Berklee College Of Music?

[Kenneth Foong]

Was just wondering if anyone of you guys are currently in BCM? I'm thinking of enrolling but I don't know how the system is like there and some advice would be good.

I'm thinking of doing a major in Jazz composition and if they let me, I might try for a double degree in performance as well.

Is there a better place to go to in terms of Jazz studies?

[Peter Ferretti]

Yes, there is. Search for the massive amount of college threads.

[Revvv]

Originally Posted by Peter Ferretti

Yes, there is. Search for the massive amount of college threads.

What a wealth of information here

I was curious about the same thing.
Unfortunately, most post responses are in regard to searching the history.

I'm sure the search is a great feature. I use it, and learn a lot from it. How about a straight answer every now and then though.

OK, done with rant. Now back to our regularly scheduled broadcasting.

[Humblerumble]

I will be taking a class online this fall.

[Marcus Johnson]

Originally Posted by Revvv

How about a straight answer every now and then though.

Okay. Yes, there are better places to go in terms of jazz studies.

[nathanmcnathan]

I'm not sure, but it seems to me that berklee is more of a popular-music place than for serious study of jazz composition.

[Peter Ferretti]

Revv,

How long have you been around here, man? Have you seen all the college threads that start at this time every year?

Threads that state where various students are applying are nice. It's fun to meet up with other talkbassist's when doing this 'audition circuit.' Those kinds of threads happen yearly, as they should.

The kinds of threads that should not happen yearly are threads like these. And they do happen every year. Berklee is probably the most discussed school on this forum due to its mentality and acceptance rate. Searching Berklee School of Music is not very hard. I trust the poster would find any question he could possibly ask in one of the previous threads.


Now, if you want advice, fine.

NEC
Juilliard
UNT
USC
Manhattan
New School
Michigan
MSU
Indiana
Northwestern


I would probably recommend any of those schools over Berklee to a student that had their chops down, was motivated, and interested in Jazz.

Happy?

[Kenneth Foong]

Thank you Peter! I'm sorry I didn't search first, I'll definitely run through that list!

[MingusAmongUs]

Geez, take a pill there pete.

[Snarf]

Damn, why all the hostility? If you're so pissed off how about just clicking out of the thread? Is it going to kill you to have this thread among the other 20 or so in Misc?

As for Berklee, I like it, starting my 7th semester. It does all kinds of music, but the jazz program is still huge. All the rocker kids and divas can be distracting and piss you off and make you think "This school sucks, there's a bunch of kids playing rock!" but you just have to ignore that and focus on jazz, if that's what you want. I'm really only still here because I'd like to have a degree, plus this last year is giving me some time to put together an audition package for the gig(s) I'm after. I've met and I play with a lot of great players, and that's the most important thing.

But focusing just on jazz is a stupid thing to do, because seriously, who makes a living playing jazz anymore? There's a few, but they still have to make extra money playing pop sessions! My advice to you would be to go to the school with more talent and a better scene surrounding it, and don't limit yourself to jazz. That's just going to hurt your employment chances.

Berklee has great faculty. Bruce Gertz, John Lockwood, Oscar Stagnaro, Dave Clarke, are all awesome. There's a very high level of talent among the best students, and you have to be one of them coming in, to meet them and network. A lot of those cats wind up in New York anyway, so being in Boston for a while won't kill you.

[txstatebass]

Originally Posted by Snarf

But focusing just on jazz is a stupid thing to do, because seriously, who makes a living playing jazz anymore? There's a few, but they still have to make extra money playing pop sessions! My advice to you would be to go to the school with more talent and a better scene surrounding it, and don't limit yourself to jazz. That's just going to hurt your employment chances.

I do. But that's neither here nor there re this thread. If you're looking for jazz composition I would recommend UT in Austin, TX. It's a good solid program, great players and teachers, and Austin is a great music scene. UNT is a great choice as well, but the availability of gigs is quite low from my understanding. Both of these schools are quite less expensive than Berklee. UT has a fantastic jazz comp teacher.

[MingusAmongUs]

Originally Posted by txstatebass

I do. But that's neither here nor there re this thread. If you're looking for jazz composition I would recommend UT in Austin, TX. It's a good solid program, great players and teachers, and Austin is a great music scene. UNT is a great choice as well, but the availability of gigs is quite low from my understanding. Both of these schools are quite less expensive than Berklee. UT has a fantastic jazz comp teacher.

Well said, O Wise One.

To further derail (briefly), "jazz" is a pretty heterogenous term nowadays. It could mean a lot of things. But from a scolastic perspective, it covers a lot of basses(!). I went to the New School, which is actually criticized by some as being a little too tightly focused on Bebop. Not really true, though the "jazz" focus is definitely limited to a few particular eras/styles, rather than trying to encompass everything that could be described as jazz. IMO this is a good thing. I feel my classes, my teachers, my friends and fellow students, and most importantly the overall experience, helped to prepare me for a career in music -- in general -- better than would have a Berklee or a more "generic" focus. Any bozo can learn how to play Nirvana tunes. You don't need to go to school for that. In college I learned:

discipline
reading
ear training
writing/transcribing
***listening***
history: classical, jazz/popular, etc, and the religious, social, economic and political underpinnings behind how the music (all music) evolved through the years
musical decision-making
performing: on stage, in the studio, etc
... and a whole lot more that I will leave out for time's sake.

But even though most of the music we played in "class" was "jazz", it didn't matter. I could apply 95% of it to any style of music.

And yes, there are plenty of people making a living playing jazz.

[txstatebass]

Originally Posted by MingusAmongUs

discipline
reading
ear training
writing/transcribing
***listening***
history: classical, jazz/popular, etc, and the religious, social, economic and political underpinnings behind how the music (all music) evolved through the years
musical decision-making
performing: on stage, in the studio, etc
... and a whole lot more that I will leave out for time's sake.


And yes, there are plenty of people making a living playing jazz.

Adventure, excitement, a Jedi craves not these things. Above is exactly what I would describe in terms of a well rounded performance degree goal. If you want to pay 30+k/year to learn it, fine. Last time I checked a secondary dominant was the same no matter how much your tuition was.
Also, even though my undergrad was in jazz, I still maintained a very active classical regimen (seriously important on the DB!) and in my small corner of Texas got serious one-on-one time with all my profs. That made it all worth it.

[zac2944]

Originally Posted by Snarf

go to the school with more talent and a better scene surrounding it

I can't complain about the scene here Boston, and I've always been impressed by the Berklee jazz talent down at Wally's.

[Mark Carlsen]

Dude,
Berkley is a town in California.....

[zac2944]

Originally Posted by Mark Carlsen

Dude,
Berkley is a town in California.....

There you go sweetheart. I fixed it for you.

[mattfong]

For a while, up until last year I actually thought Berklee was in Berkeley. I also didn't know they were spelled differently either. Haha.

[Mark Carlsen]

Thanks Cupcake.....

[Pcocobass]

Ken,

Also check out Suny Purchase in NY. It's about 20 minutes from NYC in Westchester. No comp program currently but a great jazz studies program (Todd Coolman is director). There are a lot of great players & teachers there.

Pete