<p>Has anyone here made into into one of the “top” conservatories without the years of practice you get by starting at the suzuki age or before high school? I started my instrument (double bass) about 6 months ago and have just started my freshman year -is it possible to “catch up”? And yes, I know you will say if you try hard enough, but has anyone done this themselves or know someone that has?</p>
<p>Honestly, it depends on your current level of talent AND your potential, and your dedication. </p>
<p>It is potentially possible. How probable is impossible to assess over an internet forum. </p>
<p>Engage the best instructor you can find with a history of producing conservatory level talent.</p>
<p>Like many things in music, there is no absolute yes or no answer to it, it depends on the person and the instrument. If you were on violin, for example, it would be one heck of a battle to get to the point where you could start as you have and get into a high level program (conventional wisdom would say next to impossible, but I know directly of some violin players who started around your time and got into high level conservatory programs).
I also knew of someone when I went to high school who switched from flute to Oboe in 8th grade and went to Indiana (but I will put the caveat this is almost 30 years ago now, and admissions have changed a great deal since then). </p>
<p>But as Violadad said, it depends on a lot of factors, including what the competition on double bass is (there are people on here familiar with that particular instrument), how much talent you have for it and most importantly, how much time and effort are you willing to dedicate to it?The one thing I can tell you, across the board, is that the competition is not getting any easier for the top level programs, and that on any instrument it is going to take a really focused effort, working with a top level teacher and a lot of what ole Winston called 'Blood, Sweat and Tears", to make that happen. One thing to think about is that it is not unknown for someone to play an instrument from the time they are young, but not get ‘serious’ until they are nearing your age, and then make the push to get into a high level program and make it, so the time of playing is not necessarily a breaker if a number of those years were spent 'just gettting bye" so to speak.</p>
<p>It’s also vastly different for vocalists as opposed to instrumentalists. Singers begin serious study later so it is quite usual for one to begin lessons around 9th grade or age 15 and go on to a top conservatory.</p>
<p>PRUNEFACE, you may want to open the current thread here <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/789635-music-college.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/789635-music-college.html</a> and go through the links in posts 4 & 7 and the subsequent thread links.</p>
<p>This will give you some basic background info, and a good deal of the commonality of experiences of a number of high level students within this forum.</p>
<p>What works for one will not work for all. A top flight private instructor is one part of the picture, and probably the factor of greatest import (provided the ability and dedication of the student are equal to the task). But there are other factors that can have major impacts on the overall development of a budding musician.</p>
<p>Well I definitely have an excellent teacher. He is getting a DMA in Double Bass performance and was taught by: Franco Petracci (SP?), Gary Karr, Milton Masciadri, and Thomas Martin.
I realize that there would be quite a bit of work involved and I’m not even sure if I want to have a career in music at this time -I just want to have options.</p>
<p>You might want to pm Cosmos, a high level double bass player at UChicago, and a fairly frequent poster to this forum. She may well be able to some offer some instrument specific advice and direction. You might also search for some bass specific postings by BassDad.</p>
<p>Your excellent teacher can probably tell you whether he has known students who began at your age and achieved conservatory-level ability in 4 years.</p>
<p>Just my wild guess here, but it doesn’t seem to me like you are really behind on an instrument like double bass. When do most bassists start playing? Maybe middle-school orchestra…but most probably don’t start private lessons right away…so you’re not really all that behind. Violin, viola, cello and piano are another world.</p>
<p>memake, my experience which includes a number of my son’s peers is that some students began double bass instruction at a fairly early age, within the confines of elementary string program offerings within public school systems. Some progressed to private instruction while still in elementary school, and the initial stages of summer “camp” programs and higher level participatory orchestra and indepth training programs as soon as they hit the age or ability level parameters.</p>
<p>Some of these later changed instruments, or dropped music entirely. A couple of the “kids” he grew up with entered conservatory level programs as bassists.</p>
<p>The op may not be behind the curve, as we’ve also encountered high level players who never “got serious” till the later stages of middle school or early high school.</p>
<p>Given the “teacher tree” cited, the op is quite probably best served by informed discussion with his current private instructor, and possibly other professional sources that can accurately assess a potential.</p>
<p>It is possible if you have the talent and the drive. My daughter switched to bass from violin around October of 8th grade. In 11th grade, she started taking lessons (2 hours every other week) at Curtis from the fellow who was the top bass student there at the time. He now plays in the Atlanta Symphony. She narrowly missed getting into Curtis herself (they only took one bass that year and the guy who got the spot clearly deserved it, but she was one of a very few applicants out of about 30 who got a letter beyond the standard rejection commending her audition and encouraging her to try again next year.) She did get into Oberlin and played principal chair in one or another of the orchestral groups there in most concerts from her second year onward. She was also accepted at NEC and Peabody.</p>
<p>If I could get some players’ bass “milestones” that would be great -the British have it a bit easier with all of their music exams.</p>
<p>I’m not so familiar with the string world, but in the brass world I know that the current principal horn of the Buffalo Philharmonic, Jacek Muzyk, didn’t start playing French Horn until he was about 18. He studied at the Academy of Music in Krakow, then had a full scholarship at the Mannes College of Music in New York. Followed that up with full scholarship study at Julliard and a stint at the Shepherd SOM at Rice University. Sure he was a piano player growing up, but didn’t start horn until very late.</p>