<p>I'm a junior in high school and have been playing the piano since I was 6. I have the repertoire to audition at big name schools like Northwestern and Eastman and all that but I'm also in all Honors and AP classes and I have a job so I never have time to practice. I'd love to get a performance degree, but I don't think this is possible, unfortunately. However, I think I would also enjoy music education (for high school orchestra). I'm in two orchestras right now (I've been in one of them for three years and the other for two) and really love it. However, I only know very basic violin (I started lessons freshman year but had to quit due to money issues) and nothing about winds and percussion (although I have a friend who plays the clarinet who has offered to teach me). I know I'm at a huge disadvantage, but is it completely unrealistic for me to start up lessons again on violin and clarinet so that I could do music education? Or am I better off dropping as many classes as possible senior year to try to work on piano, running the risk that I still wont make it into a good school and will have to fall back on something like medicine, but now with less AP classes out of the way? I love music and would really like a career in it, so I'm kind of desperate at this point, considering how old I am.</p>
<p>I do know some people who have majored in instrumental music ed whose principal instrument is piano. You could call some universities that you might be interested in and ask them if that is possible. But taking lessons on an orchestral instrumental would still help you, as you need to have knowledge of those instruments anyway to be successful.</p>
<p>Agree with above poster. With the education degree you are required to learn other instruments anyways, so why not get a head start? You can place out of the methods classes that way and save yourself the trouble in the long run. However, I’d focus on my primary instrument. That is ultimately the reason you get accepted.</p>