Pianist Overview
Working as a Pianist
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a pianist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $26.19 an hour? That's $54,471 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 0% and produce 300 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Pianist Do
There are certain skills that many pianists have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed discipline, physical stamina and promotional skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a pianist, we found that a lot of resumes listed 34.6% of pianists included piano performance, while 15.9% of resumes included music videos, and 9.9% of resumes included adult choir. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the pianist job title. But what industry to start with? Most pianists actually find jobs in the education and hospitality industries.
How To Become a Pianist
If you're interested in becoming a pianist, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 55.7% of pianists have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 18.4% of pianists have master's degrees. Even though most pianists have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a pianist. When we researched the most common majors for a pianist, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on pianist resumes include associate degree degrees or high school diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a pianist. In fact, many pianist jobs require experience in a role such as accompanist. Meanwhile, many pianists also have previous career experience in roles such as director of music or piano instructor.
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Pianist Jobs
Pianist Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of musician you might progress to a role such as worship leader eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title music ministries director.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Pianist
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
First United Methodist Church Pianist Pianist | First United Methodist Church First United Methodist Church | 09/28/2019 09/28/2019 | $104,35009/28/2019 $104,350 |
University of California Riverside, Bourns College Pianist Pianist | University of California Riverside, Bourns College University of California Riverside, Bourns College | 08/28/2019 08/28/2019 | $34,10008/28/2019 $34,100 |
New York Kids Club Pianist Pianist | New York Kids Club New York Kids Club | 07/30/2019 07/30/2019 | $52,17507/30/2019 $52,175 |
Evangelical Community Church Church Pianist Church Pianist | Evangelical Community Church Evangelical Community Church | 03/13/2018 03/13/2018 | $56,34903/13/2018 $56,349 |
Evangelical Community Church Church Pianist Church Pianist | Evangelical Community Church Evangelical Community Church | 02/27/2018 02/27/2018 | $61,40002/27/2018 $61,400 |
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Pianist Resumes
Designing and figuring out what to include on your resume can be tough, not to mention time-consuming. That's why we put together a guide that is designed to help you craft the perfect resume for becoming a Pianist. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
Learn How To Write a Pianist Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Pianist resumes and compiled some information about how best to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Detailed InformationTop Colleges for Pianists
1. Stanford University
Stanford, CA
2. Harvard University
Cambridge, MA
3. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
4. Cornell University
Ithaca, NY
5. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI
6. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL
7. Rice University
Houston, TX
8. University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN
9. Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY
10. Brown University
Providence, RI
Entry Level Jobs For Becoming A Pianist
Top Skills For a Pianist
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 34.6% of pianists listed piano performance on their resume, but soft skills such as discipline and physical stamina are important as well.
- Music Program, 39.7%
- Piano Performance, 34.0%
- Classical Music, 6.3%
- Chorus, 4.6%
- Private Parties, 2.5%
- Other Skills, 12.9% See All Pianist Skills
Best States For a Pianist
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a pianist. The best states for people in this position are California, New York, Alaska, and Oregon. Pianists make the most in California with an average salary of $91,327. Whereas in New York and Alaska, they would average $83,493 and $81,547, respectively. While pianists would only make an average of $80,369 in Oregon, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. California
$91,327
Avg. Salary
2. New York
$83,494
Avg. Salary
3. Oregon
$80,370
Avg. Salary
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Pianist Videos
