Pathway
Music & Performing Arts
Performing, composing, directing, producing. Audition- and portfolio-driven, with more career shapes behind the stage than on it, and those pay better.
Majors
- Music Performance
- Music Education
- Music Production / Audio Engineering
- Theater / Drama
- Dance
- Arts Administration
Jobs people do
- Performer
- Music teacher
- Audio engineer / producer
- Stage or production manager
- Composer / arranger
- Arts administrator
Watch out
The choices that quietly close a door here
Not starting theory or lessons until junior year.
Auditions happen in the fall and winter of senior year. Two years is rarely enough to prepare for a competitive one.
Instead Start theory sophomore year at the latest, and lessons as early as you can.
Only planning for the performing version of the career.
Performance jobs are scarce. Students who don't develop teaching, production, or technical skills have no second door.
Instead Build one adjacent skill deliberately, audio engineering, teaching, or arts administration. It funds the performing.
Course ladder
Grade by grade
Course names differ at every school, and graduation requirements differ by state. Take this list to your counselor so the two of you are working from the same page.
Grade 8
- Get into the ensemble now, band, choir, orchestra, theaterLoad-bearing
Grade 9
- Ensemble or studio class every yearLoad-bearing
Continuity matters more than any single achievement. Four years unbroken is the signal.
- English 9Load-bearing
- GeometryLoad-bearing
Grade 10
- Music theory, if offeredLoad-bearing
Required for most music degree auditions, and hard to pick up late.
- Advanced ensembleLoad-bearing
- Algebra IILoad-bearing
Grade 11
- AP Music TheoryLoad-bearing
Music schools expect theory. Arriving without it means remedial coursework.
- Audio production or technical theaterWorth doing
The behind-the-scenes skills are where most of the steady work is.
- Private lessons, not a school course, but the real prerequisiteLoad-bearing
Grade 12
- Audition preparation / advanced studioLoad-bearing
- Business or arts management electiveWorth doing
Almost every performer is also a small business.
- Keep the academic load realWorth doing
Academic scholarships matter here more than most people expect.
Outside class
Private lessons, consistently
The single strongest predictor of audition outcomes. If cost is a barrier, ask about community music schools with sliding-scale rates.
From grade 8
All-State / regional honor ensembles
Auditioned, competitive, and exactly the credential music schools read.
From grade 9
Perform outside school
Community theater, church, gigs, open mics. Different rooms, different pressure.
From grade 9
Summer intensive or music camp
Often the first honest read on where you stand nationally. Scholarships are common, ask.
From grade 10
Things to build
Record something well
One clean recording you're proud of. Learn enough production to make it yourself.
From grade 10
Produce a show end to end
Book it, promote it, run it, pay everyone. It teaches the business, which is most of the career.
From grade 11
Is this actually a fit for you?
Ten minutes of questions, and Bearing turns this into a plan that starts from the grade you're in.
Take the survey