Rising 9th grader - music performance hopeful - things to do in HS

I love this group. From many other forums that I have been lurking on, this one is so supportive, eye-opening, substantively helpful and inspiring! Thank you.

I have a DS who is interested in jazz piano performance major in college. He is a rising 9th grader: plays cello and piano, sings in a choir, participates in several music ensembles and will go to the public arts HS.

I am asking for advice from parents whose kids are currently going through music major college applications or have already gone through the process and are now pursuing music degrees in college. What should we do between now - I.e., 9th grade — and for the next 4 years to help him explore and grow his music interest? What do you wish you knew when your child was in the 9th grade to assist them in development of their music talent or interest? What activities do you recommend the rising 9th grader to pursue for the next few years to help them be best prepared for college applications as a music major? Any jazz emphasis is an extra bonus, but I am very interested in more general music performance edge too.

Thank you in advance for any advice you are willing to share!

1 Like

First off…your kid should be doing things he likes to do. That should be the number one reason to do anything in terms of his college acceptances.

Free advice from me…my kid is a professional musician with a bachelors and masters in music performance.

  1. Continue piano lessons. My kid said it helped a LOT with music theory.

  2. If your HS offers it, take a music theory course. Your music major won’t get AP credit if it’s an AP course, but the info will be valuable.

  3. Sight reading is an important skill. Make sure your kid is good at that. It will bode well for him.

  4. Ensemble playing…both at school and outside of school if you can find something that is in his wheel house of jazz piano.

  5. Can he accompany others? Lots of need for good collaborative piano players across all domains.

@BeverlyWest can you give some ideas…and maybe tag the others this year who also have jazz musicians applying?

3 Likes

My kids are older so looking back…One kid danced intensively (at times professionally) during high school but did not end up majoring in dance, or even dancing long term. One kid did soccer, played clarinet, did theater, and discovered their path was music in 11th grade and now has a doctorate in music. Your son is young and things can change, so I would not expect him to lock into a path as yet.

The hard part,with music, is that it does often require commitment at a young age, lessons, practice, performance. But I would at the same time avoid becoming overly invested as yet, as a parent anyway, while at the same time doing everything possible to help him grow, develop and enjoy music in the present (without excessive worry about future admissions!). Let him know he is also always free to explore other things, and if he only wants to do music, great.

He is already going to an arts high school. But in general I think the most important things are: the best teacher for his current stage of development (jazz teacher? piano teacher who is good with theory? with composition? etc.). Conservatory prep is so helpful for those not in an arts hs, so not sure if he needs that or not. Playing outside of school can be a plus but again, not sure with an arts his. Summer programs are really beneficial: new teachers, peers to meet, clarifying in terms of goals.

I am an advocate for undergrad study of music regardless of ultimate career path. In other words, without a “backup plan.” But if he does develop other interests, it is good to have a high school life that allows for exploring those before making college choices. If he is devoted to music, that’s great too.

Finally, read the Double Degree Dilemma essay in the Read Me thread in this music major forum. It uses hypothetical individuals to describe different ways to study music.

He is young and as a parent it is challenging but necessary to walk the narrow path between guiding a focus on music while at the same time allowing him to grow and change in the next few years. That’s my two cents!

1 Like

Thank you so much! I really appreciate this advice. He is a pretty good sight reader and is working with a big band jazz ensemble currently on the collaborative piano side of things. He definitely plans to take a music theory class in 11th grade (that’s when his school offers it).

All of the points you shared are much appreciated!

2 Likes

Thanks! Love this.

1 Like

There is another thread going on: Seeking great aid for jazz piano/commercial music - College Majors / Music Major - College Confidential Forums

3 Likes

If you live in NY, NJ, or CT, have your child audition for the Jazz at Lincoln Center youth program, and if he gets in, get them to it. See if there is a regional jazz program in your area, and have him audition to join it.

2 Likes

You just described my son—piano, cello, choir!

Just from my observations, the ones who pursue performance are going to begin to more singularly focus on one instrument at some point. Even my son, who decided on music Ed instead of performance, and absolutely refused to narrow his focus to one thing until his hand was forced in college, couldn’t continue to do everything at the highest level required for a performance major.

That said, I don’t disagree with anything @thumper1 or @compmom has said, especially to let your son do what he enjoys.

My son started on piano at age 5, and by the time he was in 8th grade(ish) had won some piano competitions, shown some ability at composition, and was playing the earlier sonatas. He had added bass in 5th grade, switched to cello in 6th and was in a youth symphony. He joined choir in 8th grade, and surprised us all when he made all state choir in 9th. It was around then that he dropped piano. He quit lessons (I was so upset but he had realized the time commitment necessary to continue to progress on those long, difficult pieces and decided to move on) and didn’t play at all for a year—when he began playing again he still played very well, and difficult stuff, but for pleasure. He continued on cello and voice and did very well. He was in high school orchestra and two choirs (incl. vocal jazz), and a youth orchestra. We spent a lot of effort trying to make all this and solid academics fit into his busy life at a regular public high school.

