Best Music Resume: Selected Templates and Tips on How to Make It Sound Clear

1. Music Resume Must-Haves
2. Musical Resume Format
3. How to Make a Musician Resume
4. 5 Best Music Resume Templates
5. Comparison of the Best Musical Resume Templates

Music resume. Dear musician, you have chosen an amazing profession! And this is not irony.

In our age of marketers, developers, and managers, meeting a musician is like a breath of fresh air. However, you probably noticed that other musicians in most cases have already found their cushy job. Perhaps you are still looking for ways to improve your music resume.

Now you no longer need to waste your time: we are going to tell you what you need to do with your musical resume in order to become a shortlist habitué.

Let’s check it out!

Music Resume Must-Haves

Do you know that your musician resume has only 6 seconds to attract a potential employer? During this time, he or she decides whether to study your musical resume further or give it a one-way ticket to the deleted files folder. Here you can begin to absentmindedly scratch your head and complain about the vicissitudes of fate. Six seconds is almost nothing because you have so much to tell!

But in reality, there is nothing to worry about. Remember the important distinction: yes, you are a creative person, but your musical resume is a sales tool. It is with the help of a resume that you can receive an invitation to an audition or an interview. Therefore, it must be composed precisely with this in mind.

To understand the must-haves of your musician resume, you need to look behind the scenes of recruiters and get information about what they study first during these critical six seconds.

They do not waste time in vain, they are looking for meat: what are you doing now, where did you manage to excel and what is your education? They are not interested in your hobbies, volunteer work, or other positions that are not related to the conditions of the current opening.

Their initial monitoring is the search for maximum compliance with the skills necessary for hiring and relevant experience.

Therefore, must-have #1 is the most concise description of your work experience and the functions performed. Say no to lengthy sentences and endless stories, there is no time for this. Only clear, structured information should be included that makes it easy to glance so that something remains in the recruiter’s head.

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Be prepared to adjust your musician resume to the requirements of the opening, you will only benefit from this. Do not force the recruiter to hunt for the necessary information randomly scattered throughout your musical resume — provide it right away.

If you want to play in an orchestra, put your experience with the orchestra first. If you are looking for a keyboard player position in a rock band, talk about how masterfully you can play the synthesizer and what you know about rock music. If you are applying for a Beethoven festival with your music resume, list all your previous Beethoven performances. It is simple but extremely effective.

Having paid attention to you thanks to successfully submitted information about experience and skills, the recruiter wants to contact you. But he or she can’t find the contact details that you somehow decided to place at the very bottom of your music resume. Or you wrote only an email, and the recruiter does not have time for correspondence. This is a pure failure — your promising musician resume goes off into oblivion.

Must-have #2 is comprehensive contact information. Phone number, email, and links to profiles on social networks — do not give the recruiter a chance to leave. This section also conceals one trick, which in no case should be overlooked. This is a portfolio, of course, if that is implied by your type of work.

We’ve mentioned that recruiters pay attention to education. In the music field, this is much more important than in others. Learning music literacy on your own is the prerogative of only very persistent and patient people. In addition, there is no guarantee that something will not be misinterpreted with self-study.

So, must-have #3 is the education section. All your degrees, certifications, and distinctions should be collected here. This is especially important if you are going to apply in the academic field: in this case, your professional training will go a long way. If you have a high school education only, specify details about it. Be careful not to describe additional courses and certifications here: there is a separate section for that.

Now we know the required elements of a musical resume, but we still don’t really understand how to put all this into a logical structure. It's time to clarify this point.

Musical Resume Format

Speaking of formats, most often we come across two options: the reverse chronological resume format and the functional format.

The reverse-chronological format means placing your most recent work experience first. You need to understand whether you can find your high notes with it. If recently you have not sparkled at any significant concerts and have not had any special achievements, it is unlikely that this information should be given in the first place: you will not receive a standing ovation. In this case, it is better to consider the second format.

The functional or skill-based format allows you to list skills and experience regardless of chronology but based on their correspondence to the position for which you are applying. You can create thematic sections that characterize your activity in certain musical directions. For example, this can be the section “Solo Guitar Experience” or “Songwriter Experience” within which you adhere to the chronological sequence of your workplaces.

How to Make a Musician Resume

So, we have chosen a format and are ready to start writing our music resume. For convenience, we can use one of the special music resume templates, but we need to know how to properly fill them with information. To make your resume not only readable but also effective, it is advisable to adhere to certain rules. We studied many musician resume examples and identified the main ones:

• Try to fit your musician's resume into one page. If this is not possible due to your tremendous experience and skills, make sure that you number the pages and indicate your name at the top of the second page.
• There is only one style that you must adhere to — the one you have chosen from the very beginning. Starting to use italics or bold to highlight workplaces, do it all the way to the end.
• Use space between sections so that they do not merge into one unreadable canvas of text.
• Eliminate the possibility of spelling errors: edit the resume as much as necessary, and let it be checked by friends and relatives.

