If you plan to be a professional musician, you are advised to garner as many music scholarships as possible. There are a large number of music scholarships available, so doing this is not as difficult as it may first appear. Also, even successful professional musicians who earn a living doing their craft experience hard times when it is advisable to have the smallest possible student loan payment – or ideally, none at all.
One of the first places you should probably look for music scholarships is your high school. Usually these kinds of scholarships are only available to students who attend the same school you do, so the competition for music scholarships will be less intense. Another thing you should do is complete is Free Application for Federal Student Aid, also called the FAFSA. Although this is not generally considered a music-specific way to find scholarships, some music scholarships do have a need-based component as well as an audition requirement, so it would behoove you to be prepared.
Another way to find music scholarship opportunities is to check with the financial aid office at the college you attend or plan to attend. It is the duty of the financial aid office to keep track of all the scholarships offered, especially those that are only available for student who attend or plan to attend your college. Again, it will behoove to have completed the FAFSA in advance in case you encounter that need-based requirement.
Regardless of where you find out about music scholarships, though, you should understand that most require some kind of audition. The most lucrative scholarships (that is to say, the ones whose award amounts are the highest) often are awarded after multiple public recital performances. Although this may be an intimidating prospect for a young musician, many of those young musicians are willing to overcome their anxiety when amounts like $100,000 are figuratively on the table. Music scholarships that offer that kind of money are admittedly rare, but they do exist.
Some auditions, however, are less formal. In many cases, you only need to play for a small panel of people, or sometimes just one person, in order to compete for a music scholarship. You should determine ahead of time exactly what the application process for your desired music scholarship is. Is there a public or private competition? Is there a sight-reading component? Are you able to choose your own repertoire, or do you have to play a specific piece, or pieces? These questions should concern you greatly because if you are graduating senior, there is a lot going on for you in the spring. In addition to applying for scholarships and financial aid, you may also be applying to colleges – and sometimes your choice of college is affected by how many music scholarships you win, or more accurately, how much money you are awarded by winning.
Even though they may not seem to be worth the anxiety and preparation time, music scholarships are a much better option for you than some of the other ways students pay for college. Most notably, student loans are easily to get but they will leave you in debt for years after college; not the ideal situation for a professional musician. Another less-ideal way that students sometimes pay for college is by working. If you can work as a musician while you put yourself through school, there is not a lot of downside to this. Probably, though, if you could earn a living as a professional musician right now you would do that instead of going to college. The kind of work most students end up getting is work that does not help with a music career at all; in fact, entry-level or menial work can actually take valuable time away from your music practice and studies. So although the task of finding and applying for music scholarships is a daunting one, it is one of the best things you can do for your music career in the long run.
