What tasks does a music transcriber handle?

I've always been good at listening to music and writing it down. Could being a music transcriber be a job for me after high school? What tasks do they typically handle, and is there a demand for this job?

Music transcribers have an important and quite specialized role within the music industry. Their primary task is to listen to pieces of music and then 'transcribe' or convert them into written form, namely, sheet music. This could involve being given a recording of an orchestral piece and having to transcribe each instrument's part separately, or listening to a person singing a song and then writing down all the notes and rhythms that constitute the melody.

In terms of skills, if you're good at ear training and writing music down, then this definitely could be a good fit. Other valuable skills are a keen attention to detail and being comfortable working with various notation software.

As for the demand, given the rise in independent musicians and the increasing number of film and TV productions requiring scores, there is a steady need for music transcribers. However, it's important to keep in mind that, like many jobs in the creative industries, it could be somewhat competitive to break into.

Moreover, this role can be a good stepping stone into arranging and composing — both fields where there is potential to earn a higher income. If you're interested, you might want to look into taking some music theory classes first to get a grounding in understanding and writing music notation.