“The best way to get experience is to begin working.”
The Musician’s Way, p. 303
Data from the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard shows that most applied music graduates from U.S. universities and conservatories earn very little income.
In fact, their reported incomes don’t even reach the level of high school graduates who never attended college.
But there’s a proven way for music students to gain superior income-earning skills.
The Power of Paid Internships
As described in my new article in the open-access journal, College Music Symposium, the strategy that boosts applied music graduates’ incomes is for them to participate in paid internships during their studies.
Such internships involve assisting music teachers, arts administrators, church musicians, or other arts professionals, doing skilled tasks that lead to good-paying, music-related work – the type of work that graduates can do while concurrently pursuing performance and composition careers.
Titled “Improve Outcomes with Paid Internships,” my article summarizes research into the powerful effects of paid internships and then spells out ways in which schools can fund and establish them.
I implemented all of the strategies listed in the article at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore during the years when I founded and led the school’s Music Entrepreneurship and Career Center, which has since been renamed.
As my article points out, undergraduates who participate in paid internships earn higher starting salaries, get more job offers, and secure post-graduation jobs sooner than students who engaged in unpaid internships or who skipped doing internships.
“Undergraduates who participate in paid internships earn higher starting salaries, get more job offers, and secure post-graduation jobs sooner than students who engaged in unpaid internships or who skipped doing internships.”
Students and Faculty Can Aid Implementation
If you’re a student or faculty member at a U.S. higher ed music school that doesn’t offer paid internships (most don’t), then you can use the concepts in the article to begin the process of making such internships available at your school.
Getting that process under way entails obtaining buy-in from multiple entities within a school, particularly school leaders, but the article delineates incentives that will motivate people to work together and take action.
If your school ‘s leadership shows interest but needs help with planning and implementation, I offer consulting to music schools that makes it possible for them
to promptly establish paid internships. And I make it much easier for schools to secure funding.
If your school wants to explore working with me, please write via the contact form on this site.
Read “Improve Outcomes with Paid Internships” in your browser.
See The Musician’s Way book for strategies that equip music students to succeed as artists and professionals.
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The Art-Career Tango
Becoming a Go-To Musician
Design Thinking for Audience Development
Supply and Demand for Classical Musicians
© 2026 Gerald Klickstein
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