<p>Hi All,
Wow! Ive been using this site for about 5 years now! CC has been a great tool, it has helped me find my way to a small liberal arts college in the Woodstock, NY area for a liberal arts degree with a tiny focus on music. That College was called SUNY New Paltz.
Unfortunately I do not think this country has any interest, patience or room for small liberal arts college graduates anymore. I graduated in 2012 and even though my mind had been expanded and I felt ready to tackle the world of music/whatever came my way..I fell flat on my face pretty much. I , among many other lib arts college graduates found myself having to move back home and not find any work in my field or at all really. Unlike what I was told by my elders because it worked for their generation, me earning my degree didn't mean anything to employers anymore, I was just another dime a dozen to them with no resources to my name..so I ended up working miserably in factories and some odd job retail stores. Throughout this time I became very bitter with everything in my life, the lies of my high school guidance consolers/fam saying I'd be fine with any ol degree and most importantly my lib art school for not giving me enough practical knowledge or at least resources to survive in this crappy economy. Now I know y'all might be thinking "Hey your the dumb dumb that decided to go into music not something practical like business, law, nursing, engineering" well I know just as many if not more practical major graduates from these small schools who are worse off than I am because their field is quickly becoming flooded <em>yes even nursing</em> Or even worse if they somehow get jobs in their field but do it half assed because they never wanted the career in the first place..no bueno. This is even happening at major universities now.</p>
<p>So this time last year I decided enough is enough and I was going to go back to school for what I wanted all along, a legit musical training from a conservatory. However I wanted to be smart as possible about it and thanks to my liberal arts mind I feel like I did a decent enough job at it. I went through the gamut researching cheaper state schools such as North Texas, Purchase, and William Paterson to some serious expensive conservatories like Eastman, Berklee, Frost School of Music, NEC and MSM. After researching online I decided to save and visit most of these institutions. Some I was automatically turned off by the student body and general vibe of administration and others I could see myself going to if I was graciously accepted. Each school had one thing in common, SERIOUS PLAYERS but as I came home from my visits I got lost in the abyss of the internet and typed are music conservatories worth the money. Needless to say I found some very disturbing stories of very talented people going down that path both undergrad/grad and not even working in their fields and often time with sometimes SERIOUS 150k plus debt. I thought to myself whats the point especially its damn near impossible to make a living just performing and its getting even harder to find legit teaching jobs anymore because programs are getting cut. I even know some Eastman Jazz studies grad students who had to take jobs as far as the remote lands of Idaho just to find adjunct positions or at best 1 year music teacher in high school. So again I found myself using my out of the box skills and thought " ok so if the 2 most common avenue of incomes in the music world are pretty much drying up how can I make my mark?" Thats when I started going into book stores such as Barnes n nobles and found everything from billboard magazine to books like "The Big Gig" which truly explained how to make a living as an 21st century musician..I quickly found out theres much more than performing and teaching. A lot of it is with mastering technology, becoming a business man somewhat, collaboration with other fields of arts and basically learning how to be able to do your craft different than the next guy.</p>
<p>With this new information in my head I headed over to this forum and tried to find a program that encompassed all of these traits into one program! And again of course I found your traditional what I like to call "east coast virtuoso" conservatories which surprisingly is stuck in the old 20th century model of professional musicianship. But then one school out in the outskirts of LA came up I had never heard of it until then and I heard it was real ground breaking and innovative in design..this school was called California Institute of the Arts..I immediately went on their website and was blown away. Finally a conservatory program that allowed me to have Jazz performance at its core but also allowed me to master unique but practical things such as computer science, music technology, web design and things like learning how to create sound EFX or even soundtracks for film/cross pollinating with other art forms. Low and behold I took a flight and immediately fell in love. I decided right then there that this was my top school..so when I got back I applied to other schools that seemed to be somewhat in the know that this industry changing. I applied to NEC, UMIAMI, Suny Purchase and of course CalArts. All very good schools for different reasons, but its funny how things work out because I was denied to the more traditional schools * SUNY Purchase and NEC*, accepted with no funding to the large university conservatory at UMIami but was given a BIG scholarship to the unique school of California Institute of the arts in LA!!! THIS HAS BEEN A LONG TIME COMING BUT IM GLAD ITS HAPPENING NOW THAN NEVER. So as of September 2nd, 2014 Ill be in the mfa Jazz studies program . I WILL have extra loans cause cal arts does not give out full rides but I am grateful that I am doing what I love and I'm confident that'll ill be able to make something myself from this school!</p>
<p>Overall It's not an easy ride what so ever but also take heed on what I say about whats needed of you as a 21st century musician..weather you get a full ride to a big name school or have to settle at a small state liberal arts college like me. A few schools are starting to catch on but still many can't grasp that you need more than just virtuosic playing ability to make it in this world..heck I'll even say you need a lot more than just being able to teach as well these days. The best way I think you can become successful inside and out side of school is to find a program that will really help you become an octopus. What I mean by that is that at your core body..become the best musician/instrumentalist you can be..that is your main love isn't it..so keep it close to you for you never know what could happen with that but don't let it be your only thing. You have many tentacles where you should be learning how to write grants, how to do taxes for musicians, marketing, knowing how the music biz/ record labels/streaming sites/royalties work..maybe even consider getting an internship with a label to find out about how composers get their stuff synched in films/commercials/video games..or become a music publisher or learn how to design/program the next computer software for audio recording..People are stressing the importances of technology/computer science these days. My point is all these are legit incomes that can be used to make your musical endeavors fruitful without having to take on stuff you don't want to do as an artist aka playing in wedding bands for a living, teaching in dead end xyz tiny music store, having to relocate to an remote location for adjunct position or even worse having to leave the profession forever and maybe playing $20 gigs on the weekends.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for the advice over the years and let me know if you have any thoughts on Calarts Jazz!</p>