I assume when you say "institutional" you're strictly speaking about college/university, but you can take this advice even if you're not speaking at that level.

#**Whatever you want to do with music, you can do without the necessity of a degree or validation, but it'll be a bit harder.**

What an institution will do is simply surround you with more musicians, more theory, and more playing than you normally would have teaching yourself.  That in itself, however, doesn't guarantee success.  *...My first attempt at music school was a failed one.*

With the beauty of Q&A forums like this, YouTube, and the internet in general, there's nothing you *can't* learn here that you *can* learn in an institution.

If you have the will-power and ambition to learn about early 20th-century female jazz artists; you can.  **And you can do it on your own.**  But there may be a very specific jazz history course at a university that could also teach you that as well.

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It really comes to the politics of it.  You don't *need* a degree in music to play music.  In fact, most **really great** musicians don't have degrees, or even know how to read music at all.

There's plenty of crappy musicians I've met who have made it through music school with a piece of paper.  There's plenty of amazing one's who couldn't pass it.

The best thing about musical education institutions is the brotherhood/sisterhood it creates.  It brings great musicians together, who in turn form lasting relationships and *learn* to play better because of it.  This is something that, with enough aspiration, can be done by one's self.