Just how many are we talking about?

There are 625 Music schools, departments, conservatories in the U.S. who are accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music. (and not every school is a member school. Juilliard is not a member of NASM. And we all know Juilliard trains musicians). Entering class sizes vary, and the number of graduates are less than the number we accept in to these programs, however, if you figure that a graduating class can graduate anywhere between 10-60 students every year, that puts the graduating number of music students at between 6,000 to 30,000 new music graduates every year. So the question that I see before me, is this- because of the specialized nature of music training, are these skills transferable? In our efforts to prepare our music students for the highest level of music study, are we omitting other skills that they can use to support themselves? And are we preparing musicians for the realities of the music world? The music world today?

Perhaps the place to start is to get a realistic sense of how many music students we really are turning out- a 24,000 possible difference in numbers is a big one. I think that will be an ongoing research project. . .

All college graduates must face the question of what to do next. And there are plenty of arguments against the philosophy major, or the ubiquitous English major for the very reason that there are few professional philosophers out there. But I'm thinking there is enough room in the English major or philosophy major curricula for a broader based liberal arts education, and the nature of music study leaves little room for that.

I see this post has more questions than answers. Seems to be time for some research. . .