Bard - questions about non-conservatory guitar jazz

College Majors Music Major
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<p>I realize (thanks to this board) that Bard's jazz studies major is outside of Bard's conservatory. I'm wondering if anyone knows who my son can speak to about their jazz program, specifically for a guitarist. Courses? Guitar teachers? How many jazz students there are?</p>

<p>(For example, it says on the website: "There are currently no plans to offer private instruction in guitar, organ, or percussion, but each of these instruments can be taught by applied faculty in the Music Program. This may be subject to change as the Conservatory expands in the coming years.") </p>

<p>We're not quite sure what that means! There's no private instruction, but they can take lessons?</p>

<p>Any help appreciated.</p>

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<p>You can PM N8Ma, the Director of Conservatory admissions at Bard (if he doesn’t reply directly to your post). He can guide you to the right Bard links or people to talk to.</p>

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<p>What I believe that means on the Conservatory’s website is that there is no studio instructor for those instruments connected to the Conservatory itself. Lessons would be outside the Conservatory from the College’s staff (except for composition all the faculty are separate.) N8Ma can definitely explain it better. So, for instance, if a cellist in the conservatory wanted to study percussion in addition to their regular cello studio - they could take lessons from the college faculty.</p>

<p>For some reason the college’s music department’s website disappeared from the internet about 6 months ago. It used to be several pages with quite a bit of information and now there is just a summary. Haven’t figured out why.</p>

<p>For answers about the jazz program at Bard College I would encourage you to email Erica Lindsay and John Esposito.</p>

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<p>Hello,</p>

<p>I’m happy to help out with some more info. The Music Program (Bard avoids using the word “department,” so to the rest of the world that’s what we mean by this term) is indeed part of the regular 4-year BA curriculum of the college. Jazz, electronic and experimental music (Teitelbaum), world music, voice, composition, and classical performance are all possibilities in the Music Program. </p>

<p>To focus on your specific questions, you can take lessons on jazz guitar, and enroll in any number of related courses and ensembles (jazz harmony, the music of black americans, big band, jazz combos, improvisation workshops, and composition workshops).</p>

<p>There are three full-time jazz faculty in the music program–pianist John Esposito, drummer Thurman Barker, and saxophonist Erica Lindsay. All three are also noted jazz composers. In addition, there are a large number of affiliated/adjunct faculty to teach vocal jazz, bass, as well as guitar. In addition to private lessons, there are group guitar lessons (but as I understand it these are for less experienced players). Mike DiMicco teaches guitar. Any further details you’d get by asking Erica Lindsay. Her contact info can be found at on the directory at <a href=“http://inside.bard.edu%5B/url%5D”>http://inside.bard.edu</a></p>

<p>A full listing of courses in the music program can be found online in our catalogue. Note the Music Program is found under the Division of the Arts, and is separate from the Conservatory of Music:
[Academics</a> | Bard College Catalogue](<a href=“http://www.bard.edu/catalogue]Academics”>Bard College Catalogue)</p>

<p>Bard has awarded honorary doctorates to Benny Goodman and Wynton Marsalis, but in general the feel of the scene is towards more “out there” progressive jazz. And you may already know Steely Dan are noted Bard dropouts (Donald Fagen was awarded an honorary doctorate in the 90s, though).</p>

<p>Finally, we pulled the plug on the old website because it was seriously out of date. I am tweaking the last bits of content for the new Music Program website (herding cats! Getting bios and headshots from all of the affiliated faculty has been a bit tricky) and once we have signed off on it, it will go over to the web services queue for the actual design. Knock on wood–we’ll have a new website for the Music Program by mid-October. I’m quite anxious to make this happen as I also teach in the Music Program and want to recruit students into my orchestra. </p>

<p>And I’ll rewrite the FAQ page to be a bit more clear. Thanks for that feedback.</p>