Any Berklee Opinions?

[John123z]

Anyone here have experience with the Berklee School of Music in Boston? My daughter got a partial scholarship from them and is hoping to attend. However, even with a scholarship it will cost me a small fortune, they are very expensive. Are they worth it? Anyone here alumini?

John

[Jazzin']

Wrong forum.

I don't have any knowledge on this, but I know there are Berklee alumni lurking around.

[Dirk Diggler]

Well I went there for 4 semesters if that counts for anything? It is a lot of money and I have to ask, what career is she hoping to study? Not a lot of high paying jazz gigs out there, hint hint.
It was a great school and I learned lots about music, to be honest it hasn't really helped my real world jobs though. I hate to be so glum but that's my experience and the reality of the music biz, YMMV.
Good luck to you and her.
Dirk

[Freddels]

Do a search for "Berklee" and you should find numerous posts.

[tzadik]

Give a call to the folks at UMaine Augusta... ask for Russ Lombardi...he designed the theory curriculum that Berklee still uses, and he teaches the same curriculum (at a slighter faster pace) at UMA. The other UMA profs/instructiors almost all also teach at Bates/Colby/Bowdoin (the "biggies" around here) and many are fabulous, fabulous folks to learn fom.

It's not fancy, it's not in the city like Berzerklee, but if you want a similar education for probably approx (tops)$5000/semester.... def don't spend though dough on Berklee, no music major is ever going to pay that off!!! Call UMA and talk to Russ.

[Derek the Cello]

I had a couple friends who went there and were a bit underwhelmed. It really depends what you want to do. I'd say it's probably an excellent school for jazz training, but for experimentalists/aspiring rock stars, it may or may not be worth the bill. If it still costs a small fortune after the scholarship, I'd suggest trying as many schools as possible. I think Berklee is a name more than anything else, but there are also some incredible musicians that have come out of there. It's easily not the most economic solution, however.

[Ian Perge]

One thing not often brought up in Berklee discussions is the vast networking ability it offers. Being part of "The Berklee Club" can open a lot of doors in the Music Industry.

...just one factor in the overall equation.

[Bruce Lindfield]

Originally Posted by Derek the Cello

I think Berklee is a name more than anything else, but there are also some incredible musicians that have come out of there.

As has been said, there have been many threads about this and what I remember peope saying is that the incredible musicians who came out of Berklee....are the same people who went into Berklee as incredible musicians!

[Snarf]

Originally Posted by Bruce Lindfield

As has been said, there have been many threads about this and what I remember peope saying is that the incredible musicians who came out of Berklee....are the same people who went into Berklee as incredible musicians!

This is true. Go in already killin', meet people, try to get gigs. Like I've said before in other threads, Berklee, if you plan to play an instrument for a living, is ONLY about networking. Learn what you can from your instructors, pick up some theory along the way, but in the end it's who you meet there, not what classes you take. It's different for Music Ed. and MPE majors, since those classes actually matter, kinda.

I go to Berklee, I love it. I'm in 2 bands (one that's getting some attention), and I'll be starting an acoustic jazz quintet or quartet next semester. I'm putting together my website and my own compositions and recordings to help me with networking and getting other gigs. Basically, you have to put yourself in the mindset of not doing anything but music for a living, EVER. If you have it in your mind that you may want to do something else because it pays more money, absolutely do not waste your time and money at Berklee.

Oh, and if your daughter plays guitar, skip all this and don't let her go. with a 35% guitarist population, you have to be the next Pat Metheny to barely scrape together any kind of living. Bass players have it way easier.

Also, if she wants to play rock music . . . . I'd say pass on Berklee, mainly because I'm tired of hearing incredibly crappy no-talent Berklee rock bands.

[SteveJenkins]

So this is my first official post on this Talk Bass thing....

(For those that don't know me...you can check out my website www.stevejenkinsbass.com or www.myspace.com/stevejenkins)

I am Berklee alum(got my degree). I was lucky enough to get a very substantial scholarship from them and it is probably the only reason why I was able to actually go because I didn't want to rack up some kind of ridiculous debt. Granted tuition wasn't as much as it is now when I went. I also teach there for their summer BassLines program. I get to see all the fresh-faced prospective students.

The best thing to do is have your daughter go to the BassLines program or better yet the 5 week program to see if she likes it. But everything you've heard about Berklee on here has some truth to it. It's important to be focused and have a direction and practice and play as much as possible, but the main thing is: if you don't network there, you are basically wasting your time. This entire business is about relationships...not degrees.

Also, their faculty is top-shelf. For example, you got folks like Matt Garrison, David Gilmore, David Fiuczynski (who I work with extensively), Terri Lynn Carrington, Kenwood Dennard, etc. who are there on a weekly basis.

Besides myself, I can rattle off the names of some great bass players who recently came out of Berklee within the past few years: Mark Kelley, Tony Grey, Marco Panascia, Janek Gwizdala(he has great stuff to say in his forum), Chris Tarry, Panaotis Androu and Mitch Cohn....And these are just cats in NYC. The one thing that we all have in common besides spending some time at that school are the extensive networks that were created while in the Berklee environment. I don't think one of those guys would disagree with me if they were asked about the networking possibilities at Berklee. That mentality never goes away....It's all about who you know in some ways.

But, there might be another way....I have a friend who is a killer guitar player that just hung out around Berklee but wasn't a student there. Now he is doing all kinds of big tours put together by Ricky Minor out in LA with people like Queen Latifah, etc. Smart guy.

[Jon Simonoff]

Talk to Russ at UMA. It's a very good idea. I took lessons from him when I was in high school. Great man, great teacher, not nearly as expensive.

[soholounge]

totally depends on the individual.

i have friends that went for a couple of semesters and dropped out cuz they got gigs to tour the world.
i've also met other people who went 4 years and graduated and then did nothing special.

if your daughter is dying to surround herself with talented muscians and is crazy motivated, then maybe the $$ will be worth it.
but then again, if she has that kinda drive, maybe she won't need berklee.
couldn't hurt though.

again, this has been said many times before.

[Aaron Saunders]

Steve -- welcome to TB. If you didn't know, Marco Panascia is actually a regular poster on the DB side of the forums as jazzbass72.

I've heard a lot of mixed opinions on the school. As far as I've seen and in the many Berklee threads I've read, this is probably the most informative. Another person to ask would definitely be Ed Byrne, a trombone layer who teaches at Berklee. IIRC, he teaches improvisation. ed@byrnejazz.com

[John123z]

Thanks guys. !!

John