The Hidden Opus of Music Alumni in Non-Musical Occupations: Perspectives on Postsecondary Music Curricula and Career Advising

Abstract

There is a wealth of literature addressing the widening gap between increasing numbers of annual music graduates and decreasing numbers of traditional employment opportunities. These scholars and practitioners have voiced a wide spectrum of potential solutions to the problem, but participants in these studies are represented almost strictly by current students and graduates who have successfully secured sustainable careers in music-related fields. The purpose of my research is to address a gap in this literature by amplifying the stories of graduates who were not so fortunate. I hope that my findings will guide faculty and administrators in effective curricular and advising reform in order to protect future students from a similar fate. To study this sample of music alumni I analyzed pre-existing data gathered by the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP). Housed at Indiana University’s Center for Postsecondary Research, SNAAP provided data from the 2015-2017 iterations of their survey, representing 78,920 individual respondents and 109 different postsecondary institutions (SNAAP, 2018a). This data was compared with a selection of categorical institutional characteristics. These characteristics include Carnegie Classification, Educational Value of Seats, Music FTE Ratio, and Selectivity. These characteristics were compared with participants’ career outcomes, perceptions of curricular relevance, perceptions of realistic career advising, and general institutional satisfaction. I also explored the differences in perceptions of institutional effectiveness between graduates who do and do not work in music-related occupations.