The purpose was to investigate the career realities and occupational concerns of successful full-time performing instrumentalists. Four research problems were formulated; (1) the establishment of a demographic profile of musicians who perceived themselves successful; (2) the determination of the musicians' career realities; (3) the determination of the musicians' occupational concerns; and (4) a comparison of the relationship of the demographic profile to the career realities and occupational concerns. A pilot study was used to develop a questionnaire and an interview schedule. The sample for the main study was chosen by the questionnaire and consisted of twenty musicians, five each in the musical categories of jazz, classical, commercial and pop. To resolve research problem one, the questionnaire also collected general demographic data. Research problems two and three were fulfilled by an interview schedule based upon career realities and occupational concerns cited in previous sociological studies. The realities and concerns were either confirmed or refuted by each interviewee. The career realities were role conflict, career contingencies, musical labels, life style, hierarchies, audience relationships and environment. The occupational concerns were mobility, status, entrapment, personal contacts, dependency, security, competition, economic issues, working conditions, travel requirements, appearance, management control, auditions, maintenance of skills and training relevancy. The interviews were taped and transcribed by a court reporter and included in the text. An analysis of the interviews in relation to the demographic data fulfilled research problem four. Results showed that career contingencies, mobility and life style were positive influences for the sampled musicians. Also, a "hierarchy of expertise" appeared as the ultimate occupational hierarchy for the sampled musicians. Furthermore, a "hierarchy of dependency," based upon instrument played, affected the sampled musicians' attitudes toward their careers. It was concluded that performers who were devoting their full time to performance were more tolerant of imperfect career conditions than had been cited in previous studies .