Hmmmm…I think that you will find many music parents that can empathize with you.
Deciding on a music degree for some can be, kind of, like eating an elephant. You have to go one step at a time, have a lot of patience and faith that you’ll get through it. STILL, along the way, your kid is growing, learning and having some fun (hopefully)…and those skills are transferable…even if he decides to go the academic route.
I would recommend the following:
1.) Learn about different degrees related to music.
Read the following: Double Degree Dilemma essay (written by David Lane)
2.) Go to a few school websites and read about the requirments for different degrees. And yes, your kid may not be “interested”. Still, going into Jr year would be a good time for you to learn a lot about music degrees and other “related” degrees and start feeding some of it to him.
3.) Be aware that colleges understand that music is a very time-consuming pursuit. So many music degrees have lower academic standards. So loading up on APs may note be necessary. You may have to call music admissions to get that information (it’s not always on the school sites).
For students interested in music, you need to deal with 2 things: academic talent and music talent. Some kids want high excellence in both. Some kids only want excellence in music and are less concerned about academics. There are schools available for all types of music students.
My D chose a Big U with a conservatory built in (IU/Jacobs). Her academics would get her some money there (they would not have been high enough at some other schools). She wanted to put most of her time in music. Still she did want some academic study as well. But she did not want it to be so challenging, it would distract from music study.
My D could not “verbalize” this in sophomore or even junior year. It really took until senior year for her to figure it out…so we kept a pretty broad path open…but kept going around and around in circles on the balance between academics and music.
I think that you are right where you should be…asking a lot of questions. Now you just need to educate yourself and son on academic and music choices…and have faith it will work out.
Good luck!!