It starts with a fire in the stomach and keeps many aspiring artists awake at night long before they recognize the drive toward performance excellence. This call knows no geographic boundaries and speaks many languages. For every artist who seeks a career as a performance artist, there are no guarantees of success, which does not deter the thousands of students who apply and audition for The Juilliard School each year.

This venerable institution attracts students who come to pursue their dreams as performance artists and a world-renowned staff of working professionals who provide an enviable education. The admission rate for the past year of undergraduates was 7.6%; the year before it was 6.8%. Those stats make Juilliard more selective than Harvard. Students accepted into the rigorous program attend for various reasons. Primary among them is to create and sustain a career. Embarking upon a career in the arts isn’t an easy path to travel and one that requires serious thought, given the number of other talented people vying for the same jobs in orchestra pits, theaters, and opera houses around the world. The understood mission of The Juilliard School is to level the playing field for their students.

Located in New York City’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, one of the world’s major hubs of culture, arts, and resources, Juilliard sits among the Metropolitan Opera, the Vivian Beaumont Theater, and the New York Philharmonic. The school’s façade is unassuming, yet within minutes of ascending the escalator or climbing the stairs to the main entrance, the energy changes. On the upper level, the Juilliard Bookstore comes into view, as do faculty and students going about their classes and rehearsals. Beyond the security checkpoint on the first floor, students convene in the lobby outside Paul Recital Hall with their peers, or review musical scores and librettos. There are no set criteria for a successful student at Juilliard, although discipline, persistence, and the ability to work well with others in an extremely competitive yet creative environment are prerequisites.

The emerging artists introduced here have similar traits and belief systems. They are dedicated to their instrument, practice and performance schedules, and realize that Juilliard is a resource. At the end of the audition or competition, the best player gets the job or award, not necessarily the person from Juilliard.

Students roll out of bed every day and practice their instruments, not worried about the revolving door of others coming through. Some students believe a career in music is a predestined path; it would go against their very nature to do anything else. There are no student molds at Juilliard. Each pupil is an individual in attendance for technical, emotional, and professional discovery and growth. Unlike traditional academic programs, students are able to speak through their instruments, channeling nerves, insecurities, and fears into their performances.

Natalie Joachim began playing flute at the age of nine. Joachim credits the school district requirement in her New Jersey hometown that all students play an instrument in fourth grade as a step toward leveling the playing field artistically. Her female classmates who initially chose the flute influenced her choice of instrument–she thought it was a girl’s instrument.

Joachim doesn’t fit a role or into a category–unusual for prepackaged artists in many genres inside the hallowed halls of Juilliard and in the professional world. “I’m more than a Juilliard student; I’m an artist living in New York,” she said. To achieve this goal, she starts her day at school as soon as the doors open at 8:00 in the morning, and often times remains until 11:00 at night or later. Her performance career began at Juilliard, but she has specific goals to combine her musical gifts with multimedia. The training is an important component to the future success of most students, but it isn’t enough to ensure a job upon graduation. “I’m a well-trained classical artist who wants to introduce my generation to music.”

It takes more than a formidable education to fulfill goals as a musician. There’s no sense of entitlement among the students, yet there is more of an understated expectation that Juilliard on a résumé will open or knock down doors at auditions and in competitions. Still, there are no scientific predictors for future success. Artists who step outside the box and challenge the status quo are more likely to etch a career as a musician.

Brandon Lee is a trumpet player in the Jazz Studies program who remembers being musical since he was two or three, singing in his father’s church. His parents laid an early foundation for his burgeoning musical career back in Texas. His interest in Juilliard began when he was a sophomore in high school and traveled to New York City to compete in a jazz competition. He set his sights on New York City, regardless of institution. He knew he needed to be in New York to study and perform. He was given a preview of the program back in 1999 by legendary trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, and bided his time until 2001. Lee has the distinction of being one of the pilot students in the jazz program. His earliest influences were the brass section of his father’s high school band and Wynton Marsalis’s recordings.

An advantage of a Juilliard education is the one-on-one instruction with faculty and visiting staff from the world over. “It doesn’t matter who comes into the jazz program, it’s what they can get out of it.” Juilliard strives to create well-rounded artists and citizens of society, combining liberal arts courses with the intensive performance arts curriculum.

Seattle native Jumaane Smith is a reserved person, yet when he’s on stage warming up or performing, he comes to life with trumpet or coronet in hand. He communicates through his instruments and evokes feelings and emotions that might otherwise evade him. Smith feels at home in the conservatory because of the level of musicianship among his peers, but he doesn’t mince words: “There’s much more to life than music, but music can be an expression to the life you lead.” It’s a given that most music students have artistic gifts; the dividing factors are formulating, and execution for those who will forge ahead.

Students can’t see family and friends as often as they’d like, due to the ten or more daily hours of rehearsals, performances, recordings, and professional gigs. Smith echoes the belief that artists must have an unrelenting desire to stand above the rest. “There are 500 people in a five-block radius that can do the same thing I can. What separates them from me is my training,” he said.

Audrey Flores plays French horn in what she describes as the New York style–a rounder, heavier, and darker sound appreciated in select orchestras. Audrey is a maverick of sorts. She recounts singing, acting, and community service among the high points in her personal development, prior to arriving in the brass section of the Juilliard Orchestra. Living off-campus pushed her outside the school’s protective membrane, forcing further growth from a student accustomed to being a pioneer. “I need my space from the bubble. Music is personal for me,” Flores said.

There are more female brass players at Juilliard than in the professional world, a fact she bears in mind as she nears graduation. The variety of people and spice of life in New York has kept the creative fires burning inside–not an easy feat for a young artist who suffered the loss of her father four years prior to picking up a horn, and being in Manhattan during the 9/11 attacks.

Flores is a composed and confident person who wants to provide music for the less fortunate around the world. The Texas native thinks that 70% of the students at Juilliard are gifted, and 30% want to achieve more than anyone else. “If those people work harder than you, they’ll surpass you. You are the best teacher and motivator for yourself,” she said.

Christopher Guzman is a second-year pianist in the Master’s Program who credits his mother with his auditioning for Juilliard. Guzman said, “Juilliard is a great and competitive place to be. You love and hate it at the same time.” His passion for music makes it worthwhile. “There’s a lot of backstabbing in the music world; loyalty doesn’t exist.” He feels it’s important that all aspiring musicians prepare themselves for not becoming a superstar and the likelihood of not being hired. There’s an underlying sentiment of an educational imbalance in the conservatory, perhaps owing itself to the singular vision of performance excellence. Juilliard isn’t a liberal arts school, yet some students would benefit from a broader spectrum of courses and social experiences not available in the current curriculum. “Juilliard isn’t how the real world works. Students need to learn how to be practical.”

The musicians profiled know that the odds are stacked against their future success, yet they are prepared for the long haul ahead. Juilliard can be a key to eventual success, but it isn’t the key. It’s important to have a singular commitment to an instrument and the craft. Many seek careers as musicians, but what gives them an edge are personal and professional dedication and focus. Musicians who realize and are not upset by the possibility of someone being better than they are on any given day are those who have prepared for different scenarios. Today’s student peers are tomorrow’s professional competitors.

Artists who pursue careers as musicians must weigh their career decision against perhaps more stable jobs in arts administration, teaching, or leaving the field once the reality of the imbalance sets in. It’s a nontraditional career path, definitely not lucrative, and only a handful of musicians land steady jobs. The goal of the administrators and faculty at The Juilliard School is that the available individual and group training, extensive library, and access to artists in other mediums will best prepare their students for the years to come.