music college

[thefact]

hey everyone. i was wondering if anyone has any good information to share with me about music colleges, as i will be sending out applications within the year. any ideas on where to apply, and if there are any good schools i might not know about? any great bass chairs? i play stand up and electic bass. i am hoping to go to school in the new england area, but I would appreciate any suggestions from across the county. thanks.

[arnoldschnitzer]

Berklee, SUNY Purchase, William Patterson, New School, Hartt, WesConn, to name a few...

[Prahainspring]

Originally posted by thefact
hey everyone. i was wondering if anyone has any good information to share with me about music colleges, as i will be sending out applications within the year. any ideas on where to apply, and if there are any good schools i might not know about? any great bass chairs? i play stand up and electic bass. i am hoping to go to school in the new england area, but I would appreciate any suggestions from across the county. thanks.

Where do you live at???
I must live near you and i'll be sending out applications, maybe we'll be at the same place. I'm trying to get into berklee.

[Danny Adair]

Some good non-New England options include Indiana University, University of North Texas, University of Miami, and Oberlin College. I believe Indiana and North Texas are the two biggest music schools in the country, which can be good and bad, and they both have excellent reputations.

I majored in music for a year at North Texas and continued to play in ensembles for another year and a half. I found the music program there extremely strong in virtually every area I saw and extremely competitive, especially in the jazz department. I was fortunate enough to briefly study with Jeff Bradetich and I found him to be a phenomenal educator and performer, and also a very nice guy. Lynn Seaton has been the jazz bass chair for a year and I've heard nothing but very good things about his style, methods, and results, and I've also found him to be quite a nice fellow as well.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

[Al the Shrug]

That's cool. I'm lookin at going into a college (possibly NE, but I doubt it since I'm here already and would like to go somewhere beyond home) with a combo of a solid music program and a high powered business school (one to keep me sane, one to keep me fed). Anyone with info they'd share on schools like NYU, Carnegie Mellon, Syracuse, Case Western Reserve, or one I might have forgotten would be nice.
BTW, even though this is my first ever post on this forum, it would be awesome to go to school with someone here.

[EJ_Dad]

At Univ of North Texas, you may find the out of state tuition rates compariable to many schools in-state rates. They were when I was there, but that was many, many years ago.

For UNT and UofI, the question maybe, do you want to be a little fish in a big pond or a big fish in a little pond.

If you work well under pressure, a larger school where there is more competition maybe best. But you may have to specialize.

If you want to do everything and be more of a generalist, a smaller school maybe better.

[Anita Bass]

To those that went to the University of North Texas was there anything that you did not like about the school or living in Denton? Your honest opinon is appreciated. I am getting ready to apply to UNT and am trying to find out as much as I can.

Thanks

[EJ_Dad]

I went there long ago, late 70's early 80's. I'm sure some things have changed.

It is a large music school. The instructors are first rate, as are the facilities. But because it is large, you may study with a TA (teaching assistant/grad student) as a freshman.
There are both many opertunities and much competition. You won't make the One O'Clock, or the Two or Three O'Clock as a freshman, but there will be a lab band to play in. There were 9 lab bands when I was there, probably more now. You may not make the top orchestra as a freshman, but there will be an orchestra to play in.
There are a series of classes in improvization, most smaller schools that will not be available. There are many options for Music Theory and Music History

If you are not put off by competion, then you can thrive there. But you can also get lost in the crowd. There won't be anyone there to coddle you.
Small Fish/Big Pond

I liked Denton, and still live in Denton County. It has a small town feel, but close enough to Dallas and Fort Worth for all the big city stuff. (Meyerson/Bass Hall)

I'd contact the Bass Professors (two of them) and arrange for a campus visit and possibly an audition.

If you can cut it at UNT, you can cut it anywhere.

[Danny Adair]

Originally posted by EJ_Dad
If you can cut it at UNT, you can cut it anywhere.

It is a very broad generalization (and therefore risky), but I think there's quite a bit of truth to this statement. It's important to point out that this statement also applies to Berklee, Manhattan School of Music, Eastman, Indiana, Curtis Institute, and New England Conservatory of Music. Not all of the above schools are on the very same level in every area - UNT jazz is killer; Curtis might not even have a jazz program, etc. - but they're all among the very best American collegiate music education has to offer, IMHO.

