Career
Music directors and composers
Write music and lead the people who perform it.
Here's what you actually need to know.
The work
What people in this job do
- Use gestures to shape the music being played, communicating desired tempo, phrasing, tone, color, pitch, volume, and other performance aspects.
- Direct groups at rehearsals and live or recorded performances to achieve desired effects such as tonal and harmonic balance dynamics, rhythm, and tempo.
- Study scores to learn the music in detail, and to develop interpretations.
- Apply elements of music theory to create musical and tonal structures, including harmonies and melodies.
- Consider such factors as ensemble size and abilities, availability of scores, and the need for musical variety, to select music to be performed.
The outlook
How the forecast changed this year
The deeper question
What kind of person does this path ask you to become?
What this work centers on
O*NET interest profile, scored 1–7.
The work
Do you want most of your days spent on creation & expression, then persuasion & leadership?
Responsibility
Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?
“Use gestures to shape the music being played, communicating desired tempo, phrasing, tone, color, pitch, volume, and other performance aspects.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Active Listening, Speaking, Reading Comprehension, Judgment and Decision Making.
Trade-offs
What does it ask of you in exchange?
4 years of education after high school (bachelor's degree), for a median of $73,710 a year and 4,200 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Musicians and Singers
- Choreographers$55,310 · +3.1%
- Art, Drama, and Music Teachers, Postsecondary$78,620 · +2.2%
- Producers and Directors$90,360 · +4.0%
- Talent Directors
Ask anything about this career.
“Would this make sense if I don't want to sit at a desk all day?” Answers will come from the sources on this page, with citations. Coming soon.
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Sources
- BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34 (archived), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), National Center for O*NET Development / U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk, NCES and BLS. Retrieved 2026-10-01.