Pursuing Music vs School?

I think finishing secondary school/high school is really important. I understand your desire to go into the music industry (I also would love to do that) but having a good education as a back up is really important. Being a musician nowadays is harder because it's so easy for people to go viral. You have to be able to write, record, produce and promote your own music by yourself (or obviously with the help of teammates and fellow musicians) to have the highest chance of being signed by a label. It's also a really unstable career choice. So I definitely recommend having a back up. The music teacher back up is a really good idea!! So study hard while working on your musician skills on the side. If you later want to become a music teacher doing a music degree is pretty much necessary and a music degree (especially ones that also include a music tech and production element to them) would also be greatly beneficial to your career as a musician. I say go for it and try to achieve your dreams, but also be realistic and make sure you have a) a back-up career plan and b) an idea of where you're going to get some more stable income from. Being a musician is really hard work so good luck!! Always believe in yourself and never give up.

Hi - thank you so much for the lovely reply!! I have all the 'normal' qualifications you'd need for the most basic of jobs, but I'm only one subject away from uni entry requirements, so I'm currently debating whether or not to do one subject at college, part-time, rather than 4 of them at school, to make sure it's not the same experience as school was last year for me.

Hello! I’m from scotland. i’m an s5 pupil, about to go into s6 in june.

this year i didn’t have the best time at school. i was originally sitting 4 highers but this was reduced to 3. i struggled with some people, had to do a massive heap of self-study because my classes weren’t stable & then found “school” draining as a result of this, but the one subject that stuck out most to me and that i loved - was Higher Music.

Next year I planned to take Music at Advanced Higher, along with a few other higher subjects (some of which I’m crashing).

However, I’ve kind of come to the realisation that in life I’d like to be a musician. One who performs everywhere, gets to travel, record music etc., and then when i’m older, and want to settle, i’d do something much more conventional like becoming a music teacher.

I already have a bit of experience because I run the school’s music club for s1&2 and i’ve volunteered in a few lessons. obviously i know you’d need much more experience than this & a degree!!

but like i say - this is something i see happening much later in my life, and so i’m not sure if it’s the best thing for me right now to possibly struggle for another year to get enough highers for Uni, then eventually go to Uni, when actually what i want to do right now - performing - doesn’t require any traditional qualifications, and only the skill set. Obviously if i wasn’t going to school, I would be working on my skills (working through Music books from an exam board like Trinity), and could potentially look into going to Music college. Looking for any opinions, help, or advice. Thanks!