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Double Bass Top schools for bassists

#41
One factor to consider is proximity to jobs. I know a jazz violinist who had been in NY and is now at USC. She loves it. They have a good reputation for their jazz department, and LA has a lot of opportunities to play professionally. So, do you want to win contests or get gigs? Most importantly, which school will allow you to graduate with the least debt?

I just met a principal bassist who did not go to university for bass. He just took private lessons, and practiced.
 
#42
Zojo said:
One factor to consider is proximity to jobs. I know a jazz violinist who had been in NY and is now at USC. She loves it. They have a good reputation for their jazz department, and LA has a lot of opportunities to play professionally. So, do you want to win contests or get gigs? Most importantly, which school will allow you to graduate with the least debt?

I just met a principal bassist who did not go to university for bass. He just took private lessons, and practiced.
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Principal of what? I'd challenge you to find a principal, or any bassist making a living from music who didn't attend a university or conservatory at some point. You do a lot more than just learn how to play an instrument at music school- to imply you can be as successful as an orchestral musician by just taking lessons is definitely a blatant falsehood.

Just a side note, you're posting in a 2 year old thread here.
 
#43
Are all of the good school different now? I suppose the OP has made his or her choice by now, but there is a new crop every year.

I met the principal at the ISB conference. He is in the South East US, but I don't remember the city. I don't know if that is a full time job or not. He talked about times that he had tried other work, so I assumed that the orchestra was his full time job.

I was just stating a fact, and it's only an anecdote. You can draw whatever conclusion you want. I am sure that full time positions are hard to come by no matter what school you attend. Hence the advice on debt.
 
#44
Zojo said:
Are all of the good school different now? I suppose the OP has made his or her choice by now, but there is a new crop every year.

I met the principal at the ISB conference. He is in the South East US, but I don't remember the city. I don't know if that is a full time job or not. He talked about times that he had tried other work, so I assumed that the orchestra was his full time job.

I was just stating a fact, and it's only an anecdote. You can draw whatever conclusion you want. I am sure that full time positions are hard to come by no matter what school you attend. Hence the advice on debt.
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Sorry if I sounded a bit too argumentative, but what you're suggesting is terribly unlikely for people pursuing a career in classical music. Check the job winners list: everyone on there went to some kind of music school at one point or another- building a skill set outside of just playing is really important, and generally the best place to do that is a school of music with a faculty of teachers who specialize in stuff like theory, etc... Hence why what you implied seems misleading to me. Not impossible,
 
#45
I really don't have a horse in this race. I'm not an authority. I just threw it out there because it was interesting. For what it's worth, he said one of his teachers was the bass teacher at Julliard.
 
#46
The University of North Texas has a strong department with Dr. Jeff Bradetich. They also have Lynn Seaton, a great Jazz Double Bass teacher, if you want to work on that as well. Not sure about relative success for Symphony auditions and placements, though.
 

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