<p>I'm a freshmen in high school and I'm thinking about going to a music college.
Currently my main instrument is the oboe, which I just started this year. However, I played it for a year in 6th grade and I am planning to take private lessons for the next 4 years. I am in Concert Band and Jazz Band at my school and I hope to join an orchestra outside of school next year. I also have been playing the cello for the past year and I'm in the orchestra at my school and might join Pit Orchestra as well. I take cello lessons after school with my orchestra director every week, but I'm not very good yet. I've been taking private piano lessons for the past 8 years, but I'm not a prodigy so I'm not going to be able to get anywhere on the piano. However, I plan to continue taking lessons for the next 4 years because I enjoy it.
Basically, is 4 years of private oboe lessons enough to get into a good music college, or should I just give it up and pick a different field?</p>
<p>An impossible question to answer. Students have gotten into very good music programs with four years or even less of private lessons, but some students make much more progress in four years than others. The knowledge you bring from lessons and experience on other instruments will probably be helpful, but you still have to drill those scales and arpeggios into muscle memory, you still have to work up the breath control, and you still have to develop the repertoire. Whether or not you can do it depends a lot on you and your teacher.</p>
<p>Consider the story of Francois Rabbath, who had no private lessons at all:</p>
<p>"Born in Aleppo, Syria in 1931 into a musical family of six boys and three girls, Fran</p>
<p>The new book “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell says, among other things, that 10,000 hours of practice is needed to do anything exceptionally well. That’s about 4 hours a day for 10 years. That sounds daunting of course, and even some very good college musicians did not practice 4 hours a day in high school! But if they are serious about music by the time they are in college they are probably practicing that much by then. You should have a balanced life, too, at your age. But his point was that you shouldn’t expect to just BE great. Anyone with talent can work toward being exceptional with self-discipline and practice. </p>
<p>I think if you want to go to music school you are in a perfect position to get there. My son got serious about his instrument in 9th grade, too, and he is at a conservatory now. If you love it, you will spend time doing it. This website has summer program ideas and many stories of other kids and their journeys. </p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>If you get to a point where you need to drop an instrument because of time conflicts, don’t make it the piano. You’re learning more music theory than you realize simply by the act of studying that instrument. I’d also suggest, especially if you intend to go for a Music Ed degree, that you do some singing. Being in the chorus will make you more comfortable with applying other things you’ve learned to your voice. Many schools will test you on sight singing and/or pitch matching. I know at least one very good violinist that didn’t make the cut at schools he wanted to attend because he could not match pitches vocally.</p>
<p>Look at the music department Web pages of schools you see mentioned on this forum and try to tailor you academic program in high school to their expectations. You’ll have an edge if you make good use of the time you’re getting by paying attention early in the process.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>The bottom line is that you love to play, and that you love your instrument or instruments. There seems to be a very clear delineation between loving to play, and wanting to keep playing your instrument into adulthood as a complement to your “other” life, and having your “other” life complement your love of playing–that you can’t imagine yourself not wanting to play your instrument as much as possible for the rest of your life. With S2 and his friends in many community orchestras and groups, when they began thinking about college, this clarity has just come to them… Even some of the most accomplished first chairs want to pursue another passion in college, and that’s just fine. Others, like my son, want a great college experience to complement his music priority. I’m probably not answering your question, but I guess the bottom line is–especially as a freshman–do what you love, keep your grades up and options open, and in a couple of years you’ll probably have more clarity. It sounds like you have the passion to be a great musician now–go for it and see where it takes you!</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the replies so far!</p>
<p>It’s funny - I wasn’t even supposed to be in the band this year; I was supposed to be in orchestra as a cello player. Well, scheduling conflicts landed me in Band and I really love playing my oboe now, although I admit I still think the cello has a nicer sound. Still, I think I’ll have a better chance of going somewhere with the oboe - for example, I’m the only oboe player in my entire school district (it’s kind of sad - the last person who played the oboe my school lent me is now a teacher), while there are about 20 cellists.</p>
<p>My D is an oboe performance major at a conservatory. My advice to you is if you are really serious about oboe find a private teacher who is an oboist. My D took piano lessons from age 5 - 10 and private violin lessons from 3rd to 11th grade. She had oboe lessons for 3 years with a band teacher but out grew him. He found her an oboe teacher going to 9th grade. She was a very good violinist and was concertmistress for her orchestra but during her junior year she realized that oboe was what she wanted to focus on and dropped violin lessons. She really focused only on oboe her senior year of high school. Her oboe teacher knew exactly what to do to prepare her for auditions and college. With the oboe you not only have to practice the instrument but you have to be able to make reeds. It takes a lot of practice to learn how to make them. At every audition my D was asked about her reedmaking and if she was using her own reeds.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice, nasi. I am going to be starting oboe lessons within the next few weeks and I know my teacher makes her own reeds, so hopefully she’ll be able to help me with that.</p>
