I have seen post that suggest that Berklee takes 1000 students in 5 week summer camp. Is that an exaggeration or is that accurate. Also can some one reply about the class credit they offer. How many credits and do other music colleges accept.
@jacole I get the distance thing! USC summer guitar offers 3 full USC credits. The kids are well supervised – USC runs several other summer programs so there are lots of kids from all over the world there for the summer. I’ve heard good things about Berklee as well.
My son went to Berklee last summer. Terrific program. Yes, 800-1000 kids, but in different tracks. Classes were small. He learned a lot and loved being surrounded by other committed musicians. Lots of late night jams.
Anything B and up and you get credit. He got the maximum — three full Berklee credits.
Thanks@basstheatremom, super helpful!
On Berklee credit, last summer you had to have a B or above in ALL classes or no credit for any. D ditched her last day of theory to go sightseeing and ended up with a C in theory, A’s in everything else and no credit.
Also @AmyIzzy I sent you a PM!
Was she there last summer? So was my S! Wonder if I saw you @SpartanDrew !
Yes she was!
Ha, ha. I’m back! S is now a Junior at Ithaca college. He has had a fantastic experience there, and has been and is in so many contrasting musical groups. So…we begin audition season again! In May he is visiting a school he hasn’t seen before. He’s designated this summer to focus on audition prep, in addition to paid gigs, a small band tour, and a festival. S is an “everything” musician…classical, jazz, other forms of music player, and composer. I can’t believe it is time to do this all again. This time around, the process is 100% driven by S. I am an innocent (maybe not so innocent) bystander. PM me if you have any specific questions about IC.
Nice to meet you @momsings! MY S19 loved Ithaca on his visit and lessons. He’s a jazz/music ed kid, but also loves musical theatre pit, sings in a “bro choir,” plays piano, likes classical etc. Question: Did Ithaca offer significant financial grants/aid?
We visited Rutgers (Mason Gross School of Music) yesterday for a music school open house. We were really impressed. The school is tiny (250 undergrad, 200 grad) in the middle of the huge Rutgers campus (50,000 total) and they really seem to take care of them. Small classes, caring professors, interesting work. There’s a double major in jazz and music ed, which is great for S19. Best of all, the program director, a couple of professors, and about six students were there, and all seemed genuinely happy and engaged. Rutgers is our in-state flagship (NJ) so the cost would be very reasonable as well.
An interesting tidbit: Rutgers is a division I school with a huge marching band, so we were surprised to find that the music school was so small. No big deal for us: S19 is currently in marching band (saxophone section leader) but doesn’t plan to continue in college. However, it turns out they pay experienced music school students a stipend to participate in marching band. THAT got his attention!
The one downside is that we attended a jazz concert and found that the quality didn’t compare to other schools we’d seen. S19 saw a couple of people he plays with now in honors bands, and they were the stars of the show. Based on what we saw, he’d be one of the strongest jazz players in the program, which is not what he is looking for.
Still, Mason Gross is now definitely on the list, along with Berklee, Ithaca, and possibly Peabody (liked the school, but double major takes 5 years, the fifth of which is a teaching internship). Temple no longer on the list. Still to go: Eastman, Syracuse. And still looking for 1-2 other possibilities.
Would love to hear about other people’s visits!
@akapiratequeen Hello, and nice to meet you. S received a great talent based scholarship from IC, so I do know those are available. I honestly can’t tell you about grants or financial aid though. If your S is a Music Ed major, I know that IC is highly regarded. As far as your son’s well rounded musical interests there is much opportunity to play in musicals, jazz bands, jazz combos, operas, and all things classical and choirs. It’s just about having the time to fit everything in, the usual “problem”.
Hello all! Thanks to SpartanDrew who created the previous group and to akapiratequeen who is continuing this for those of us with current Juniors prepping for this crazy journey!
My daughter has been doing musical theatre from a very young age and we thought she’d definitely be pursuing a Musical Theatre degree like most of her close friends. But she surprised us recently and said she wanted to study contemporary music (vocals) with a focus on songwriting. She is interested in sound recording technology as it fits into recording her own music, but not sure she is “techy” enough for a major in SRT. She has written and recorded original pop songs over the past year and fell in love with the creative process. She attends a suburban public school near Buffalo, NY which is very music/Arts-focused so she has had great mentors and opportunities and is currently taking level 2 Jazz Improv, Vocal Jazz, and AP Music Theory. She has a solid background in classical and even some opera singing due to outside training, but her passion and strengths are in contemporary/jazz music.
We have visited:
Ithaca (she immediately ruled it out-didn’t feel it was for her.)
Fredonia (only an hour from home/she loved the vibe but it doesn’t offer exactly what she wants)
Berklee (she’s 100% in love and might be doing their 5 week summer program)
City College of NY (the cheapest way for her to go to school in the city-they did have a great Sonic Arts program but only accept 7 new students per year!)
NYU Clive Davis (she knows they have a great program and very tough to get into but she wasn’t impressed with the tour at all.)
Rider University in NJ (she was intrigued by their “Popular Music” major but didn’t feel the school was the right fit for her.)
Thanks to the previous journey page, we will probably look at these as well:
Frost
Belmont
Thornton USC
Patterson
SUNY Purchase
But we are open to other suggestions! Right now, Berklee is her top choice (their Professional Music degree could not be more perfect for her focus) but cost is obviously an issue.
