How many years of practice does it take to join a professional orchestra?

Question

vocals / any instrument . What is the average consensus .
Not the "depends on individual & talent" answer pls

Answer 1

Say you spend 8 years i.e 8 grades of the music school studies. Then go on to join a Bachelor of Music degree in a reputed university , you should be good in 10 years...Again, if you are a natural with your instrument, they let you skip a couple of grades ... I've a friend who did it in 6 & am hoping you'd beat him to it! So, Best of Luck!

Answer 2

to be discouraging: here in Germany, people attend a Musikhochschule for their musical education. It translates to conservatory basically, so it's on the same footing, say as Eastman or Julliard, although those are truly exceptional institutions. Singers usually spend 5 to 6 years in attendance.
According to a recent( as in last year) article in a union magazine, the probability of getting a job in the German system was down to about 4.5%, or, not quite one out of twenty people. The competition is quite fierce, as you may imagine. Those are the stats for soloists. With that in mind, many folk decide they'd rather join the opera chorus than see their education go to waste. Chances here are slightly better, simply because there are more chorus jobs.
There are a lot of highly qualified private music teachers here. The folks who want to teach music in schools get their education through a regular university, rather than a conservatory. So the performers without a job may not have the qualifications needed to teach at the elementary or intermediate level at all.
If you have the dedication and the endurance, you may get nearer to that sort of performer's job. But think about it carefully- there are no guarantees.
Best wishes

Answer 3

Professional orchestras vary widely in who they will accept and how they will pay. It is possible to find employment in a professional orchestra after graduating from university or conservatory. But, unless you are truly exceptional, it is unlikely you will find yourself in a top orchestra.

For example, you may find a spot in the Kansas City Philharmonic without great difficulty, but a spot in the Cleveland Orchestra is quite a different story. Years of professional experience in other orchestras would be expected (unless you are an extraordinary musician). Remember than competition for orchestra positions is a worldwide competition. You don't compete with only people from your country, but from all across the world. In that competition, you will find top musicians from other countries who have been receiving very low salaries (especially East Europeans) who are so glad to receive the same position as you (nothwithstanding their years of high level experience).

Please send an e-mail to me if you want to discuss this.

Good luck!

Answer 4

I was told once by a director that it is not necessary to get a degree in music performance, you just had to be really good. He then added "But how do you get really good? You go get an education. You get the music performance degree." So it takes years of study. There's not an average.

Answer 5

Seriously it takes years. Probobly more than five, but I do know that they usually want you to have a degree in music or something like that. I used to know a man who played the Oboe in the Symphony, and it was his whole life.

Answer 6

i think 4 to 6 years rite..........................