He auditioned into college on both cello and voice, because he would not choose between them. This made making a college list, and applying, and surviving audition season extra hard. He was accepted on both instruments though. I don’t recall all the details but he had performance acceptances for voice, and I can’t recall if the cello acceptances were performance or music Ed or both. He pursued choral music Ed as a major—he finally had to choose a primary and secondary instrument at this point and had a choral scholarship so chose that. In college he took cello lessons for two years as a secondary instrument and has had a lot of accompaniment opportunities, and continues to play. He managed orchestra for part of one semester but that was only possible because the pandemic had so rearranged things, temporarily. For piano, he tested out of all class piano and has also spent some time accompanying others and continues to play.

The benefits of his multiple instrument background are huge. He’s a sight reading pro, theory wasn’t hard, he already had a large body of knowledge when he hit those music history classes. But the thing that has been most noticeable is that he has played Bach piano inventions, the Bach cello suites, and sung Bach in the baroque choir. He really gets Bach. That broad knowledge of music in general and the ability to make connections between all his areas of study has really helped his musical growth.

So let your son explore it all now. All the knowledge and experience he gains will be valuable. If he’s serious about performance he will likely begin to focus on what he wants most to do and maybe he will have to adjust the time he spends on each to focus on his main thing. Or maybe he will find a different focus as he goes along. One of my kids was set on being an artist until 11th grade when she told us she didn’t want art as a job and would be an engineer instead. She’s now an excellent engineer who does some quality art in her free time.

2 Likes

Great advice! To this I would add, develop relationships with those who can write recommendations. Also, music teachers have tons of information coming across their desks for summer programs, solo or ensemble competitions, and opportunities outside of school ensembles. A week or 2 of an auditioned, sleep away summer program will give your student a great chance to practice auditioning, as well as to experience what it’s like to live and breath music and meet musical peers. The program my kid went to was intense like I would have cracked, but my kid LOVED it and wanted more, said they’d do this everyday.
That’s how we knew it was more than an enjoyable hobby.

1 Like

@Newbie2324

Both of my kids went to a very excellent music “camp” that really was a music program for three years starting the summer after 8th grade. It was a 4 week program, and they both loved it.

My musician followed that with two years at BUTI, and then two years at Eastern Music Festival. Then one year doing a workshop thing and playing in musical pit bands. Then a summer at Aspen. He was all in!

The not music major was done after 10th grade and chose completely different summer programs that did not involve music.

1 Like

The options eventually will be BM (performance, education, composition, whatever), BA in music or BA in something else with lessons and extracurricular performance, double major within the BA (sometimes within the BM), and double degree. Oberlin has a new Musical Studies BA with access to the Conservatory. Bard requires double degrees for all conservatory students. Every school is a little different!

BA is generally 1/4-1/3 classes in music, and a BM is usually 2/3-3/4 classes in music.

Regarding the BA in music or in another major, the Double degree Dilemma does not discuss this option so just a few things:

Some very talented musicians I know got a BA but did not major in music at all, but continued lessons, practice and performance in extracurriculars and off campus. Some of these went on to grad school in music and some had other careers.

Many college music departments (BA programs) have been changing curricula in recent years to include paths for other genres besides Western Classical, including jazz.

If a student wants to do a BA. they usually do not audition for admission but can submit a music supplement with recording/video, music resume and music letters of recommendation, if accepted by the school. Auditions tend to happen in the fall for performance ensembles.

Yay you for being on top of this!
When my son was a rising 9th grader we decided on a part time Music Magnet high school for ALL his electives. He wouldn’t have gotten to where he is without it! Amazing opportunity.
Fast forward to college auditions, it was definitely recognized by professors at auditions. They commented about how they themselves took this route etc etc…
Other things to consider:

