<p>What you are running into is common with kids thinking of going into music. A generation ago kids could be ‘okay’ musicians in high school and still expect to get into top level music schools, that it isn’t for the most part true today. It is different by instrument, but for the most part, it is requiring dedication at younger and younger ages. The problem is, the dedication to music clashes with what has happened in schools, where anxiety and other factors have made them ramp up the pressure on kids, between where taking AP classes is seen as ‘critical’, and of course, substituting teaching quality with a ton of homework each night. Even kids not doing music find themselves up until 2am finishing everything, because then there is the incredible pressure to have all these EC’s and so forth,that didn’t exist when I went to high school…and if you try to do the two, it seems impossible. To be brutally honest, you can’t have it all, kids for the most part end up having to make choices, compromises, and usually either the music or the academics has to take something of a back seat. There are some kids who do both, but from personal experience, I wonder what kind of shape they are in emotionally, the things I have had reported that these kids say to their friends and such isn’t so positive…</p>
<p>In any event, on to the OP…Leaving out the gap year (more on that in a bit), I highly recommend not pulling back on the music if she thinks she may want to ‘get serious’ about it. One thing I have learned about music instruction and levels of playing, is that trying to ‘cram it in’ in a year, like a gap year, is likely to fail (not the concept of the gap year, but rather, music is kind of a placeholder, then in gap year they cram in the practicing and such to bring the level way, way up)…it won’t work IMO. I don’t fully know why, but there is no substitute for putting the effort in all along, it is just something you can’t ‘cram in’, and age has something to do with it, it just seems the earlier you get up to speed, the better. If your D is right now thinking of getting serious, then she needs to focus on her musical stuff that really drives her forward (and also helpfully gives her pleasure). If the youth orchestra she is in is really driving her, teaching her the skills and such of being in an ensemble, then it is worthwhile keeping it up. If All State, All Region and so forth is something she enjoys doing, meeting other kids, etc, that is good, if it is something that her school music teachers want her to do, I would consider dropping it (among other things, All State and such will have very little to no impact on getting into a music school).
There is a benefit to those music programs, if your D does decide to go academic so to speak, having music is going to be a big plus as an ec, that I am sure of…so they could be a hedge, if they don’t take up too much time that could be spent on the core issues of practice and driving her skill level up, they prob are worth keeping IMO.</p>
<p>And yes, it isn’t easy, because so much goes against conventional wisdom (which Einstein claimed were prejudices learned before the age of 18…) . We faced that on our end, as my kid got serious on an uber competitive instrument, and in the end school and doing what they needed to do were too much and we ended up as more then a few music families did, homeschooled, to get him away from the rigid schedule and other downsides of standard schools…plenty of people are all gloom and doom, but the reality is, anyone thinking of going into music is going to face that kind of attitude, given how bloody hard it is and relatively financially cloudy it is. </p>
<p>Okay, but what about the rest? Here are my thoughts:</p>
<p>-I realize there is this incredible pressure these days to cram schedules full of AP and other high level academic courses, that you ‘need this’ to get into top schools and I question that in the first place; but secondly, as a serious music student, with a resume showing you have been, schools recognize that there is no one size fits all. If you were non music, and taking a relatively easy schedule, it would hurt you, but colleges aren’t stupid, they look at the whole package and realize the difference. It is like the kids who do EC’s because they look good on a resume, colleges can figure that out, too…they know what it takes to study music seriously, and it counts. </p>
<p>I would recommend looking at her school day, her planned schedule, and seeing what can be removed. It might be limiting AP and honors classes, it might be cutting back other EC’s, it all depends. I agree with others, more then they probably will know from what I am going to write, that kids need things to fulfill them, to make them happy, to learn about life. But to be honest, the current system of dumping heavy duty academics on them by the bucketful and pressuring them to do scores of EC’s isn’t doing that, either, since in many cases, it isn’t what fulfils the kid, it is what makes the parents and guidance counselors happy, assuming it is going to make admissions officers happy…</p>
<p>Hopefully music brings a lot to the kids doing it, and there is room for other things. I would recommend pruning back the academic side, taking the path a little less well travelled, and have faith the kid will do okay no matter what, and they probably will. That doesn’t mean taking an idiot lesson load in high school or doing nothing but music, but it means maintaining an academic schedule that balances out with the need/desire to do music.</p>
<p>Going to get some heat on this one, but seriously think about cutting back on school music programs if she otherwise has outside programs like youth symphony and so forth. School music directors will hate me for saying this, but a lot of the high level students don’t play in the school music programs, because they take time during the school day, and quite honestly, usually do little for the high level students, it is usually more about serving the needs of the school music director. The thing is, ultimately it is your D’s life, and her job isn’t to make the school music director look good or help guarantee funding for music, as tempting as that sounds. If your D is getting something out of it, likes it, that is great, but in the end it is about what is best for her…and time is precious as it is.</p>
<p>Okay, now the original question, the gap year. I would not plan on that as a ‘5th year’ the way your D is thinking, I would treat it as a possible contingency. As I wrote above, if you do ‘okay’ with your musical studies in the last x years of high school, and then count on using that year to bring yourself up to speed by cramming in a lot of work, it is not likely to work. With music school admissions these days, the difference between those who get in and those who don’t is very, very small, it is in extreme levels of technique, it is the difference between excellent and superior in many cases. </p>
<p>A gap year works where someone is at a high level IME, but it just missing that last little stretch between accepted and rejected, where they just need to make it to ‘that next level’, not 2 or 3 or 4 levels. Keep in mind it isn’t a year, let’s assume school ends in June and the kid suddenly starts their 'gap year…well, for one, they only have maybe 5, 6 months to get their pre screens in…and maybe 8 months until auditions…if they need that much work, where they are two levels away from needed level, trying to get that done in a short period like that is impossible…but polishing for the pre screen and the actual auditions is possible.</p>
<p>Obviously, this is just my opinion, based on the experiences and what I have seen. In the end, you have to follow your own instincts based on who your D is:). </p>
<p>@good books- What you say is true, as Charlie Parker said “You can’t put it through the horn if you haven’t lived it”…I have sat through recitals where some little prodigy, aged 11, is playing Sarasate’s Carmen Fantasy, and it is obvious they don’t have a clue what the music is about…</p>
<p>That said, though, in a perfect world kids would be well rounded, including music students, and the audition experience would be a sum of who they are, but it often isn’t. Having just gone through the audition process, I can tell you that in many cases (and this is high level music schools all), what they are looking for is damn near perfect technique, and the rest, musicality, expression, stage presence, is often at most a plus…it depends on the school, it depends on the instrument, it depends on the people on the panel, but a lot of it isn’t potential and other attributes, it is technical perfection (and I don’t think that is a particularly good thing, for a lot of reasons; it is a very ivory tower look at music, that leaves out that it is an art form, and while critics and music teachers go ga ga over perfect technique, audiences don’t…). But it is what most teachers are telling their students and it is what is getting kids into music programs for the most part. There are always exceptions, the incredibly musical kid who intrigues a teacher, the program that goes against the grain and is lookng for a ‘full musician’, but it isn’t the reality, sadly. </p>
<p>It is why you will hear on here with music students potentially to be, don’t listen to guidance counselors, I don’t believe what I have heard them say, they for the most part know zero about what music school is like or what it takes to get in, they are still in 'oh, music is a great hobby, sideline, you do the academic drill in High School, and then if you are (still dumb enough) to want to go into music, then you can apply to music schools, and all your academic work will be in your favor to get in (this is a pastiche of various snippets, but you get the idea)</p>