Good colleges for a music performance degree?

[RyRob813]

Reeaaallly want to go to college to earn a music performance degree, playing music for a living is possibly the closest I could get to paradise.

My main problem in my search so far has been finding schools that offer a good bass guitar performance program. I've already looked at Berklee, as it comes up first on every search, but anywhere a little less expensive?

Also, bass guitar is my primary instrument, but I do have (much less of) an ability to play upright, and have four years experience in my high school orchestra- should I put emphasis on this when interviewing?

Thanks!

[AdlerAugen]

didn't you post this in off topic?

anyway for bass guitar, you're probably better off to just start giggin than wastin your money on college for it. Upright bass college would be ok if you want to get more into orchestral stuff, but college is a big investment. Do you really need to go to college to play bass guitar for a living? No you don't, however you do need to find some good bandmates who are dedicated as you are.

[Freddels]

I always recommend North Texas. You will need to play upright but you can (and really expected to) play EB. The cost of tuition is a great value. You'll meet a lot of great players. When I was there, I was primarily an EB player but I had to take my lessons on upright. There were many players like that there at the time. Although they don't have an EB instructor, you'll still learn to play bass.

At Berklee you could learn and make a lot of good contacts too but the tuition is SO expensive.

You might also want to look into Jeff Berlin's school in FL or BIT in CA.

[Pacman]

Double posting isn't cool.