I see that there was a thread last year for 2017 participants so I’m starting a new one for this summer program. Please add to the thread what program your musician is attending - and a bit about them. I’ve heard it’s an awesome program!
Our daughter is 17 and will be a participant in the Jazz Workshop. She was lucky enough to be selected for the Newport Jazz Ensemble group (not sure if they play there or not?). She is a bassist - loves jazz but cut her teeth in classical (and went to Brevard Music Institute one summer which solidifed her love of music and her goal of becoming a professional). She plays upright (her favorite) and also electric. She is so excited to be going - and Berklee is top of her list of places to go after high school.
My son has registered for the 5 week program but is a singer songwriter and doing a songwriter camp at NYU and has some other commitments. I am trying to decide whether or not to do the 5 week camp at Berklee because of scheduling conflicts.
Thanks for starting up this group! My daughter is a Junior and recently toured Berklee. She absolutely fell in love with it. We learned about the 5 Week Program during the tour which was after the March 1st priority scholarship deadline. However, we did make the April 1st deadline so we were told we would be informed of scholarships by April 30th. The cost is a bit steep for us so we are hoping for a scholarship, even in a small amount, to make this work for us. She applied for the Women’s Performance group (they had a firm March 1st deadline and only accept late applicants on a rolling basis-plus they only take 10 students!) but she wanted to try and knew she’d be automatically considered for the 5 Week Scholarship if she applied. So just waiting and trying to be hopeful. My daughter is a vocalist and songwriter who is skilled in jazz and interested in a contemporary music program and the sound recording process. She has a theatre background but no longer want to major in Musical Theatre (open to a minor though.) We are from the Buffalo, NY area and will be touring a few NYC and New Jersey schools this weekend including NYU (Clive Davis.)
Congrats to tripletmama-wow-your daughter will have an amazing experience with the Jazz Ensemble group and jacole-good luck with those big decisions for the summer!
Hi, My D is signed up for the 1 week vocal summit, the 3 day performance workshop and the 1 week songwriting. Does anyone know about their performances? times and dates? they don’t get their schedule until the day they arrive and I’d like to go and see it but need to get an airline ticket
@AmyIzzy. Welcome! Sorry you missed the March 1 deadline - but hopefully they will still have scholarships to dole out. Our daughter (also a junior) has yet to visit Berklee but loves what she has heard. She is so excited! She also applied for the women’s scholarship - I say any place that encourages women’s jazz artists is tops in my book! Our daughter is usually the only female in a room of jazz musicians. Hopefully they will meet each other this summer! Keep us posted!
Bay Area Mom-Although I wish they could provide performance dates soon, I heard the students won’t know until the first week. Luckily, we can drive but lots of people need to book airline tickets so definitely inconvenient to have to wait! Once we decide whether our daughter can attend, I will probably book a hotel for the full final week (as long as they allow free cancellation) so we will be there for any final performances she might have.
Tripletmama-I agree and sounds like our daughters have a lot in common : )
Berklee is definitely a musician’s dream come true. The idea of spending 5 weeks musically collaborating with like-minded peers, taking classes with top-notch instructors and having so many opportunities to improve her craft was mind-boggling to my daughter. Up until our tour, my daughter was insistent she wanted to go to school in or very close to NYC but now she’s all about Boston. She loves the diversity (almost 40% of Berklee students are international) and opportunities to study and perform abroad. We still have more colleges to visit (and she understands cost will have to be a factor in our final decision) but hard to see her having such enthusiasm anywhere else. I really hope she can do this 5 Week Program!
We just registered our 17 year old son for the five week summer program. He is interested in Jazz Piano however he also plays classical piano (although not conservatory trained). He also produces a lot of electronic music and has three albums out (sold on the internet) and he is excited to be going this summer. He plays keyboard, guitar, and base. I hope this program will be a good fit for him because he has not really had a lot of performance experience.
My son is attending the five week program this summer. If you want an honest account of the program after two weeks in and attending the one week day session clinic last summer, read my comments on page five of the 2017 thread.
I think sharptail’s critical comments on the other thread are helpful (make sure your kid is mature enough to handle free time in the city) but there are many people who have had wonderful experiences at the summer program as well.