what is the best way to get into becoming a session musician?

Question

i play the saxaphone and have done for 12 years and i am very good i would love to no more also i would love to work on cruises in a bang perhapse

Answer 1

My best suggestion is to join your local, or in an area where you plan to work, The American Federation of Musicians. You can reach them at :
afm.org Good Luck :-)

Answer 2

Technique is the most important thing for a studio musician to possess. Scales, modes, and arpeggios are the minimum. In all keys, major and minor.

Sight-reading is the other most-valuable skill for such a person. You have to be able to play well ANY chart that is put in front of you, first time, or you're not hired back.

Good luck! It's a tough profession, and not one I'd be up for even after 27 years of clarineting and 15 years of teaching private lessons!

Answer 3

Well that's a worthy goal.

You need to get your reading skills up to top level. Also it's very handy to learn to transpose on the fly. Working on improvisation helps, not that you use it in most sessions, but because it gets you loose and sometimes when a session is not going well, you can make suggestions and playing with the composers material in front of them helps them... sometimes.

To really be a valuable session player, don't dwell too much on 'your favorite genre'... it's good to be able to jump into anything, and so I recommend listening to lots of different styles and mediums. You never know when a session comes up that will require you feel comfortable in for instance 'country' music... even as a horn player that comes up.

Join the union of course. That's who usually puts up jobs for session players.

Good luck.

Answer 4

Buy the publication The Stage, there are jobs advertised in this.
Good luck and hopefully Bon Voyage.

Answer 5

submit a demo to your local recording studios. I used to record for over seven years and we always got the studio to find seshes for us...good luck