These rules can be classified as technical. Now let's talk directly about the sequence of placing sections in the classic sample musician resume:

1. Contact Information. We have already mentioned this and we hope that you have not had time to forget how important it is.
2. Summary or objective. Also known as artistic bio, this section includes a couple of catchy phrases about your major accomplishments. If you have no experience, indicate transferable skills and the reason why you need this job.
3. Work experience. If your musical resume is tailored for performances, indicate them. If you are a teacher, describe the teaching experience. If you are a composer, tell about your creations and under what conditions they were first presented.
4. Your teachers. This is an optional section: indicate only outstanding teachers and those with whom you worked for more than two days or one master class.
5. Education. Indicate the name of the school, its placement, years of study, and your degree.
6. List of skills. Whether you know it or not, s a musician, you have soft and performance skills. You do not need to indicate the latter if you have a performance resume: information about this will already be actually posted in the experience section.
7. Certifications. Here you can describe additional courses and training that helped you pump up your skills. If you do not have these certificates, skip this section.
8. Additional sections. Use this section well, as Albus Dumbledore bequeathed, and only when you have an unexpected ace up your sleeve that will literally blow a recruiter's hair back. Often, here we are talking about awards or other compliments that did not find a place for in other sections.

And finally, the eternal question: do you need a cover letter with your musical resume?

Rather yes, than no.

Of course, not all recruiters read cover letters. But what to do with those who do not want to see your music resume without a cover letter? Better to write it — it can’t hurt.

To hit the right notes, avoid hackneyed language like "Everything else you can find in my resume" or "In the hope of further cooperation, sincerely yours." Write sincerely, without cliché, why you need this work and what you can offer.

If you follow these tips on creating your professional musician resume, you will soon have to go to auditions and interviews much more often than you can imagine, so be prepared. Break a leg!

5 Best Music Resume Templates

Now you know everything you need to create the perfect musical resume. it remains to choose a suitable template, fill it with information about yourself and land your dream job.

Gariel Masarena music resume examples

A classic example of a well-structured two-page resume. If you wish, you can use the one-page version: it is also available. The cover letter in the corresponding design is included in the package.

By choosing this A4 paper size template that is completely ready for printing, you get the opportunity to save your resume in 4 formats — MS Word, Pages, PSD and EPC and an instruction file with answers to the most common questions.

The template is compatible with both PC and Mac, so you will have no problems working with it. Any changes to the text can be accomplished with one click: a stable layout will prevent the layers from getting mixed up. You can even resize different graphic elements.

Smith Jkdonal

A resume in this design will surely attract the attention of your potential employer. Its integral structure and a lot of free space between sections provide a quick and clear perception.

Customize it to your liking, change the format, colors, structure, and typography, and then save it in DOCX, PSD, EPS, or AI format. You will not have any problems with the font: the template uses free Google fonts.

The template is optimized for printing and has a standard A4 size sheet. As a bonus, a cover letter template is offered. If you have questions, you can always use the instructions that are included in the kit.

Bundle Resume music resume examples

Do you like to have more advanced choices? Then the best option for you will be a set of four amazing templates, each of which can become your pass into the world of a fast-paced music career!

The flexible page design offers simple and convenient customization so that you can create exactly the resume that you need for a particular opening. Change colors, shapes, blocks, etc. without fear of damaging the structure of the template. AI, EPS, and DOCX template files are included.

Read the attached instructions if you have questions about templates. However, remember that their excellent structure makes it easy to work with them even for beginners.

Markim Smith music resume for college

This template does not limit your imagination. You can make one- or two-page resumes, write a cover letter in a template with the matching style, and even develop your own business card! Who knows where it might come in handy?

According to the standard, you get all the files in the PSD, AI, and DOCX formats with the ability to edit colors, elements, paragraph layout, and more.

Easy customization, basic printing, and well-tuned layers — create your perfect music resume right now!

Jhon Markin music resume for college

Professional A4 one-page template with an elegant and sleek design. A cover letter is also included.

Use it in the formats PSD, AI, or DOCX, easily customize as you wish, change the sizes of elements and the layout of sections. The layout of the template will not suffer from this: it is configured so that even a beginner can cope with its redesign.

The set includes a dark and light design with an excellent balance of text and free space. All that is left to do is add information about yourself.

Comparison of the Best Musical Resume Templates

Are There Any Gaps in Your Knowledge About Writing a Musical Resume? (FAQ)

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