<p>Steve M., welcome and good luck to your son. If you’d like to specify his instrument, and any other acceptances besides UNT that he recieved, we’d be happy to add them to the Master List threads.</p>
<p>hi violadad,</p>
<p>My son plays jazz drumset, and to a lesser extent, enjoys playing concert percussion. He has only been active in music for about 4 years total and only decided on his college major last summer. Fortunately, his high school had four sections of concert percussion (40+ students) and a decent jazz ensemble. He did all four years in percussion studies and made the jazz ensemble (audition only) as a sophomore. He attended two summer jazz camps, had excellent private instruction (with emphasis on sight reading) This year, he auditioned for and was selected as the drum set player for our area’s high school “honor” ensemble. More importantly, he is getting 2-3 opportunities to jam, or even play paid gigs each week - which has really improved his improv/soloing skills. Interaction with pro and semi pro musicians has been essential to his development.</p>
<p>He was accepted into the music program and awarded scholarships at the following:
University of North Texas (his first choice due to the amazing facilities, faculty and reputation)
Washington State University (great instructors and facility - not much of a campus town)
Cal State Long Beach (great program- maybe one of the best options for CA jazz students)
UC Santa Cruz (fabulous campus, highest academic stats of the bunch, but mixed reviews on the jazz studies “minor”
Cal State East Bay - has had department problems in the past, but coming on strong the past few years.
San Jose State (great music school with new Jazz Studies Director from UNT)</p>
<p>He applied and was accepted to the music/jazz studies department at Queens College NY (more of grad school program emphasis) with no scholarship offered</p>
<p>He was not accepted into UCLA’s Ethnomusicology/Jazz Studies Dept. (perhaps because our son forgot to send in three letters of recommendation, as requested - maybe he needed a higher GPA or SAT scores - or maybe his audition wasn’t as good as he thought - who knows…)</p>
<p>All in all, I was pleased with his success in auditioning and selecting a school.</p>
<p>Steve M., thanks for replying. BassDad added the acceptances to the Master List thread. The best of luck to your son.</p>
<p>I believe Billy Harper was a UNT and he is an amazing musician/composer.</p>
<p>Cal State Long Beach has a great station too:</p>
<p>[KJAZZ</a> 88.1 FM | America’s Jazz and Blues Station](<a href=“http://www.jazzandblues.org/index.aspx]KJAZZ”>http://www.jazzandblues.org/index.aspx)</p>
<p>Hello, I posted this yesterday but probably in the wrong place. My son is completing his sophomore year at Goucher College in Towson, MD. He is a passionate guitar player and is majoring in Jazz Studies. He loves playing jazz/funk/improvisation, especially with small ensembles. He is doing quite well, with straight “A’s” so far. But he seems to be very unhappy. He announced over the weekend that he wants to transfer to another school. He has an excellent jazz guitar teacher and a good advisor at Goucher, but he is somewhat of a “big fish” in a “small sea”. I think he is afraid to speak to them about the idea of transferring. Goucher is an very good liberal arts college with a decent music department, but it is quite small. Most students participate in the music ensembles “for fun”. My son wants to be a professional musician. He feels like he is sleep-walking through his classes. He wants to be challenged, surrounded my musicians that are as dedicted and committed as he is. He would like to go school with peers who are better than him, not only motivating him to work harder (he already practices several hours a day) but also to encourage creative collaboration. He fears that playing with musicians that are not as serious as he is is actually interfering with his development as he does not have to be on the top of his game to sound good. One complication is that he does have a girlfriend at Goucher, so he would prefer to stay within a couple hours of the school, but if he is best suited for a more distant school, he would make the move. He is also concerned that is getting late in his college career to transfer- he likely could not make the change until his senior year or at best, the spring of his junior year- are there any great schools still accepting applications/auditions for this coming fall of 2009? To start, he wants to look into Peabody (because it is close), Shenandoah, New England Conservatory. He did attend the Berklee 5 week summer program a few years ago and might consider that, also. I would be grateful for any thoughts about these schools, esp. from the perspective of a transfer student. Also, I welcome other ideas. Thanks for reading my long-winded post!</p>
<p>sberry-</p>
<p>Our son was in a similar situation 3 years ago. He did end up transferring for junior year and did quite well. He will begin a masters in music performance in the fall. Probably it is not so uncommon in music major to find the fit lacking after a year or two. Our son also left a terrific private teacher behind, but it did work out for him.