Bracing for a long and stressful process but this group will definitely be a huge help in navigating all the stages of this jounney!
Hi @AmyIzzy and welcome. Glad to have you along for this crazy ride.
My S19 loved the Berklee summer program so that’s definitely worth a look. Super expensive but they give scholarship money (he got about 90%).
Has she checked out the New School? They have some great music/tech options I believe. I’m sure other people will have ideas as well. University of North Texas maybe?
William Paterson is well known for jazz, didn’t know they offered all that other stuff and I live pretty nearby…
Thank you akapiratequeen! Oh, yes-New School is definitely on the list! Forgot about that one! I’m actually not sure if William Patterson has a program that will work for her but a few people mentioned it might be worth a look. I’m sure it’s selfish but I’m hoping for a college within driving distance of less than 8 hours from home but willing to put University of North Texas on the list if they have a good program (along with Belmont and Thornton) even though they are way too far for this Mom! Boston & NYC are about a 6 hr. drive away. Then again, a short airplane ride might work!
I should also mention that my daughter is interested in study abroad opportunities and really wants a diverse student body. She loved hearing about the Berklee study abroad program in Spain & was impressed that about 40% of Berklee students are international. She was in “musician heaven” there surrounded by like-minded music lovers, for sure. A spark was really lit in her when we took the tour! Just wish the price tag was more reasonable! She did apply to the 5 Week Program and will hear if a scholarship is offered on April 30th…crossing our fingers!
AmyIzzy you can, of course, start a separate thread on the kind of program your daughter is looking for, and then in the future when someone searches for songwriting or sound recording technology it will come up for them. And you may get additional specific answers from those who may not be not following these longer “journey” threads.
UC Denver and UMass Lowell might be possibilities.
Many schools will offer experience with recording technology informally but I am sure someone can tell you of schools where she can do both songwriting and recording tech, also known at audio production, music technology, sonic arts etc. 
Make sure to look at course descriptions at various schools One of my kids picked up a lot of skills with electronics in the lab: after taking one course she had full access to the studio. Not everything happens formally so to speak.
@Amylzzy After extensive research and visits to Berklee, Drexel, NYU, USC/Thornton, Miami/Frost among others, my son chose Belmont. Songwriting Major Audio Engineering Tech minor
If at all possible - VISIT Hear Professor Elliot describe the program, see the facilities, and watch a showcase of the talent.
You want to leave no stone upturned when making a decision this big. PM me with any questions you may have.
Belmont has an Open House in September. Debating whether to sign up for that or just do a tour/maybe see if they’d let her sit in on a class. It’s a 10 hour drive so Open House was appealing so it could be a comprehensive visit. Her friend just committed to Belmont and another friend (also a Junior) says it’s his #1 pick for Audio Engineering. I think she’s afraid there will be a focus on country music and population won’t be too diverse. I think they are considered a Christian school and that scares her a little (we are Catholic but attend a very progressive church.) But she definitely wants to check it out and keep an open mind.
@AmyIzzy my D auditioned at Belmont and was accepted. And although she didn’t end up choosing there, we were very impressed with all we saw. My D is a classical instrumentalist but for contemporary or songwriting or producing it would be an awesome place. And Nashville is not just country!!! It is MUSC city and there’s all kinds of music everywhere. Trust me, we do not like country music and my D will be attending Vanderbilt, also in Nashville!
And I didn’t even realize it was a Christian school, so that is certainly not an issue.
I don’t know where you live but Nashville is very easy to get to by plane and the airport is only a 15 minute drive from Belmont. Another plus is that they are $10-15k per year cheaper than other private schools and they do give merit aid to musicians
Thank you NYsaxmom! That is really helpful. It does sound like a great school which is open to contemporary music paths of study. We will definitely check it out. I don’t want to rule anything out at this point, especially the more generous colleges! I’m sure it’s an exciting city to be in for musicians. And good to know about the airport being so close (we live in Buffalo, NY so I’ll check out the options.)
As a side note: no offense to the country music lovers here. I truly appreciate all types of music as artistic expressions (even rap!) but country music is just not a favorite for my daughter or me.
As I’ve mentioned, my daughter is interested in the recorded music major or minor as it applies to her learning about the process for personal recordings. So the Clive Davis and Berklee (Professional Music Degree) programs perfectly match that. The Sonic Arts program at City College of NY was amazing but I feel it’s more tech-based and learning how to record many types of music, not just focused on your own. Very cool but not exactly the path she was looking for IMO. Plus they only take 7 students out of 130 so guessing she will be competing with very experienced technicians. So my question is:
For a program like CCNY, could she apply to both the Sonic Arts dept AND the Jazz Studies program and see which she gets into before deciding? Is it better to be solid/focusing on one major when you apply? CCNY just an example since she loved the school but, in general, how do colleges work that or perceive that, especially when each department has it’s own audition requirements? Not sure if anyone here is in a similar boat or knows the answer. Her “problem” is she would love one major that encompasses:
-contemporary/jazz vocal performance
-songwriting
-sound recording technology
-popular music studies
-some music business studies
If she had to pick any of those as one major, any of the first 3 would be her focus. And she is open to minoring in some areas as long as she gets exposure to them.
We are early in the process so figured it’s better to inquire now so we know what is expected.