Helping the beginner: Seminars on "Preparing for a Career in Music"

Learning to play a musical instrument; winning major prizes in young years; successfully completing music studies followed by a smooth transition to an artistic solo career: would anyone not dream of embarking on such an obstacle-free profession? Alternatively a young musician might opt instead for secure employment until retirement with a high level professional orchestra after passing the relevant exams and completing a successful trial.

There will still be careers of these kinds in future - but they will decline in number as a result of cutbacks, mergers and closures in times of increasing international competition in the arts. So it is ever more important that young musicians, who wish to earn a living in music, be well prepared to cope with the rapidly changing career opportunities and market prospects.

In addition to their artistic education - which must always remain the focus of attention - it is important for them to profit as much as possible from new fields and niches of activity and grasp new opportunities. This includes gaining experience in on-stage presence, concert dramaturgy and arrangement as well as matters concerning marketing (oneself), public relations and communication.  A basic knowledge about legal and economic affairs will also play a future role; this is accompanied by the need to know about organisation and management methods and also to be able to generate suitable texts for the press releases or concert programmes or to be able to use the latest means of communication.

Not every independent musician has to do all of this by her or himself. The future, however, will dictate that those who do not wish to choose the secure employment mentioned above will have to have as good a grasp of such topics as possible and undertake them themselves.

The courses held by the Podium Junger Musiker Foundation on "Preparing for a Career in Music" are designed to impart such knowledge to those studying in the Schools of Music in Germany. The themes mentioned above are handled in asmuch depth as possible and spread over two five day courses. Competent professors with professional experience hold lectures combined with practical exercises to pass on much of what they themselves have experienced and which is essential to know for any future career in music. The participants will be able to discover their own - perhaps unrecognised - talents and subsequently enjoy embarking on a professional career by themselves.