| Artfulmom, now is a much better time for your daughter to decide she might be interested in studying music at the college level than August, just as senior year is beginning, as my daughter did!
I would encourage you to try to find someone to tutor your daughter in composition this summer and, as someone said above, to start looking for a summer program for summer of 2009. I would also suggest she consider whether she would prefer to audition on flute or piano, should she decide she wants to do an audition based admission. Then consider whether she needs to have a new private teacher to prepare for the audition.
My own dd and I were quite naive and unprepared for the audition process when she decided that, yes, she wanted to study music in college, if she could find somewhere that would accept that she is first and foremost interested in folk fiddle and jazz violin rather than classical performance. She was entering her senior year, and was suddenly thrust into preparing for a classical audition in addition to doing all her college apps. She is now finishing her first year at a school that is not one of the biggest name conservatories, but is a solid program in a state school of music. She chose this particular school for a teacher that understands her ultimate goal and a BM degree path that will support her interests. It's not a totally perfect fit, but good enough.
I guess my point is that if your daughter is talented, even though the talent is undeveloped, you still have a good year for her to get involved with music at a more serious level and to "try on" the idea of a potential music major to see if it fits. |