<p>I'm currently a junior in high school and have been a pianist since I was 6 years old. I really love music and would like to have a career in it. However, I'm not sure what to do. I always dreamed of being a concert pianist, but I don't think that's particularly realistic. I have the repertoire to audition at the big music schools (Northwestern, Eastman, Oberlin, etc..) but I haven't had a piano teacher since sophomore year, so I'm in trouble there. I thought maybe I would enjoy teaching in an orchestra setting also (I'm currently in two orchestras; I've been in one for three years, the other for two), but the problem there is that I'm not proficient on any strings or winds. I know some beginner violin because of violin lessons I took my freshman year and I have a friend offering to teach me clarinet for free. I have a hard time practicing the piano as is, considering that I'm in all Honors and AP classes and have a job. However, if I really, really cram this summer, is it possible for me to at least keep music education as a consideration? Any sorts of tips on advice on this in general would be helpful, as I really have no clue what I'm doing... thanks everyone!</p>
<p>Anything is possible. My biggest concern is that with music education, it’s really focused on training you to be a music teacher in public grade school. Is that want you want to do for a living?</p>
<p>There are plenty of other choices in the music field than music ed.</p>
<p>@imagep No, I was really hoping to work with high schoolers… I had considered other teaching jobs (like teaching German) but always at the high school level. I don’t think I’d enjoy teaching grade school or middle school. Do you have any other suggestions for me for a career in music? I don’t particularly want to just become a piano teacher… I’d rather have a solid job and be employed by somebody, even though the flexibility would be nice.</p>
<p>Pianopenguin,</p>
<p>This is a problem that I struggled with somewhat last year when I was deciding schools. If you look at the school acceptances list, you’ll see that my options were particularly difficult in that the most highly respected school I got into, CCM, only offered me music ed instead of the double major with performance I had auditioned for. However, Lawrence let me in for performance with a lot of money and it ended up being the most feasible choice. Similarly to you, I would enjoy a job as a high school orchestra teacher and although I’m a pianist, which is great for conducting groups that are already proficient on their instruments, like professional or college/conservatory orchestras, the only music ed path that piano really leads you down well is elementary school general music, which is very different from high school orchestra. I played viola throughout high school and played violin (with a few lessons thrown in there) before that, so like you I know the very basics but I wouldn’t be able to really teach any orchestra I’d be conducting.</p>
<p>Now that you see that I can empathize with you probably more than anyone else on this thread, let me tell you why I’d go for performance as a college major if I were you (keeping in mind, of course, that this is exactly what I ended up doing). Performance, while out of all the possible music majors is the least individual in its training (any BM degree is performance based, even in music history), means that, theoretically speaking, you have acquired the most musical skill at your instrument that you could while an undergrad. So, what do you do after your four years? Well, your options are pretty vast! The most common would be to go to grad school for performance. Other grad school majors you could go for would be ed if you decide you’re good with working with little kids (think Boston Conservatory and Oberlin, since they have programs for just that), pedagogy (something that we pianists are lucky to have as a separate option; I think this graduate major is uncommon for other instruments), music history, music theory (my theory professor is a Lawrence piano performance grad) and other things, like composition or conducting (both great for pianists)! You could go to law or medical school, not go to grad school and make a living as a teacher/performer, whatever!</p>
<p>The bottom line is that because performance is the most generalized music major, it’s kind of like the liberal arts degree out of all the music majors and can lead you down a bunch of paths. If you have any further questions or questions about Lawrence, let me know!</p>