Build a working music career
For musicians on any instrument—especially college students and recent graduates preparing for professional life.
You can learn the notes and still have questions about the job. How do you get hired? What makes people trust you with the work? How do you build relationships, handle the business, and keep working?
I wrote Broadway Bound and Beyond: A Musician’s Guide to Building a Theater Career to answer the questions around the playing. It draws on more than 25 years in musical theater—Broadway, tours, workshops, and off-Broadway productions. Those are the examples. The lessons about preparation, trust, reputation, and professional decisions reach beyond theater and apply across instruments.
The work beyond the notes
Preparation means understanding the whole assignment. You need to listen, follow direction, respond to cues, and know how your part fits. Playing well matters. So does making the rehearsal and performance easier for the people around you.
Getting called—and asked back
A first opportunity is only the beginning. Relationships and reliability affect the next call. In theater, subbing asks you to prepare the material and be useful in a room that already has a way of working. The book walks through that process, including the mistakes that can cost you another chance. The same habit—showing up prepared and respecting the people and the work—matters on other gigs, too.
Building beyond one gig
Shows close. Tours come along. Your priorities change. A working career means weighing the music, the people, the money, and the life you want to have. The book addresses touring, professional relationships, contracts, financial awareness, and preparing for what comes next.
Who this is for
Musicians on any instrument, especially college students and recent graduates making the transition from school to professional life. If you are practicing hard but wondering how the working world actually works, start here.
It is also for working musicians looking for a clearer view of the business and educators helping students connect their training to a career. You do not have to be a drummer, want a Broadway job, or already have a professional credit. Several technical chapters focus specifically on drummers; the career and business lessons apply much more broadly.
Choose your next step
Read the essays and listen to the interviews at Broadway Bound and Beyond.
Ask about musician coaching for any instrument or drum lessons.
About Clayton Craddock
I’m a musician, author, and educator based in Las Vegas. My theater work includes Memphis, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, Ain’t Too Proud, and Cats: The Jellicle Ball.