Musician Resume 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 resume. For bandleaders, contractors, music directors, cruise and casino bookers, house of worship music directors. Credits, styles, gear, reading ability, reliability.
• The classical or orchestral resume. For auditions, teaching posts, festivals and grants. Closer to an academic CV: degrees, teachers, ensembles, competitions, masterclasses, repertoire.
• The musical theater resume. A one-page document trimmed to 8 by 10 inches and attached to the back of your headshot. Credits in three columns, plus height, vocal range, union status and special skills.
• The music resume for a college application or audition. For a conservatory prescreen, a music school application or a scholarship. Repertoire, ensembles, honors such as All-State, your private 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 resume.

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 resume 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. Contractors have been burned and read for this.
• Union and business status. AFM local membership for orchestral and many touring gigs, Actors' Equity Association for theater. Also whether you invoice properly, since most of this work is 1099.

“Half the resumes 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 resumes fall apart. A list of band names with no context tells a contractor nothing. Add the role, the scale and the dates.

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

This is one of the most searched versions of this page, usually by a high school junior or their parent. A music school or a scholarship committee wants evidence of level, training and commitment, on one page.

1. 1Header: name, instrument or voice type, contact, and the graduation year. Add a link to a recording if the school allows one.
2. 2Private study: your teacher's role and the years studied. "Private trumpet study, 6 years, current teacher: principal trumpet of a regional symphony" carries weight without name-dropping.
3. 3Ensembles: school and outside. Wind ensemble, orchestra, jazz band, marching band, choir, youth symphony, church. Give your chair or part and years.
4. 4Honors and auditioned groups: All-District, All-Region, All-State, honor bands, youth orchestra seating, solo and ensemble ratings, competition results. These are the currency of a college music resume.
5. 5Repertoire: a short list of significant works you have performed or prepared, with composers. Some schools want a full repertoire list as a separate page; check the application.
6. 6Additional training: summer festivals and camps, masterclasses, theory or piano study, and any composition or arranging.
7. 7Leadership and service: section leader, drum major, pit orchestra, teaching younger students, playing at community events.
8. 8Other skills that matter at a school: piano proficiency, 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 theater: one page, trimmed or printed to 8 by 10 inches and stapled or attached to the back of your headshot at all four corners. Photo goes on the front, resume on the back, and it does need to be exactly that size.
• Musical theater header: name, voice type and range (for example mezzo-soprano, F3 to C6), height, union status (Actors' Equity Association member, Equity Membership Candidate, or non-union) and contact. Do not include your age, weight or home address.
• Musical theater credits in three columns: production, role, then theater and director. Group by category, usually Theater, then Film or Television, then Concert or Cabaret. Never list a role you have only sung in a voice lesson.
• Training and special skills at the bottom: voice teacher and coach, dance styles with years, dialects, instruments, stage combat, tumbling, driving, sports. Casting directors read special skills genuinely, so keep them true.
• Classical audition resumes are closer to a 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 tenured, substitute or 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 contractor 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 church staff slot, a paid session. It changes how the whole page reads.

• Gigging and session: one page. Contractors read on a phone between soundchecks.
• Classical and academic: two pages, sometimes more, with a separate repertoire list. That document is properly called a CV.
• Musical theater: exactly one page at 8 by 10 inches, on the back of your headshot.
• 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 resume in the US. The headshot rule is specific to theater and on-camera work.
• Musician CV is the usual term in the UK and much of Europe, and for academic and classical work everywhere. The content is the same, the length is longer, and outside the US and UK it may include a photo and date of birth. For US work, use the resume conventions on this page.
• If you also apply for teaching posts or arts administration jobs, keep a second, normal work resume. Mixing the two makes both weaker.