However, please don't get a big head about UNT (or any other school, for that matter) - that's a common knock on NT guys around here in Dallas. Most are killer guys, but some have a serious ego about being from NT and that becomes a drag fast.

EJ_Dad's points about small fish/big pond are dead-on. His suggestions about contacting the profs for and arranging a visit are also great ideas. Both Jeff Bradetich and Lynn Seaton are killer players; enthusiastic, outstanding educators; and very nice guys, IMHO.

I liked Denton, but it took while to get used to it. I grew up in suburban Dallas (Plano, to be exact) and the laid-back pace of Denton was initially off-putting. I did grow very fond of it - so fond I stayed an extra 1.5 years! I love to go back and visit.

Hope this helps!

[pedro]

This summer I took my son to visit the Manhattan School of Music, New School and City College of NY. All had their good/bad points but overall I liked the MSM best.

If you are interested in getting a business degree or a double major, you might want to take a look at City College. The tuition rates were around $6,000, which is dirt cheap compared to the other two, and the bass professor is John Pattitucci.

We are also going to check out DePaul and Roosevelt in Chicago.

P.S. FWIW, I've also heard good things about NTS and Peabody.

[Joe Taylor]

What school would depend on what you want to do with your music.

If you want to play symphony music you need to select a school that does that same jazz.

If the music is for fun then almost any school will do.

Doctor Morton teached bass at Capital University in Columbus Ohio. I think they offer a music business degree. I have heard his students and they are good. The bad is they don't have a symphony or did not as of a two years ago. Oh, Doc Morton is priciple in the CSO and his Phd is in playing Bass form that school that starts with a "J"

Joe

[mxr255]

You should look at Penn State University. Rob Nairn is the bass proff there and he is an amazing player. Rob has played in major orchestras in Europe (London), Austrailia, and USA (Pittsburgh and Baltimore).

One of the things that makes Rob great is the fact that he plays bass guitar (I believe he started bass guitar before upright as a kid). He plays all styles of music and is way cool. He has done a lot of things in the world of music and really helped my playing.

Rob is the kind of Proff that you could go have a bite to eat with and drink a few beers (if you are of age).

You are in Jersey so you should call or email him (rcn3@psu.edu) and schedule a lesson. It would be well worth your time. Tell him Matt sent ya. I studied with him at PSU for 3 years.

www.music.psu.edu

[mxr255]

I forgot to mention that Penn State is a fun school and in a great town. There are tons of things to do and plenty of gigs to be had. Check it out.

Matt

[pedro]

My son and I recently visited DePaul and Roosevelt. Both were impressive in their own ways but what we especially liked about DePaul was that it requires jazz students to take at least 2 years of classical instruction along with symphony. Since my son loves both jazz and classical, this is very appealing.

[scott reed]

AnitaBass, I went to NTSU in a past life (MME, 1980) and what I'd like to add is that you'll
probably learn as much if not more from your
classmates than you will from your instructors.
If you're going to spend the time and money on
a degree that's not required in order to get
gigs outside of a school, it's important that
you get to know the class ahead of you and the
class behind you. Those contacts can be the
basis of a career: if you go to the small
pond you don't meet as many people. If you
think Denton is tough try NY, LA, Nashville or
Toronto. No coddling there either!

[hughindigo]

You never said what area of music you are interestd in pursuing. What are you considering? Performance? Ed? or other?

[CamMcIntyre]

This is something i am interested in too, and am beginning to get more indepth with my research of the schools. I'm a junior in high school. I play bass guitar and DB. I am far better at the bass guitar than i am at the DB.

I'd like to ask a few questions/statements. Here they are:

What are some schools in the Midwest that offer Jazz Studies as a Major?
Do any of those schools take Bass Guitar as a principle instrument?
What did you guys think of Roosevelt University/Chicago Conservatory of Music?
Is a Performance Major able to specialize in a certain style of music? Reason for asking is i am adequate at finger style DB and playing jazz, but when i pick up the bow if i'm placed next to a real classical DB player i look terrible.
Is there a huge benefit to going to a big school vs. a small and Vice Versa.


Any other general comments are welcomed.

Thats all and thanks