<p>Hi! I am a caucasian male sophomore in a private high school that has an academic emphasis, as opposed to a musical atmosphere. Although I do pretty well academically (As in all honors and AP classes except for French, which is a standard class), my favorite thing in the world is music. I play classical piano and really want to work at it seriously and pursue a career in music.</p>
<p>I would consider my level of talent above average, but not outstanding. I have perfect pitch and have good technique considering the minimal amount of practice I put in (I do as much as I can, but I know it's not nearly enough: average of around 30-45 min/day freshman year and 2 hrs/day this year and plan on 6hrs/day over the summer), but my technique is probably only average or slightly above average when compared to the people I'll be competing against for slots in colleges. I think my musicality is my strong point though, because I consider myself pretty creative in that sense. I win some competitions, too, including a small international one a couple months ago, but I'd probably get my butt kicked in bigger competitions.</p>
<p>I can play somewhat advanced pieces, such as La Campanella, with some ease and musicality, but my repertoire isn't huge and I have not learned any piano concertos. Does this hurt my chances of getting into a music school?</p>
<p>I understand that I probably am not good enough to get into prestigious music colleges such as Oberlin and Eastman, so I was really hoping you guys could name some second and third-tier music schools for me to look into.</p>
<p>Colombia College in Chicago is huge on music, and it’s pretty easy to get into (the average ACT is about an 18-24 composite). I’d categorize it as a third-tier music school for people outside of the Chicagoland area, but here people are pretty wild about it (a bunch of serious music students from my school sometimes go to Colombia for a few years). St. Olaf is also RENOWNED for its music program–most students there are engaged in some form of either performing or visual arts. It’s in Minnesota though, so the winters can be pretty brutal. These are only the few that I know–I play flute, and I want to keep doing it in college, but it may not be my major (or only just a double major along with English). A really helpful guide is the Princeton Review book on the 373 top Colleges and Universities in the North America/Ireland region–it shows what the main/most popular majors are and what the people are like (i.e., artsy).</p>
<p>As for skill, I guess it’s really hard to judge just because I can’t hear you play Good luck, wherever you decide to apply!</p>
<p>@DevPatel144
Thanks for the nice response, I’ll definitely look into those two schools, as well as the book you mentioned. I have no problem with colder weather - in fact, I am absolutely terrible at dealing with the heat, even though I live on the East Coast.</p>
<p>I understand you can’t really get a good idea of my skill level without hearing me play. I don’t really have any videos I can post, nor do I know how to, so I just kinda tried to give the information I could because I thought it might help.</p>
<p>Probably you could use some help from the pianist corner forum on the pianoworld site. Incidentally, I know a kid who got into Curtis with a limited repertoire. He plays extremely well with what he has but he doesn’t have the most difficult pieces in the world. On another hand, this other kid who can play Islamey early in his high school years, but he got rejected both at Juilliard and Curtis. He got into the Manhattan School of Music.</p>
<p>There area several outstanding schools depending on if you want a private or public university, small liberal arts or 30K+ environment…some suggestions from the Southeast corner of the US: Florida State, Univ of Miami, Univ of South Carolina, Loyola, Baylor</p>
Good luck, wherever you decide to apply!</p>