<p>Getting a high quality professional evaluation may be easier than you think. Prepare a solo piece, make a video, and post it on youtube or similar video site. Find the colleges that would have a bass performance professor (Barry Lieberman does double bass performance here at UW), email and ask for honest feedback.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if there is a message board frequented by professional bass players, but if you can find it post the question there. For trumpet players (my son played trumpet in a local youth symphony until this year) the the best message board is trumpetherald.com. It is very active with a number of professional trumpet players offering advice and always willing to help.</p>
<p>A friend of mine went to college, majored in music performance and performed fairly regularly until about age 35, when he transitioned to a 9-5 job in the computer field, no regrets. If you are passionate about performance and are encouraged to pursue it, you should major in performance and all else would have to become secondary.</p>