<p>Thank you StacJip and Jazz/Shreddermom for the fantastic advice. First, we are renting his bass at the closest strings shop to Berklee, Rutman’s violins. Is that a disadvantage? He will have it for a day and a half to practice with it. We didn’t want to take his because of cost and possible damage. He uses different basses at school, so we thought it would be OK.</p>
<p>Great advice on the NYU and New School audtion as well. Talked to both schools at a music fair this weekend in LA. My son really liked the staff that were there from NYU, Depaul, (both older straight ahead jazz players) and Berklee, New School (all younger musicians). On a side note, he talked to the admissions gal from Julliard about the jazz program and it felt restricting to him. Not warm and fuzzy, or fun. Basically the other schools he talked with engaged him and gave him the feeling that they would look forward to an application from him. Julliard staff left him with impression that he would be lucky to go to their school. Am I off base?</p>
<p>Hey saintfan, if you are going to look into CSUN then you should definitely look into Cal State Long Beach? They are ranked right behind Thornton USC. Also, when I took my son on a tour of Thornton and we said we lived near Long Beach State, she almost questioned why he would go anywhere else for Jazz in southern California. Music admissions gal said they love Long Beach State’s students when they come for master’s program at USC. I don’t know about merit money but they also have the best jazz radio station in California. Feeds the country as well. My son is interesting in going east, but if he has a change of heart, Long Beach state is definitely on his California list.</p>
<p>Thanks for the tips - Misic is not a WUE eligible major at Northridge it turns out so OOS tuition Still worth a look though. Long Beach isn’t on it at all but still could be more economical.</p>
<p>Upright mom, I was at the Performing Arts Fair at UCLA this weekend as well and standing in the same lines. I also have a S who is an upright bassist but he is still a sophomore in hs. I posted the following on the “Majoring in Jazz Studies” thread yesterday in response to your inquiry about the New School. This fact makes the New School very unusual.</p>
<p>“My S is a sophomore in high school and plays upright bass. We talked to The New School last Saturday at the Performing Arts Fair at UCLA. One really cool thing about their program is that you study with their professors for the first few semesters but after that, their program lets you study with anyone you want. My son’s bass teacher who graduated from the New School and is now in the Thelonius Monk Institute at UCLA studied with John Pattituci because his bass teacher here in LA hooked him up. I don’t know another school that allows that.”</p>
<p>I also get that vibe from Juilliard but s is still interested. I don’t know if he would be happy there.</p>
<p>uprightmom,
My son did not even apply to Juilliard. His teachers did not even put it on the list of schools to consider. And don’t ask me why this topic came up but after our son was admitted I was talking with one of the Bass teachers at MSM, in my own attempt to understand the nuances between the different schools my son was considering and he went on a little “rant” about how restrictive and uptight Juilliard was and how it did not do the musicians any good. </p>
<p>That being said I have also heard from older Jazz musicians that have classical training that they felt that their classical training was very important and provided a fantastic base. I think it depends.</p>
<p>One thing that my son loves about NEC is the flexibility in the program. This semester he is not taking his studio with any of the Bass faculty but is instead taking his studio with professors known for helping students with their musicality and ear training skills. He felt that this was the best use of his time given his own personal goals as a musician. There are not a lot of conservatories that would let a student do that.</p>
<p>Without getting into a bashing of schools, be very careful when you hear things said about programs at other programs, by faculty and students. Juillard’s jazz program is not their classical program, and claiming that it is rigid or whatever sounds like a bit of sour grapes to me. I have known professional Jazz musicians, and they said Juilliard’s program was a first rate program, that they have excellent faculty and master classes. MSM has a great jazz program as well, but one thing I have seen from experience is a lot of people around MSM have a huge chip on their shoulder when it comes to Juilliard, which given they are in the same city, that they are located in Juilliard’s old facility and they have to face people thinking that if you went to MSM it was because ‘you weren’t good enough’ to go to Juilliard, and it isn’t surprising. I am not putting a plug in for Juilliard, nor am I knocking it, I am just saying check out a school and ask working musicians what they think and take what you hear with a grain of salt. On the other hand, there are more than a few students at Juilliard (and sadly, some of their faculty), that think the sun rises and sets with the place and everywhere else is ‘second rate’, so it isn’t one way.</p>
