Making Music in Looking Glass Land: A Guide to Survival and Business Skills for the Classical Musician

by Ellen Highstein

Book by Highstein, Ellen

260 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1997

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish this book had been published when I had graduated from music school. How do you crack into the music industry? What tools are absolutely essential to have to perform and market yourself? How can you make a living with what you've learned in school?

This book outlines in detail the answers to those questions. It does have a New York bias, as the author clearly acknowledges, but the advice can be translated to any location.

A lot of what I learned in this book, I had already learned the hard way in the real world. I think that if there was a book like this back then, I could've saved myself a lot of heartache.

I read the 3rd edition that I borrowed from the library. The book is now in its 5th edition, and required reading for many music students in school now. For me, it now serves as a good checklist of things I would like to do while I can still perform.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sort of like those "how to write a resume" books we used in our twenties, this is the book for a classical musician who's putting together a press kit. It's a little depressing if you're not in the fancy-conservatory-ready-to-do-competitions crowd, but still, there are a lot of good models in here for CVs, bios, headshots, press releases, and the like. Plus a great chapter for composers.