programs.
Persuasion
- Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
Technology Design
- Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
Systems Evaluation
- Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
Writing
- Writing things for co-workers or customers.
Management of Personnel Resources
- Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
Instructing
- Teaching people how to do something.
Speaking
- Talking to others.
Complex Problem Solving
- Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
Operations Analysis
- Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
Equipment Maintenance
- Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
Management of Material Resources
- Managing equipment and materials.
Active Listening
- Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
Time Management
- Managing your time and the time of other people.
Management of Financial Resources
- Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
Active Learning
- Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
Quality Control Analysis
- Testing how well a product or service works.
Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
Reading Comprehension
- Reading work-related information.
Science
- Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
Critical Thinking
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
Coordination
- Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
Mathematics
- Using math to solve problems.
Learning Strategies
- Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
Negotiation
- Bringing people together to solve differences.
Operation and Control
- Using equipment or systems.
Judgment and Decision Making
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
Systems Analysis
- Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
Troubleshooting
- Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.

Speech Clarity
- Speaking clearly.
Speech Recognition
- Recognizing spoken words.
Mathematical Reasoning
- Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
Category Flexibility
- Grouping things in different ways.
Written Comprehension
- Reading and understanding what is written.
Oral Expression
- Communicating by speaking.
Originality
- Creating new and original ideas.
Speed of Closure
- Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
Arm-Hand Steadiness
- Keeping your arm or hand steady.
Explosive Strength
- Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
Peripheral Vision
- Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
Extent Flexibility
- Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Auditory Attention
- Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
Visualization
- Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
Selective Attention
- Paying attention to something without being distracted.
Multilimb Coordination
- Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
Depth Perception
- Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
Manual Dexterity
- Holding or moving items with your hands.
Reaction Time
- Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
Trunk Strength
- Using your lower back and stomach.
Near Vision
- Seeing details up close.
Oral Comprehension
- Listening and understanding what people say.
Information Ordering
- Ordering or arranging things.
Written Expression
- Communicating by writing.
Problem Sensitivity
- Noticing when problems happen.
Inductive Reasoning
- Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
Static Strength
- Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
Dynamic Flexibility
- Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Control Precision
- Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
Visual Color Discrimination
- Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
Memorization
- Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
Spatial Orientation
- Knowing where things are around you.
Finger Dexterity
- Putting together small parts with your fingers.
Stamina
- Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
Hearing Sensitivity
- Telling the difference between sounds.
Deductive Reasoning
- Using rules to solve problems.
Fluency of Ideas
- Coming up with lots of ideas.
Flexibility of Closure
- Seeing hidden patterns.
Perceptual Speed
- Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
Glare Sensitivity
- Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
Sound Localization
- Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
Number Facility
- Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
Time Sharing
- Doing two or more things at the same time.
Night Vision
- Seeing at night or under low light.
Response Orientation
- Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
Gross Body Coordination
- Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
Speed of Limb Movement
- Quickly moving your arms and legs.
Rate Control
- Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
Dynamic Strength
- Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
Gross Body Equilibrium
- Keeping your balance or staying upright.
Wrist-Finger Speed
- Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
Far Vision
- Seeing details that are far away.

Mechanical
- Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
Economics and Accounting
- Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
Sales and Marketing
- Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
Personnel and Human Resources
- Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
Physics
- Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
Geography
- Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
Law and Government
- Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
English Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.
Telecommunications
- Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
Design
- Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
History and Archeology
- Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
Customer and Personal Service
- Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Philosophy and Theology
- Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
Foreign Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
Public Safety and Security
- Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
Administrative
- Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
Building and Construction
- Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
Psychology
- Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
Sociology and Anthropology
- Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
Production and Processing
- Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
Engineering and Technology
- Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
Chemistry
- Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
Therapy and Counseling
- Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
Education and Training
- Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
Biology
- Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
Food Production
- Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
Mathematics
- Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
Communications and Media
- Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
Fine Arts
- Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
Administration and Management
- Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Computers and Electronics
- Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
Medicine and Dentistry
- Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
Transportation
- Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.

Education

Bachelor's degree

Work Experience

Less than 5 years work experience

Training

No on-the-job training

Education and Training Opportunities

Washington Annual Salary

77840/yr

Washington Hourly Wage

37.42/hr

Currently Employed

530

Yearly Projected Openings

Artistic: People interested in this work like activities that include creating, designing, and making your own rules. They do well at jobs that need:

Dependability
Integrity
Attention to Detail
Initiative
Cooperation
Independence

Audio monitor
Bells
Cassette players or recorders
Conductors batons
Desktop computers
Digital audio workstation DAW
Drums
Guitars
Laser printers
Loudspeakers
Microphones
Musical instrument digital interface MIDI interfaces
Musical instrument effects unit
Musical organs
Notebook computers
Pen or flash drive
Personal computers
Photocopiers
Pianos
Portable hard disk storage device
Synthesizer
Tablet computers

Data base user interface and query software
Desktop publishing software
Electronic mail software
Music or sound editing software
Office suite software
Presentation software
Spreadsheet software
Video creation and editing software
Word processing software

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

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Music Directors and Composers

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