I remember back in music school, university that is, that a few professors told us that if we didn't make it as a performer by a young age, that we never would...this is not true, many things happen along the way in life to de-rail ones aspirations, but not necessarily destroy them...things never picked up for me as a full time teacher/performer till I hit 30, the thing is I never quit, and, fortunately, didn't listen to people who told me nonsense about age, etc...

the audience really doesn't care about your age, or, for that matter, where you studied, or what kind of flute you play on.

You are very right, Patrick.

Many things change as one gets older and some of these changes could make it more difficult to succeed. For a better result, it is necessary to work on the real issues. With any luck the issues might things that we can overcome in one way or another.

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should be:
"...might be things..."

My .02 cents
Most Universities do not have age restrictions, nor do professional orchestras.
As mentioned breifly above situations in life can redirect us from our original goals. The advantage to being older when you study and learn is your maturity and ability to be more disciplined.

I just saw a recital last night of a man who came back to studing music to get his degree, he is a 38 year old, has been playing professionally and is getting his degree now.

Here is an inspirational story for the older beginers-
A PhD physics professor at a very famous Eastcoast Institution decided one day to learn a musical instrument. He picked French Horn. After studing for only 18 months he took an audition for a major symphony orchestra. He won the audition and is no longer teaching physics. He's making more money and having more fun playing music.

I believe it comes down to passion. If you have a passion for it you want to know as much as you can about it. You don't mind missing the social activities to engulf yourself in the music. And there is always luck and timing.

Do you have to have a degree? No. But you will need to learn how to play the styles of music somehow. Either by going to school, or studying with a top motch professional, or by some other means. But whatever you do, whether you play for The Snodgrass community Orchestra or The Chicago Symphony Orchestra please try to enjoy what you are doing. It's not always easy, but it should be fun.

And always remember it's okay to make mistakes, because then you can study the mistake, fix it and become a better musician becaue of it.

Let's back up here:

I had the along the same lines question and James Galway responded reminding me that he does not have a college degree.

Does James Galway play in an orchestra, though?

<< Does James Galway play in an orchestra, though? >>

I maybe wrong, but I gathered some information that he was sub flutist for many pro-orchestra when he studied in RCM, and he entered Royal Opera Orchestra(?), then we entered Berlin Phil, then he became soloist.

We are talking about entering Professional Orchestras here where they pay you to play... not some amateur orchestras where you pay to play.

A cruel fact from Germany (they have the most pro-orchestras in the world), my friend in Germany once told me : An instrument player after graduated from conservatory must try everything possible to enter pro-orchestra before 27, otherwise they have no chance of getting in anymore in their lives. At least that is what Germany is. Therefore, students start to audition for pro-orch when they are in conservatory until 27.

There are a lot of pro players out there that play in Orchestras that do not have degrees.

It is very unfortante for a lot of college students.

Here in the State of Georgia USA, you have to have a degree to teach. Quite a few of the Orchestra players in the Atlanta area do not have a degree. When you are studying music in college, if you want to take lessons from them, you have to go outside of the college to take lessons. Some of these players blow the college professors away. It is a shame.

I do know that a majority of the professional players have studied at a conservatory or good Music school. They just had an opportunity to get paid good money to play with an orchestra and never finished school.

So I believe that the answer is yes. You can play with a major orchestra and not have a degree. But if you ever need a teaching job that is salaried, you need to get a degree.

It's totally different here, all the orchestral people and ex-orchestral people here are holding lots of degrees and post grad degrees of music and some with educational degree of music, and they are teaching in local conservatory and universities. My teachers are among them.

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Maybe era changed??? more and more people are going to college and conservatory?

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All my teachers are in their 20s and 30s...

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my goal and my dream is to enter pro-orchestra, that's why my teachers are pro-orch people, and I will go to USA or UK or Europe to study in a conservatory first when I am 16 or 17. :)