The music industry in Ireland is the biggest employer among the culture industries, providing almost 42 per cent of employment in the sector, according to a 1994 report commissioned by Temple Bar Properties. About 10,000 people work in the Irish music business.

The range of career opportunities in music has changed dramatically in the past 10 years. Ciara Higgins, public relations manager with the Royal Irish Academy of Music, says that there is now "a wide variety of careers" on offer. The traditional routes open to young people was either to perform or to teach.

"It's developed so much over the last decade," she says. Now the choice includes other areas such as public relations, journalism and broadcasting, artistic planning and arts management, technical support and production, composition for films, commercials and television, music curatorship, music management and event promotion.

Higgins studied music in TCD. She cites the manager of Boyzone, Louis Walsh, and his knowledge of music, which must be essential and integral to the band's success, she believes. "Sponsorship for music is now so good," says Higgins, "that there needs to be somebody to handle that."

UCC produces 40 music graduates a year. Professor David Harold Cox, head of music at the college, says: "A number go into teaching each year but not `most' anymore." A degree in music is "a very good foundation for life," he says. "You learn to work with people, you learn physical control, you learn to control your emotions and exercise your intellect. Such skills are useful in communication and personnel work."

He sees the development of technology in the music world as very important. For many, he believes, careeer success is about "being in the right place at the right time and having the skills to take advantage of the breaks."

According to Padhraic O Cuinneagain, acting head of music at DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama, "the opportunities are enormous, very, very wide." He lists jobs such as those in TV and radio production, as DJs, or even software programming as some of the newer areas for those with expertise in music.

Courses in Senior College, Ballyfermot, and Temple Bar Music Centre in Dublin prepare students for jobs in the technical field such as sound engineers working in studios or for live performances.

On the classical front, says Higgins, "the orchestra scene has expanded so much." The Irish Chamber Orchestra, based in Limerick, is a relatively new orchestra. There is also the RTE Concert Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra and there are smaller and part-time orchestras.

"There are more concerts because more money is being spent," she explains. Apart from the classical road, she lists pop, rock, traditional and jazz as other options which students can follow.

There are jobs for music composers and arrangers in commercial and non-commercial areas, films and television and adverts or commercials.

Jacqui Mahon, marketing manager for the National Concert Hall (NCH), agrees: "The opportunities are very much expanding." Within the NCH itself, she says, at least six of the staff were involved at either professional or amateur level in music performance.

Her own job? "It's a very fulfilling area to be working in, to be involved in and seeing events take place and enabling people to get access to that event. It's very satisfying."