<p>I've recently become very dedicated to my music and am thinking about studying music in college. I'm a junior in high school, I have played alto sax for 5 years. I got into the Jazz A band at my shcool this year (which is a really good band - wins a lot of competitions). I take private lessons. My main worry is if I'm good enough to be a proffesional musician or even get into a good program. I would like to study jazz performance or musical education. How good do I need to be to even consider playing music, all county, all state level or what? I'm sure I wouldn't get into UNT or any of those top schools and I'd prefer a school that has other oppurtunities besides music, what are some schools with good jazz programs that aren't impossible to get into?</p>
<p>Sorry, I asked so many questions, answer any you can.
Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!</p>
<p>If you want to be a performance major, then you need to at least be at an All State level. It’s, like… insanely hard to have a career in performance. Usually those people are Suzuki kids who have been playing since they were zygotes. If you want a stable (although probably lower-paying) career in music, go for education. But even for that, music school admissions are super competitive.
There are schools- SUNY Fredonia comes to mind because I live in New York- that are regular schools melded to separate music schools. You have to audition for the music school as well as apply to the normal college part. It’s not totally unheard of for very talented people to be admitted to the music school but get rejected from the regular college- in which case, they can’t go. Going to a school like this could be good for you, since you seem a little unsure about going into music.</p>
<p>Chance me for Cornell’s Arts & Sciences school?</p>