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Music Directors and Composers
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.
Also Known As:
Arranger
Choir Director
Composer
Conductor
Music Composer
Music Director
Music Producer
Orchestra Director
Songwriter
Wages
Annual wages for Music Directors and Composers in United States
Job Outlook
Average
New job opportunities are likely in the future
United States
2033 Projected Employment
51,600
3% Change From 2023
Explore Music Directors and Composers video
Tasks you might complete in a day.
- Study scores to learn the music in detail, and to develop interpretations.
- Write musical scores for orchestras, bands, choral groups, or individual instrumentalists or vocalists, using knowledge of music theory and of instrumental and vocal capabilities.
- Fill in details of orchestral sketches, such as adding vocal parts to scores.
- Consider such factors as ensemble size and abilities, availability of scores, and the need for musical variety, to select music to be performed.
- Audition and select performers for musical presentations.
- Rewrite original musical scores in different musical styles by changing rhythms, harmonies, or tempos.
- Study films or scripts to determine how musical scores can be used to create desired effects or moods.
- Arrange music composed by others, changing the music to achieve desired effects.
- Write music for commercial mediums, including advertising jingles or film soundtracks.
- Determine voices, instruments, harmonic structures, rhythms, tempos, and tone balances required to achieve the effects desired in a musical composition.
- Collaborate with other colleagues, such as copyists, to complete final scores.
- Position members within groups to obtain balance among instrumental or vocal sections.
- Explore and develop musical ideas based on sources such as imagination or sounds in the environment.
- Plan and schedule rehearsals and performances, and arrange details such as locations, accompanists, and instrumentalists.
- Transcribe musical compositions and melodic lines to adapt them to a particular group, or to create a particular musical style.
- Confer with producers and directors to define the nature and placement of film or television music.
- Assign and review staff work in such areas as scoring, arranging, and copying music, and vocal coaching.
- Create original musical forms, or write within circumscribed musical forms such as sonatas, symphonies, or operas.
- Coordinate and organize tours, or hire touring companies to arrange concert dates, venues, accommodations, and transportation for longer tours.
- Direct groups at rehearsals and live or recorded performances to achieve desired effects such as tonal and harmonic balance dynamics, rhythm, and tempo.
- Perform administrative tasks such as applying for grants, developing budgets, negotiating contracts, and designing and printing programs and other promotional materials.
- Perform administrative tasks such as applying for grants, developing budgets, negotiating contracts, and designing and printing programs and other promotional materials.
- Copy parts from scores for individual performers.
- Apply elements of music theory to create musical and tonal structures, including harmonies and melodies.
- Experiment with different sounds, and types and pieces of music, using synthesizers and computers as necessary to test and evaluate ideas.
- 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.
- Audition and select performers for musical presentations.
- Meet with soloists and concertmasters to discuss and prepare for performances.
- Transcribe ideas for musical compositions into musical notation, using instruments, pen and paper, or computers.
- Use gestures to shape the music being played, communicating desired tempo, phrasing, tone, color, pitch, volume, and other performance aspects.
Subject areas you may need to master.
- Transportation - Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Telecommunications - Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
- 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.
- Production and Processing - Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
- Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
- 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.
- Mechanical - Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Sociology and Anthropology - Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
- Biology - Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
- 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.
- History and Archeology - Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
- Design - Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
- 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.
- English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
- Food Production - Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Fine Arts - Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
- Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
Strengths you may need in this role.
- Active Learning - Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
- Science - Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
- Complex Problem Solving - Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
- Technology Design - Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
- Instructing - Teaching people how to do something.
- Persuasion - Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
- Systems Analysis - Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
- Management of Personnel Resources - Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
- Equipment Maintenance - Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
- Systems Evaluation - Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
- Operations Monitoring - Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
- Programming - Writing computer programs.
- Judgment and Decision Making - Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
- Speaking - Talking to others.
- Mathematics - Using math to solve problems.
- Critical Thinking - Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
- Social Perceptiveness - Understanding people's reactions.
- Operations Analysis - Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
- Coordination - Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
- Equipment Selection - Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
- Negotiation - Bringing people together to solve differences.
- Installation - Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
- Monitoring - Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
- Active Listening - Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
- Learning Strategies - Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
- Troubleshooting - Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
- 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.
- Operation and Control - Using equipment or systems.
- Repairing - Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
- Writing - Writing things for co-workers or customers.
- Reading Comprehension - Reading work-related information.
- Service Orientation - Looking for ways to help people.
- Quality Control Analysis - Testing how well a product or service works.
- Management of Material Resources - Managing equipment and materials.
- Manual Dexterity - Holding or moving items with your hands.
- Flexibility of Closure - Seeing hidden patterns.
- Static Strength - Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
- Response Orientation - Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
- Trunk Strength - Using your lower back and stomach.
- Far Vision - Seeing details that are far away.
- Perceptual Speed - Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
- Control Precision - Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
- Explosive Strength - Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
- Near Vision - Seeing details up close.
- Mathematical Reasoning - Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
- Extent Flexibility - Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Oral Expression - Communicating by speaking.
- Inductive Reasoning - Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
- Deductive Reasoning - Using rules to solve problems.
- Category Flexibility - Grouping things in different ways.
- Problem Sensitivity - Noticing when problems happen.
- Sound Localization - Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
- Speech Clarity - Speaking clearly.
- Written Comprehension - Reading and understanding what is written.
- Written Expression - Communicating by writing.
- Glare Sensitivity - Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
- Auditory Attention - Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
- Speech Recognition - Recognizing spoken words.
- Gross Body Coordination - Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
- Finger Dexterity - Putting together small parts with your fingers.
- Visual Color Discrimination - Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
- Night Vision - Seeing at night or under low light.
- Peripheral Vision - Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
- Spatial Orientation - Knowing where things are around you.
- Multilimb Coordination - Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
- Dynamic Strength - Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
- Selective Attention - Paying attention to something without being distracted.
- Stamina - Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
- Speed of Closure - Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
- Reaction Time - Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
- Wrist-Finger Speed - Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Dynamic Flexibility - Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Originality - Creating new and original ideas.
- Oral Comprehension - Listening and understanding what people say.
- Fluency of Ideas - Coming up with lots of ideas.
- Information Ordering - Ordering or arranging things.
- Depth Perception - Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
- Hearing Sensitivity - Telling the difference between sounds.
- Speed of Limb Movement - Quickly moving your arms and legs.
- Gross Body Equilibrium - Keeping your balance or staying upright.
- Visualization - Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
- Number Facility - Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
- Memorization - Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
- Time Sharing - Doing two or more things at the same time.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness - Keeping your arm or hand steady.
- Rate Control - Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
Average Education Attained
Highest level of education earned by people in this career.
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Content sourced from United States Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration ("DOLETA") and the Minnesota Department of Employment & Economic Development ("DEED")