It might be late for this fall but maybe someone else can speak to that.
I wish you and your son the best.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>A valid concern for any musician worth his salt, and especially one with professional performing aspirations. Peer quality and being surrounded by “like-minds” and abilities is a key component in development; the best only get better when surrounded by extraordinary talent.</p>
<p>He is right to be concerned about a late transfer, as many credits may not transfer. He would be wise to begin to assemble syllabi, course work, and course descriptions for any and all classes, and thoroughly read transfer credit policies (including music specific credits) for any and all potential schools that interest him. As a general note, most any institution requires the last 60 credits or so be done in residence, so that equates to four full time semesters, give or take, depending on what if any credits transfer, and specific degree requirements. Additional time quite simply equates to extra out of pocket expense.</p>
<p>He may wish to consider completing his BA at Goucher, and apply to a program that will provide a Masters level (or professional performance certificate) degree in jazz studies or performance. If he has the talent, it may well be a more effective means to accomplish his goal. There are others here far more versed in the jazz idioms, but from the standpoint of a classically trained performer, an MM is often the next step beyond the BM or BA.</p>
<p>A performance based transfer is an odd bird for a spring admit, and he will have to look at school specific criteria, and may have to talk himself into getting department or faculty to hear an audition outside of the normal scheduled parameters. There are music programs that will allow a spring performance admit, but normally under special circumstances and an audition within the standard (fall-Marchish) time frames. He’s going to have to search to find them, and make more than a few phone calls. Studio capacity, instrumental balance and needs are main reasons why many performance programs don’t take spring admits. It does not hurt to have prior knowledge/personal contact, experience with faculty or extremeely strong professional references to help ease the process. Anything is possible, but it may well be contingent on luck, timing, and who you know and where. Again, does the idea of a transfer make sense as late as senior year time wise and financially? </p>
<p>From a masters level degree, I don’t think Peabody offers one in jazz studies or performance, either does Berklee. NEC, U North Texas, The New School, USC are all worth look-sees from both undergrad and masters standpoints. From my knowledge of Shenandoah, it’s a solid program, but one that I can’t recall being mentioned as a hotbed of jazz. I may well be wrong, he should investigate. You can scan the undergrad acceptances for jazz performance or jazz studies here <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/618208-master-list-music-school-acceptances-fall-2009-a-57.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/618208-master-list-music-school-acceptances-fall-2009-a-57.html</a> with some very strong programs mentioned.</p>
<p>These are just food for thought ideas from the parent of a classically trained string player, and who has a fair knowledge of music programs, and a less than stellar knowledge of the “best” places for jazz. </p>
<p>Perhaps those parents/students with more jazz specific knowledge will chime in.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>When and what issue of Downbeat are the college jazz programs rated?</p>
<p>Also, does anyone have feedback on the University of Louisville? That’s where the famous Jamey Aebersold is.</p>
<p>The June issue of Downbeat has the student music awards, from junior high through college. You can see which schools’ ensembles won awards, though the competition is vis submitted CDs vs. an in-person "Battle of the Bands"adjudication. I am not aware that Downbeat does a college program rating, but it does have a college program issue, usually in the Fall. I bet you could find it online.</p>
<p>I don’t think DownBeat gets into the “ratings” game. The college program issue is pretty much a laundry list, with the schools’ ads doing the sell. </p>
<p>Sberry, two schools that wouldn’t be too bad a commute for the lovebirds would be University of the Arts or Temple U in Philly. Both programs should offer a more vocational seriousness.</p>