  1. College camps…it’s never too early to start. He did Eastman, UNT, Berklee, and NYU. I hear Miami is great and we couldn’t fit it in. It’s a great opportunity to meet professors and get a feel for different schools and programs. It helped whittle down our huge beginning list of 10-12 schools (That and college tours and in-depth looks at programs and coursework)
  2. NAfME everything! Audition for your states regionals, All State and then the NAfME All Honor National ensembles. Mine was lucky enough to make Nationals each of his high school years and they look great on the resume.
  3. RESUME…start building it now. Any local premiere ensembles etc etc…We are lucky to have a great local music school for jazz and he took part in the premiere group since 9th grade. Between the magnet school hours and this he didn’t audition for NYO but that’s amazing as well if you are local (we are in CT).
  4. When you tour colleges always meet with the Music School admissions officer AND the lead jazz piano professor…both so they know you and you get a feel for them. Bring your resume.
    Doing all this legwork allowed him to start with a list of 10-12 then whittle it down to 6 applications. He was lucky to know his first choice and have a connection with that professor so once he got in he withdrew his final 3 applications…He was only able to do that because we had visited, done summer there, and he knew they were second to his first choice.
    If I think of anything else I will circle back ! Best of luck! Kudos to you for being on this now!
    Mine will be starting at UNT in Jazz Studies/Guitar in the fall
1 Like

One other suggestion…and my kid thought it was nuts…until he needed it!

Start a word document. Include:

  1. Festivals or honors ensembles etc.

  2. Repertoire your kid plays. A couple of colleges specifically asked for this. I hadn’t really saved this info…but I had every single program from every single performance both large and small ensembles. So…he was able to make that repertoire list, noting where he had solo parts as well.

5 Likes

YES!!! I was just coming back to add the Repertoire list…Mine included it with his college materials/resume

3 Likes

I often kept notes on my kids without them knowing :slight_smile: I didn’t want high school to be turned into preparation for applications. Too stressful.

One other thing: not sure about this but I have heard All State etc. isn’t regarded as that influential with admissions. Not sure why. Could be wrong.

2 Likes

I think this depends. My kid sat first chair in the All State Orchestra for three years. That is the highest scoring position on his instrument. And he had solo parts every year. So for him…it mattered.

As to why it might not matter…there are 50 states…and most have All State festivals. There are many hundreds of all state players annually.

A low key way we kept track of things was throwing stuff in order into a binder. I always kept a box of plastic sheets and a 3 hole punch handy. Things like brochures for camps and programs, orchestra calendars, master class info, programs for performances, resumes as they came up with them (my kids did some theater, etc). If nothing else, it makes nice scrapbook. But it makes it very handy to flip through and summarize things when it came time to apply and when we started it I certainly wasn’t talking about using it for college. It was all just keep things organized. I also tried to help my kids keep at least their solo repetoire organized into binders as well and we would retire them as they’d fill up.

This is for parents but since it hasn’t been mentioned, the best thing we did toward college when my oldest was about in 8th grade was talk to a financial advisor about what we could afford and how to plan. It can really helps to know how you are going to get to a program. This is a much easier game if you have unlimited funds. But if you’re merit and/or financial aid shopping, it helps to know. Maybe pick a few programs and run through the net price calculators and see how it looks.

Also, I would also work on keeping doors open and making sure academics are looking good otherwise. That can help with admissions and merit money at lots of great options. Give him plenty of chance to try new things and reinvent himself. I have 2 kids who’ve auditioned in music and they were all over the place during high school on path.

2 Likes

Great advice. Our son took a similar journey and will be attending the Thornton School of Music at USC for Jazz Studies/Composition in the fall. His journey started with the piano early and kept adding instruments (drums, bass, trumpet, French horn…etc) until he found guitar. He still does most of his composing on piano - but the guitar is his main instrument.

In addition to all of the school activities, all-state…etc, support any interest they have in playing gigs outside of school. Our son started playing gigs in the area when he was around 15 and by the time he applied for schools, he had played more than 70 gigs - most of which were with local professional musicians. All of the performances helped bolster his resume and helped him improve as a musician. There is no better practice than doing - especially when you’re surrounded by musicians who are better than you.

Summer camps are so important - apply for as many as you can. The camp audition process is really helpful and you get great feedback if you don’t make it. It’s a lot like college applications but you get a couple of summers for do-overs… And the camps you do attend will expose your kid to future friends that share his passion and will push and inspire him to do more.

Can’t emphasize enough the value of taking music theory classes and any other opportunities outside of the school system. Our son took classical guitar lessons and Jazz improvisation lessons from professors at our local university’s music department for a couple of years and it really helped.

Above all else, I can’t emphasize enough the importance of making sure your kid is having fun regardless of the direction they end up going in life. What they are passionate about in 9th grade may change - but it your kid is passionate about pursuing music as a career, they will show you. And if that’s the path, then go for it! The world needs more musicians… :slight_smile:

3 Likes

I am carefully reading every single comment, learning from each one of them, appreciating everything you have shared so far. I have already picked up so many useful tips from this thread; keep suggestions and thoughts coming if you have any additional ones. And THANK YOU!

When the time is right, consider applying for what might be considered the two most prestigious awards for high schoolers in music—Young Arts and NYO/NYO Jazz.

3 Likes