Music is a challenging career to enter especially without connections to the industry, i.e., who you know, who they know, who you collaborate with, etc. More and more, this kind of support is being built into the curriculum at college-level music school programs. So you might consider starting with a community college program where you can strengthen your proficiency on one or more of the instruments you’re already most proficient on, along with beefing up your sight reading capability since that’s also extremely important for getting work in music. Also look for other musicians to jam with, collaborate with, learn from, etc.

It’s not the number of instruments that you play but your proficiency on your main instrument that will help you pass your audition to major in music in college. So find one instrument you can dedicate yourself to for lessons, and create a daily practice schedule you can stick to. Learn some music theory; learn to sight read; and keep your grades up. Summer music programs offer the opportunity to learn all of that, and with many offered virtually, you can more easily use some of your summer to catapult yourself into the next level with your music.

To qualify for acceptance into college music education programs, you will need to pass an audition. So if you’re not already taking music lessons on a primary instrument to audition on by the time you’re a senior, now would be a good time to start. Keep a rigorous daily practice going as well. And start learning some music theory. It will serve you well once you get to college.

Whatever you can do to expose yourself to a wide variety of music genres and instruments will support you in your desire to become a music teacher. If there’s a youth orchestra in your area, audition for it as your proficiency on your primary instrument gets stronger. If your school has a Tri-M chapter, join it. If not, start one! (https://nafme.org/start-your-tri-m-chapter-today/)

This article will also be helpful: Prepare to be a College Music Major

The main point we want to address is your line: “I also feel I lack the drive and passion that’s needed for this degree.”

Without drive and passion, it will be hard to bring yourself to the level you’d need to be at in the next few months to audition well. And it would be very difficult to navigate all the challenges and demands that a music major must be ready to face. However, many schools offer a music minor. You would not need to have the same level of proficiency, passion or drive to minor in music, just the interest. And with your current skills, you’d be a good candidate for this. You could also simply continue with lessons and take as many music electives as you can fit into your schedule so you can continue to deepen your knowledge and maybe even develop a stronger passion for music in the process.

Music majors need to have a good level of proficiency before they apply and audition. They should also be clear about why they’re studying music and what they might like to do career-wise once they graduate. While career interests may change, the demands of a college music program are intense, so it’s not for someone who simply enjoys music.

As someone new to piano, we encourage you to take lessons, practice regularly, learn some music theory, attend concerts wherever/whenever possible. If you are able to keep up with piano and still have interest in attending music school, check the application and audition requirements at schools you’d consider applying to in order to get a realistic understanding of what it would take to become a music major. Whatever you do – keep exploring music! It is something you can enjoy your entire life.

Know that you are not alone with your concerns! Several articles on MajoringInMusic.com are filled with excellent tips for dealing with auditions, including the performance anxiety that often accompanies auditions. Please do take the time to read these articles. You can find them in the Applying and Auditioning category of MajoringInMusic.com articles.

We assume you meant that you’ll be a senior when you go back to school this fall. To be a music therapy or music ed major, it is entirely possible to pass the audition, but you’ll want to prepare well for it. We urge you to spend as much time as possible this summer practicing viola and keeping up with lessons. Look carefully at the audition requirements at any schools you think you want to apply to – and ask your private teacher for help in starting to prepare.

We also encourage you to read all of the music therapy articles on MajoringInMusic.com to see whether this field is a good fit for you. You’ll find a number of schools we work with linked on those articles – you can learn more about them and their audition requirements by simply clicking on their links.

Read our article about taking a gap year as a music major. It’s tricky… at this point it would depend on where you got accepted and once accepted, whether they would hold your spot. Schools may require you to re-audition which could be a problem if you haven’t spent a lot of time with lessons, practice, and performances during your gap year. Note that many schools make it easy to do a semester abroad. Otherwise, you can always use summers to study and/or travel abroad, and take electives in world music and foreign languages/cultures.

The type of school you go to has great bearing on the answer to your question. If you are a strong academic student, and apply to a liberal arts college, you would not be required to declare your major or majors until your junior year. You could take music classes starting freshman year along with classes relevant to your other major plus gen ed requirements, before deciding your direction.

If you go to a university, you would be best off applying and auditioning during your senior year of high school. Music majors take sequential classes as well as private lessons across their four years, and delaying those at a university would definitely require at least a fifth year to graduate. Even if you were to start out in your freshman year at a university as a double major in music + another area, you may find you need five years to complete both majors. And if you were to wait until your sophomore year to audition at a university, unless you were taking lessons and practicing regularly and preparing for your audition, your proficiency would probably not be at the level it would be if you were doing these things as a senior.

Do read our articles about double majoring – you’ll find these very insightful: Dual Degrees, Double Majors, and Music Minors and Double Majoring with Music: Questions You Need to Ask.