<p>First off, let me let you know Juilliard has a very large Christian community. By only looking at Christian oriented schools you may drastically reduce his options. <a href=“http://www.jcfboom.com/[/url]”>http://www.jcfboom.com/</a> there is also the Korean Campus Crusade for Christ, and there may be more.<br>
Second, I am going to be harsher than most. You’ve just about described my brother’s experience on piano “back in the day”. His piano teacher not only could not get him ready for even a state college music teacher degree, he did not admit that. I was a lot older, begged my parents to get a “real” teacher which they could have known about since my cousin was trained on piano. His teacher had him learning pop music, mostly music my parents would like - 40’s tunes, show tunes. He was over 16 before they actually got semi-decent teacher and even he wasn’t up to par.
He should be playing classical exericises and classical music if he wants to go to college for music. The piano teacher should know this. If he can’t offer this, he should at least explain to you the pathway and start him on it, even if it means sending you to a new teacher.
To have his best shot you need to find a teacher that trained in the same way as the top teachers, or find a top teacher.
My DD didn’t even have a regular weekly lesson til she went to pre-college in 8th grade. Long story but I traded babysitting for lessons, had back surgery (no lifting baby after that) and the teacher continued to work with her when he could. She auditioned for summer camp scholarships. I don’t know where you live, and how hard a teacher would be to find. But here is what I’d do. If you cannot afford a great teacher, hire a student of a great teacher if the teacher recommends one.
I’d also check out every church AND temple in the area. Church music is actually a separate major in places. the organist or pianist if they have one may have a great music background and be able to give lessons.
Here is what the pre-college (kid’s Sat. program) at Juilliard wants to see a child of his age playing <a href=“http://www.juilliard.edu/precollege/admissions_requirements.html#13[/url]”>http://www.juilliard.edu/precollege/admissions_requirements.html#13</a></p>
<p>This doesn’t not mean every music major played this at this age, but it does show what the kids who audition for college will be working on through the period. My brother needed this type of music to get into a state college to learn to teach music. His attitude helped him survive the 8-10 hr days of practice to catch up with the other students.
Obviously kids who go to Berklee type schools and play rock music, or who are jazz players go a different route.</p>