Musician CV Examples & Writing Guide

Musician is one of the few jobs where four completely different documents share the same name. Writing the wrong one is the most common mistake on this page, so pick your situation before you type a word.

• The gigging and session CV. For bandleaders, fixers, musical directors, cruise and hotel entertainment bookers, church music directors. Credits, styles, gear, reading ability, reliability.
• The classical or orchestral CV. For auditions, teaching posts, festivals and grants. Closer to an academic CV: degrees, teachers, ensembles, competitions, masterclasses, repertoire.
• The musical theatre CV. A one-page CV that goes with your headshot, usually through Spotlight or your agent. Credits in three columns, plus height, vocal range, playing age, Equity status and special skills.
• The music CV for a conservatoire or university application or audition. For a conservatoire application, a university music course or a scholarship. Repertoire, ensembles, graded exam results (ABRSM, Trinity or similar), county or national youth ensembles, your instrumental teacher, and leadership.
• A fifth document gets confused with these: the electronic press kit, or one-sheet. That is band marketing with photos, streaming links and press quotes, not a CV.

This sample is a working bass player who gigs live, does sessions and teaches. Names, bands and venues are invented. It is the version most people searching for a musician CV actually need.

• What you play, exactly. Instrument, doubles, voice part, and the styles you can actually cover on a gig. "Guitar" is not enough; "electric and acoustic, country and soul, plays pedal steel badly" is honest and useful.
• Reading and preparation. Can you read charts, notation, or the Nashville number system? Can you learn a 40-song book in two weeks? This is the single most common reason a good player does not get rebooked.
• The credits themselves, with scale. Ensemble or artist, venue type and capacity, number of dates. A tiny room and an arena are the same word on the page unless you add the number.
• Reliability and logistics. Missed dates, gear, transport, passport, availability, whether you can fly with your instrument. Fixers have been burned and read for this.
• Union and business status. Musicians' Union membership for orchestral, session and many touring engagements, and Equity for musical theatre performers. Also whether you invoice properly, since most of this work is self-employed.

“Half the CVs I get are a wall of band names with no dates and no venues. Tell me how many shows a year, what you read, and whether you have ever missed a call. That is the whole decision for a sub.”

This is where musician CVs fall apart. A list of band names with no context tells a fixer nothing. Add the role, the scale and the dates.

Two conventions worth following. Group credits under headings (Touring, Session, Theatre, Church, Teaching) rather than one long list, and keep them reverse chronological within each. And be exact about your role: sideman, dep, member, leader, fixer. Musicians notice inflation immediately, and the community is small.

This is one of the most searched versions of this page, usually by a sixth-form student or their parent. A conservatoire, a university music department or a scholarship panel wants evidence of level, training and commitment, on one page.

1. 1Header: name, instrument or voice type, contact, and the year you finish school or college. Add a link to a recording if the conservatoire allows one.
2. 2Instrumental study: your teacher's role and the years studied. "Trumpet lessons, 6 years, current teacher: principal trumpet of a regional orchestra" carries weight without name-dropping.
3. 3Ensembles: school and outside. Wind band, orchestra, big band, brass band, choir, county youth orchestra, church. Give your seat or part and years.
4. 4Graded exams and auditioned groups: ABRSM or Trinity grades with Merit or Distinction, county and national youth ensembles, competition and music festival results. These are the currency of a conservatoire application CV.
5. 5Repertoire: a short list of significant works you have performed or prepared, with composers. Some conservatoires want a full repertoire list as a separate page; check the application.
6. 6Additional training: summer schools and residential courses, masterclasses, theory or piano study, and any composition or arranging.
7. 7Leadership and service: section leader, leading a school ensemble, pit band for a school musical, teaching younger students, playing at community events.
8. 8Other skills that matter on a music course: keyboard skills, sight-singing, a second instrument, music technology, a second language.

Both of these have rules that are older than any applicant tracking system, and casting people and audition panels notice when you do not follow them.

• Musical theatre: one page, sent with your headshot, usually through Spotlight or your agent. If you print it, use A4 with a small headshot at the top, or trim it to fit the back of a 10 by 8 inch headshot and staple it at all four corners.
• Musical theatre header: name, voice type and range (for example mezzo-soprano, F3 to C6), height, playing age, Equity status (member, student member or not a member) and contact. Do not include your actual age, weight or home address.
• Musical theatre credits in three columns: production, role, then theatre and director. Group by category, usually Theatre, then Film or Television, then Concert or Cabaret. Never list a role you have only sung in a singing lesson.
• Training and special skills at the bottom: singing teacher and coach, dance styles with years, accents, instruments, stage combat, tumbling, driving, sports. Casting directors read special skills genuinely, so keep them true.
• Classical audition CVs are closer to an academic CV: degrees with teachers, orchestral and chamber positions with seasons, competitions and prizes, festivals, masterclasses, and a repertoire list. One to two pages, no photo unless requested.
• For orchestral auditions, list the position and dates, whether it was a contract position, extra work, a trial or a fellowship, and be exact. Panels routinely include people who know the orchestra you named.

Everybody starts here. The trick is to fill the page with real, verifiable playing rather than with adjectives.

1. 1Count what you have actually done. Open mics, jams, church services, school ensembles, weddings for friends, busking, recording for classmates. Twenty shows is twenty shows.
2. 2Put a Performance section above Experience and list those by venue type and date range, with the number of appearances.
3. 3State your reading level and your repertoire size honestly. A fixer would rather hire someone who says "reads chord charts, working on notation" than someone who claims everything.
4. 4Say what you are available for and how fast you learn material. "Available weeknights and weekends, can learn a 25-song set in a week" is the sentence that gets sub calls.
5. 5Get one credit that involves someone else's money. A paid wedding, a paid church music slot, a paid session. It changes how the whole page reads.

• Gigging and session: one page. Fixers read on a phone between soundchecks.
• Classical and academic: two pages, sometimes more, with a separate repertoire list.
• Musical theatre: one page, with your headshot, matching your Spotlight profile.
• Put your instrument in the header under your name. It is the first thing anyone needs to know and it is frequently missing.
• Include a link to one recording or a short reel as plain text, and make sure it opens without a login. One good live video beats a list of adjectives.
• No photo on a gigging or classical CV in the UK. The headshot rule is specific to theatre and on-camera work.
• In the US the short gigging version is called a resume, and only the longer classical or academic document is called a CV. The content is the same; outside the UK and US it may include a photo and date of birth. For UK work, use the conventions on this page.
• If you also apply for teaching posts or arts administration jobs, keep a second, normal work CV. Mixing the two makes both weaker.