The negative impact of performance focused higher music education (HME) and its ineffectiveness in preparing students for music careers in the 21st century has been a recurring and common theme in contemporary research. As a result, wide-scale curriculum reform has been suggested, and in many cases, has already been implemented. While these recommendations are based on recent scholarship, faculty and students within institutions are often reluctant to accept change or view it as positive. Given that the reform is about preparation for music careers, the opinions of professional musicians may provide important and useful insights into what a prepared student looks like, as well as providing practical examples of the impact of the reforms. As a result, this study analysed 11 Australian classical brass musicians’ perspectives regarding HME programming. Participants acknowledged the importance of vocational preparation courses to prepare students for their careers and believed that traditional academic subjects (such as aural and music theory) provided vital supplemental knowledge. Yet even though participants stressed the importance of career preparation, all remained committed to the belief that performance (specifically orchestral performance) should remain a primary part of HME programming, a view that could be evidence of their reluctance to change. The importance placed on performance, aural, and traditional music history courses is often contested by existing research which prioritises broad and socially engaged learning experiences. An area of commonality between participants and the extant literature is the support for vocational preparation and the negative implications of performance-focused training. This alignment provides a shared foundation and suggests a “middle-ground” for curriculum reform between conservatoire faculty’s beliefs and academic scholarship. Resulting in programs that are derived from collaboration amongst the music community - evidenced based, consistent with industry realities, and effectively able to be implemented.