I hope that somehow your dream will not have to end. However if reality will not let it be, coming to such a realization is probably a good thing.

I hope you have a nice day.

I know what you mean...the compitition out there is rough to say the least - you are in the same league as the kid who's played mozart since he was 8...on three instruments.

We will see how I fare at college next year - music always in mind. I hope that you find a way, and perhaps maybe you don't need one of these colleges to get the recognition that you would like? After all, I don't recall mozart or bach ever going to a reputable composition school. :). I always have to remind myself this...I know none of us are quite a bach or mozart either...but I don't think your dream is to be the BEST KNOWN COMPOSER EVER! I think it's more like simply the luxury of being able to make music for a living. C'est La VIE!

Anyway, I'll keep watching your progress sir, and wish you the best..perhaps we will run into eachother in a different setting some day.

~TheWisestMagi (Bobs)

Not so long ago, i had the same kind of dream. Then i realized it could be the wrong thing to do. I wanted to go to the regional academy of Rouen (not the most prestigious, but a great start).

Why would it be wrong to do it, would you say ? Because i think you are a bit like me. A free mind, with convictions and beliefs on your own, and maybe a stubborn fellow (for the least, i am). People like me see their dreams destroyed in these places. They make you feel like you'll never succeed, and never accept what you are. You think the AP is elitist ? Then you have no idea how elitist these schools are.

I had the chance to see some lessons, and i personnaly knew some pupils in there. I can tell you that it wasn't a place for me.

And i realize i took the right decision. After all, my dreams are still intact, and i keep on progressing, without the help of these people.

Again, you're probably different from me, and Ryerson University may be different from the Academy of Rouen, but i thought i'd share my two cents.

Music universities are fucking brutal. I spent 7 years of my life studying classical music and I was still too late to start and not of the standard to get in.

But music is one of those industries where you don't NEED the qualifications to get somewhere, even though it does help. I'd like to try to study composition sooner or later, but it's a shame they do the courses as a whole package, you need to be able to play an instrument in order to learn to compose. It's bullshit.

Over the next three years I'll be studying journalism and film & television. I'm thinking that my qualifications for film and television at the end of my degree will give me a head start for composing scores for film, television and gaming.

If you really want to pursue film scoring as a career, I'd suggest talking to people that do professionally what you do here. Talk to their employers, show them some of your stuff, talk to some people at Uni, find out if there's a way you can study composition without all the instrumental blah blah. Talk to people, keep your dream alive, maybe you'll find someone who's willing to help you get to where you want to be, don't give up, and don't stop fighting for what you believe in. If you want it bad enough, you can get it.

Don't let me down, Maestro.

Why not continue with what you had? What you have here? Lacking an instrument is a setback but know that there is always a loop around things that seem to be out of reach.

I'm always worried that I'm going to have a hard time to get into a good Music school that is well respected. Though it seems like an instrument is always a problem. I've been playing Piano for well.... 12 years now. I don't have memorization skills down I suck at playing complex songs. I'm frightfully nervous of playing in front of people and even more so when they are grading me. I also have a hate built up against classical music, I much rather play a more modern composer's piece.

For my Music theory class I'm required to sing. I don't sing.... Never have and still don't do it very well. I don't think I'll end up passing the AP test all because I'm bad at singing :( so I know how you feel. I also hate singing in front of people much like playing the piano.

You shouldn't give up on music, you should look into music schools and see what they want for composing. Most schools do require an audition of some sort (not looking forward to that...) but if you send the sheet music that is spectacular I'm sure someone is willing to overlook that. In the music industry today it seems to be more who you know and who you're friends with.

3 years isn't even that long though 5 hours a day is more of a college standard of when you are in it. The only people who practice for 5 hours a day are the Asian kids who's parents whip them if they don't. Many people go back to college and get a degree in other things later on in life. Hell my dad is thinking of going back to get a degree in physics.

So I say screw it and keep looking around. I'm sure there is someone out there willing to take you in. Don't close your eyes completely to the dream there is always a way to make something of it.

Don't worry.
Music has always been my life. I had classical piano lessons at the age of 4, taught myself guitar, some drums, bass... Just to find out I am not 'good' enough to study music. At least, that's what I told myself. I never applied or anything.
Instead I chose a path in which my income is relatively high and where I have enough time to have a big 'hobby' like music. It goes well hand in hand. It's nice to have money and buy beautiful instruments and such. But there is no guarantee that you will make money with music, now is there?
Plus I think that as soon as something becomes your job, it's stops being fun. I want to make the music I want. I don't want to play music to survive and make money...
Those thoughts helped me a lot with my decision of not taking the path of music.

Well, you do have something that millions of other musicians and composers do not; a mention on Wikipedia as the recipient of Newgrounds' Musician of the Year award for 2007.

RUN FOR AUDIO ENGINEERING

I think for starting at 17, you're pretty darn good. >:3

Best of luck! :D