Advice on post High School studies.

[jaradi]

Hello all, I'm new to this forum, so please allow me to introduce myself.

I am a late intermediate/early advanced piano student in an interesting situation. I'm 17 years old, I took Piano lessons from the age of 4 to 12. I was started on Piano lessons after walking up to a piano in the church we attended, and playing the melodies to some of the songs that I heard sung regularly (reportedly flawlessly, I barely remember any of this )

During the last year that I took lessons, I was pushed more and more to practice, which drove me away from it. However, by the time I quit, I had completed all the basic stuff, and was beginning to get into classical music. Finally my defiance was rewarded and my lessons were dropped, and I stopped practicing and improving, though I continued to play regularly in church, by ear only though (but in all keys).

I've spent my whole life at a K-12 school in Northern Michigan that focuses on fine arts, specifically Visual Art, Dance, and Music. I was required to take Band from 9yo to today and I've played the Trumpet, French Horn, and Baritone.

At the age of 14 entering my first year of High School (same school), I joined the HS Jazz Band and became the pianist within a month of the start of the year, starting on Trumpet. I played the Piano in this band until February of last year, when the guitarist moved away and I switched to playing that. Until early this year, I almost never touched the piano except for the occasional church performance. Then in February I had the joy of hearing a Violin virtuoso by the name of Stanislav Pronin play a concert for my school, and I also joined another, much more advanced Jazz Band as a guitarist, and I experienced a sudden explosion of passion for both classical music and jazz. I practiced on my Jazz chords and scales on the guitar, and took out my old score of Fur Elise (elementary, I know) and mastered the entire thing, and performed it. My love for Jazz has faded recently, as classical music as clearly won my heart.

I started taking regular Piano Lessons again, and I've become determined to become a professional classical pianist, no matter how the odds may be stacked against me. My technical skills, knowledge of theory, and ear are decent, but my repertoire is severely lacking. I'm about to enter my senior year of high school, so I know that going directly to a conservatory is highly improbable and probably wouldn't be very good for me anyway.

There, now that you know my basic background, I've come to ask for advice on how to proceed in my quest. Currently, my plan is to practice and study as much as I possibly can (unfortunately my practice hours are somewhat limited due to my need to have a job). When I graduate high school, I plan to also attend a nearby fine arts camp during that summer, probably Interlochen (if you've heard of it), and then go and attend a smaller school in the state for a couple years, and finally attend a top notch school to complete my training. Any suggestions?