<p>Another aspect to investigate is a youth orchestra or symphony in your area. Higher level ensemble participation is a solid background in getting additional experience for the rigors of a music undergrad program.</p>
<p>Yes, I am planning to join a youth orchestra in our area next year. I have already checked out their website and it says they are “eagerly seeking oboe, basson, and clarinet players.” Perfect!</p>
<p>When you say “music college” are you talking conservatory? Are you talking university? Just curious!</p>
<p>Just my 2 cents (or less):
It’s good to read that you are going to be studying oboe with an oboe teacher. That’s the first “must”. And playing in an orchestra is extremely beneficial (and, to me, vital) part of “oboing”. </p>
<p>Mostly you just have to work hard, excel, and hope you get accepted somewhere. Just don’t assume oboe is a key to getting in, as so many do. These days oboists are rather plentiful in many areas, despite the fact that they aren’t where you are. For the first time, I’ve had to turn away oboists at the university; there are so many, and I’m unable to take more due to budget issues. My home studio is completely full, and I continue to get calls. I suspect parents are thinking that oboe is the way to get noticed and are promoting it.</p>
<p>It does sound as if you are truly enjoying oboe. So go for it! It’s not an easy instrument, but it sure is a wonderful one! :-)</p>
<p>I think I’m more interested in a conservatory such as Oberlin.</p>
<p>I have certainly learned that oboes are not easy instruments 
Reeds make me want to jump out a window sometimes! Before this year I never realized how fussy band instruments can be.</p>
<p>I can assure you that reeds will continue to bother you. The better you get at making them, the pickier you get at what you want! It never ends. I’ve been doing this since 1975 (ack!) and I still don’t really enjoy reed making. But it’s what we all have to endure in order to play the wonderful instrument. :-)</p>
<p>I always recommend a university setting so you get other things as well as music. But that’s just one person’s opinion.</p>
<p>As I research music conservatories I’ve been seeing things about double degrees. I’m not entirely clear on how that all works but couldn’t that be an option for going to a conservatory AND getting an education on non-musical subjects?</p>
<p>yes it can… there are two options, and the availability and program structure varies with each school. A dual major or double major combines two seperate but related disciplines: performance/music ed, performance/composition, performance/theory, theory/history, etc.</p>
<p>A double degree would be 2 seperate and unrelated disciplines: performance/science, performance/and a liberal arts field as english, political science, a science/liberal art.</p>
<p>Some schools will support and encourage a double degree or double major, some pay lip service, and some don’t allow it or make a student jump through hoops. Some instructors (particularly performance applied faculty) may not support a dual approach, as they feel it is distracting, or a student is not “fully committed”.</p>
<p>Be aware that many programs are 4 1/2, 5 or even 6 year programs to complete. So, you need to factor in additional time and costs. Certain disciplines are extremely credit intensive and/or time intensive. Performance is a very credit heavy and time intensive degree at most institutions, as are the applied sciences. Music ed is also very time intensive, and like a science field you will find very structured sequenced course curriculum, and not necessarily a lot of time slot availability in terms of avaibale course schedules. There may be only one class time of a course in any given semester. If you can’t schedule it, you run the risk of not having a prereq for the next in sequence course level. Some courses may even be offered once a year, in alternate semesters.</p>
<p>Anything is doable for the right student, and the right school. Here’s a link from Peabody that’s worth a read if you’re considering it. [Peabody</a> Institute - Conservatory Admissions: The Double Degree Dilemma](<a href=“http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/doubledegree]Peabody”>Double Degree | Peabody Institute)</p>
<p>Search this forum, and you’ll find numerous past threads on double degree, double majors.</p>
<p>Also, if you haven’t done so already, please read BassDad’s thread here for general background info <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/258796-so-you-want-music-major-one-family-s-experience.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/258796-so-you-want-music-major-one-family-s-experience.html</a></p>
<p>A minor math correction to jazzzmomm’s posting (sorry, but we engineers are compulsive where numbers are involved).</p>
<p>10,000 hours / 4 hours per day = 2,500 days
2,500 days / 365.25 days per year = 6.84 years</p>
<p>With diligence and allowing for a few sick days, you could get your 10,000 hours done in about seven years. Curiously enough, that is the traditional length of an apprenticeship.</p>
<p>It would be just ten years, however, if one does not practice on weekends and during two weeks worth of vacations per year. Perhaps that was the assumption that jazzzmomm was making in her calculations.</p>
<p>^ picky. Betcha you were one of those guys that carried a slide rule. ;)</p>
<p>Guilty as charged, but only in high school and I was the sort who preferred the uber-nerdy round ones. By the time I hit college, electronic calculators with the four basic arithmetic functions and maybe even a square root key were selling at a price that most engineering students could not afford to turn down.</p>
<p>People who have never used a slipstick do not realize the power of having to estimate the size of their answer in addition to running the calculations. It makes them much more prone to accepting numerical results without critical thought.</p>
<p>We better correct Malcom Gladwell! He’s been saying this on the radio and tv lately—10 years. It wasn’t my math! But, if it had been, it most surely would have been wrong anyway, as my math deficiency is legendary.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the helpful replies so far. I am now taking oboe lessons once a week for an hour and I’m steadily improving!</p>