<p>Robin Williams, who makes his living as a comedic actor, attended by did not graduate from Juilliard, but has been a large donor and supporter for the institution. I’d take his quip about the JailYard with a grain of salt. :)</p>
<p>Ruthmans has nice instruments!!! My son has done his share of coveting when in that shop. So I think your son will be fine.</p>
<p>My point when I brought up what the professor or my son’s teachers said about Juilliard is that it is not necessarily the right place if what you are looking for is a more flexible program. As I mentioned for some, Juilliard’s, focus on mastery of the instrument might be just what they want or need.</p>
<p>Your son’s choice of program once he is admitted will depend a lot on what he wants out of his training for the next four years. My son knows kids at Berklee, NYU, MSM, New School and this year he knows somebody at Juilliard as well. It seems like all of them are happy and doing well and growing as musicians in their respective schools. Enjoy this time with your son. Enjoy NYC and Boston (hopefully Red Sox mania will be done by the time you show up and the city will have returned to normal. Enjoy your son. This year is going to go by quickly.</p>
<p>From Berklee’s newsletter. Keep in mind it is a film industry publication…</p>
<p>Berklee’s mark on the motion picture and record industry was noted in a big way last week when The Hollywood Reporter named the college the No. 1 music school in the world. The ranking was based on a survey of industry insiders, which cited, among other reasons, Berklee’s alumni and faculty track record of winning Grammy, Emmy, and Oscar awards.</p>
<p>Thanks StacJip for your kind words of encouragement. So happy to hear about your sons happiness in his program as well as all the other programs you mentioned that he knows kids at. We’ll post back after Berklee audition in a few weeks.</p>
<p>Also, sorry all if I sounded down about Julliard. I have no personal experience with the school or its faculty. My S and I were left with an impression from their staff at the college fair that was less than welcoming. They’re a world class music institution and you would have to have lived in a cave for the past century to not know Julliard. My comment was on their admission staff at the fair. We probably talked to 12 schools. 11 schools were kind and easy to talk, asked questions of my son and seemed genuinely interested. One school not so much. Just saying . . . .</p>
<p>In a post from 2012 jazz faculty at USC Thornton School of Music were listed. There have been some additions to the jazz faculty. Andy Martin, trombone; Ambrose Akinmusira, trumpet; Sara Gazarek, vocal jazz and Dave Arnay, jazz piano are now faculty in that department.</p>
<p>Finally wanted to post back about my son’s audition at Berklee. Well it went very well and he was accepted a few weeks later with a partial scholarship. The audition and interview process was very positive and he loved Boston. At this time, he has auditions at USC Thornton, UCLA, CSULB (we live in L.A.), UNT and Depaul. He’s still waiting to hear from NYU and Miami on an audition date. We’ll keep you posted. If you have any thoughts to share on any of these schools please do so. I appreciate all of your comments.</p>
<p>uprightmom,
NYU was the most frustrating school my son applied to. Communication from them was either late, non-existent or confusing. My son loved his NYU audition but that probably was because he had a friend, who was a senior and on his way to being a successful musician who came down to say hi to our son and spent some time hanging out in the room during our son’s audition. </p>
<p>In the spring my son got so frustrated trying to communicate with NYU that he decided to cross it off the list. To be fair DH and I played a role in that. Our daughter had gone to NYU and left after her freshman year. One thing that frustrated her with NYU was the bureaucracy and how difficult it was to navigate. Keep in mind that for my kids this was a negative. My son’s friend who graduated from NYU last year is doing quite well as a professional musician and had a great time at NYU. My son has classmates in various schools at NYU who are happy and seem to be doing well. The thing about NYU is that it is a large school and even if you are in a school within a school at NYU you are still part of the bigger bureaucracy of the University and the city of New York to contend with.</p>
<p>Congrats on Berklee!!! One thing that is special about Berklee is the state of the art tools they have. I am constantly amazed at how professional the videos are that they post. The other nice thing about Berklee is the connections that your son can make there. Because Berklee attracts musicians from all over the world, your son will have an opportunity to meet and play with plenty of other musicians and for a Bass player that is important.</p>
Still worth a look though. Long Beach isn’t on it at all but still could be more economical.</p>