Choosing between Classical and Jazz?

[theogavin]

Hey everyone,

I'm a second year bass performance major at UB and I have a question about jazz and classical. I play both jazz and classical upright bass (and electric, but that doesn't matter haha), but my lesson teacher told me today that I should start thinking about which genre I should concentrate in grad school!!! I'm only in my second year and I have to start thinking about how I'm gonna live/survive for the rest of my life! I really don't want to choose between the two, because I love them both and I'm not sure what I should do. I do believe a good classical technique can help greatly with Jazz, but I'm still confused. What can I survive with (for lack of a better statement)?

Any help would be appreciated... thanks!

-Anthony

[Fletcher Lanning]

Simple Answer: Don't Choose one

If your particular grad school forces you to choose on or the other as a performance major, no one is going to stop you from taking lessons/classes in the other. If you are proficient at both, you will have more gigs accessible to you and will therefore have a much better chance of making your living solely as a musician.

Anyone who tells you that you need to drop one of them in order to be great is either a stuffy elitist or doesn't know what they're talking about.

[Paul Warburton]

This guy is pretty good at both, and he had some stuff going against him.

http://www.richarddavis.org/bio/biography.html

[Ed Fuqua]

If you're worried about making a living, be a doctor or something. The opportunities to make a reasonable living as a musician are shrinking rapidly.

There are a few players that have major careers in both genres, the bassist that most immediately comes to mind is David Grossman; he recorded with Wynton and Marcus Roberts AND is with the NY Phil. That's the top of a pretty tall and pointy pyramid. If you got the stuff more power to you.

[theogavin]

Ok thanks! this helps. I'll just take it by year and keep going with both.