Nate Beck, 08 School of Rock Graduate, playing at Dragonfly in Hollywood CA

What happens when kids graduate from School of Rock and want to pursue a career as a professional musician?

That partly depends on the support they have from their parents. And that’s tough on parents. On the one hand you want to encourage your child to pursue his or her dream. On the other hand you know how tough it is to pay rent, buy food, keep a car running and, hopefully be able to afford health insurance. And musicians aren’t exactly the highest paid people in the world – at least not MOST of them.

Some of us try to have it both ways by encouraging our kids to continue their education by either attending a music-specific school like McNally Smith, IPR or Musicians Institute or by attending a traditional four year college which offers a music curriculum.

The Minnesota Schools of Rock have had several students go on to study music at the college level and what they are reporting back is that what they are being taught in their first year at college they already learned at School of Rock.  So their challenge is to not become disenchanted with the college; to hang in and pay attention.  I remember when I was in college. I had this problem with Spanish.  I had taken 12 years of Spanish and I was minoring in it in college.  I was so bored in the freshman classes that I zoned out. Unfortunately by the time I zoned back in I was lost.  I still got the minor, but it was a heck of a lot harder than it should have been…or had to be if I had just paid attention during what I could have considered a “refresher period.”

The graduates who are out gigging are getting a hard lesson in the life of a musician. They’re used to someone else booking the venue (School of Rock staff) and someone else bringing in the crowds (usually Moms and Dads.) No matter how much we drill it into students’ heads that they need to get out and sell their own tickets while they’re at School of Rock so they know how to do it when they have their own band – most of them don’t do it. And that results in having a hard time getting a venue to play and a harder time selling tickets because the pressure is on now.

Young musicians want to believe that you can play music for the “love of it” and get paid to do it. Many young musicians can be heard saying they aren’t going to “sell out to the man.”  Sadly they must acknowledge that without money a club can’t operate and without a club the bands have nowhere to play.

I still haven’t figured out how to teach them the difference between “selling out” and the entrepreneurial endeavor they are about to embark on.  Maybe that’s a lesson that can only be learned over time?

Please share your thoughts on your child considering a career as a musician.