A Music Magazine For People Who Make Music

It’s that time of year again: Time when audio students begin graduating into the workforce en masse. Also: Time to review the past years’ jobs data to see where the best prospects in the audio industry lie.

Each spring—not too long before schools let out—the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) releases its latest job numbers, which they collected in May of the previous year. The new figures are based on the Occupational Employment Statistics (“OES”) survey, a questionnaire filled out by businesses that hire and pay workers.

Because this is a survey of employers that only tracks the number of salaried employees, it leaves out far m…

In 1954, on his 5th birthday, Robert Sprinkle was given a choice by his father, Leland Sprinkle: have a traditional birthday party, or take a tour of one of Virginia’s most famous caves, Luray Caverns. Robert chose the cave tour, and soon the Sprinkle family descended below the surface of the small town of Luray to view its main attraction.

When they arrived at a part of the cave dubbed “The Throne”, their guides indulged in a regular custom: “Playing” the cave’s stalactites like the keys of a marimba. “The guides had a habit of taking out a little rubber rod and tapping out ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’,” Robert now recalls. “They had noti…

Most paid rehearsal spaces stink, if not literally, then at least figuratively. For several years, my band rehearsed in one: A windowless room slapped together with drywall inside of a warehouse space in a sad and desolate part of town.

We played two nights a week in that rented space, sharing the room with up to three other bands. Our roommates, schedules, and the price of rent changed each time our landlord moved our room, which turned out to be four times in two years. Each member of our three-piece band often paid upwards of $100 a month for our share of the space.

Outside the room, beer bottles overflowed from rubber bins on th…

“Good habits are worth being fanatical about.”
―John Irving

Research shows that developing a skill is nothing like cramming for an exam. Creative ability, like physical strength, is something that develops slowly, almost unconsciously over time, given the right stimulus.

Because of this, the most fundamental determinant of how great your musicianship will become lies in consistent, focused practice. Evidence suggests that this is a more important ingredient than innate ability, specific practice tactics, or perhaps anything else.

This is true whether your goal in music is expressiveness or virtuosity, great song-craft or irresi…