Various people keep finding this piece of snark on this blog after asking Google what they can do with a music degree.

I thought that as a holder of a music degree and a general supporter of people with music degrees, I should perhaps paint a less bleak picture.

Through the power of Facebook, I’ve been able to track what many of my former undergraduate classmates from conservatory are up to now. It’s quite a list:

Several play with professional orchestras or military bands. Three are in medical school. A few are in graduate school for music–at places like Yale and Juilliard–or are already finishing up and teaching in colleges and universities. One is a professional clown. One is in a glamor band and plays shows in Vegas. Two are about to graduate from Ivy League law schools. A number of them teach general music, band, or orchestra in K-12 schools. One plays in studio orchestras that record soundtracks for Hollywood films. A couple are librarians now–music or otherwise. Some mostly teach private lessons or work for Suzuki schools. A few singers I knew are apprenticed to opera companies. One, though, is a lobbyist in Washington, D.C. A former brass player friend now ranks quite high in the Marine Corps. Another went straight into commercial real estate after school. There’s a music therapist. One friend went back for a degree in engineering, and another for a degree in economics (he now works for the Department of Treasury). There’s an information technology analyst. And and Apple Genius.

Well, and me–the musicologist. I’ll probably be the one whose music degree is most likely to lead directly to poverty!