<p>Thanks so much to all of you for your replies and valuable suggestions. I have never done this before- it’s a very powerful thing to compare notes/seek advice from others. I am not sure what my son will do- he was unhappy several times before and decided to stick it out. I think it is a bit overwhelming to him to do the research, make the calls and appointments, etc.- he’d rather practice! My instinct is to let him figure out what he wants to do but if he seeks my advice, present some options. But he will be 21 this fall and he needs to take the initiative. Status quo may ultimately be the best option as he has a nice scholarship and while he does not have much of a peer group, his jazz guitar teacher is hinting that he is ready to include him at some of his local gigs, which would be a great experience. Also, he could concentrate on preparing to apply for admission to a Conservatory for his Master’s. Last, he may have the option to study for a semester at the Puerto Rico Conservatory, a little-known school (at least to me until recently) that is currently in expansion mode since they just moved into a beautiful building in San Juan (I visited in April). The jazz guitar teacher is a Berklee grad and they apparently have a great Jazz and Carribean music program. Does anyone have any experience with this school? Again, thanks for your ideas- I appreciate them very much.</p>
<p>Susan</p>
<p>Hi sberry,</p>
<p>Just want to say hello and share a little with you because my son is a jazz guitarist. The lack of serious peers to play with would be a real downer for a committed jazz musician–it’s so collaborative. Your son sounds like he deserves to be with players who see things the way he does. I don’t know if transferring to a place like NEC (where my son is) as a senior would be worth the trouble or if he should just apply to Conservatories for graduate school. Maybe the best thing to do is to really tap into that private teacher at Goucher and tell him that he has the goal of going on to grad study at a top conservatory and just spend the year working on audition material. Does he go out and try to get gigs? I might think that putting his all into this last year in terms of playing time and lessons and theory work would be a good investment. I am pretty sure that NEC and MSM have MM programs for jazz musicians and I would think these are performance degrees. </p>
<p>He is late for auditioning into other programs. U of Arts in Philly might still be auditioning, but check out the quality of the peers there before making a choice that would be similar to where he is. William Patterson in NJ is a very good jazz program that also auditions late. </p>
<p>And don’t be discouraged. You don’t have to get to a conservatory by the traditional route. There is a student at NEC who was a lawyer for a few years before deciding to go to music school!</p>
<p>first time on this site and the info provided in this string is extremely informative.
first time also venturing into the exciting world of college program research for my only kid.<br>
it’s daunting.
looking for input on jazz programs for bass players - mainly electric, but he’s interested in stand up also.
any advice is helpful…prefer midwest schools.</p>
<p>University of North Texas (UNT)</p>
<p>You could also look at both Western Michigan University and Michigan State. Neither is a large jazz program, but your son would be working with two very gifted instructors/performers. At Michigan State, the jazz department is headed by Rodney Whitaker, who is one of Wynton Marsalis’ bass players. At Western Michigan, it’s Tom Knific.</p>
<p>I think Northwestern is also rebuilding its jazz program.</p>
<p>Yes, Northwestern has a new jazz faculty as of the 08-09 school year. Oberlin of course has great jazz bass. Info on their faculty can be found on their website.</p>
<p>Oberlin also has an amazing new building opening early 2010, mainly for the Jazz department. My daughter took Jazz lessons with Peter Dominguez in addition to her Classical lessons with Tom Sperl and says both are excellent teachers.</p>
<p>Many jazz programs offer upright bass only, not electric (I think Michigan State is one, and I would imagine Northwestern would be as well). The more straight ahead the program, the more likely that bass will be upright only. </p>
<p>In general, upright jazz bass players are in great demand.</p>
<p>Boney James and Dave Koz both came out of UCLA. :P</p>
<p>The University of Tennessee is one of the best kept secrets in the country. Their jazz program was founded by Jerry Coker (still teaching in the area but semi retired from the university) and their rhythm section faculty consists of:</p>
<p>Donald Brown - Piano
Rusty Holloway - Bass
Keith Brown - Drums
Mark Boling - Guitar</p>
<p>[UT</a> Knoxville | School of Music](<a href=“http://www.music.utk.edu/faculty/jazz.html]UT”>http://www.music.utk.edu/faculty/jazz.html)</p>
<p>All these guys are internationally respected as players and educators</p>
<p>The University of Southern California has a very strong jazz program. Notable professors are Bob Mintzer (teaches and runs the top big band), Bill Watrous for trombone, Peter Erskine for drums. In addition to strong faculty they have a wide variety of classes offered in addition to big band/combo opportunities. Not to mention, USC is in LA which is a major music hub, something to consider for after college.</p>