My son is a junior and looking for a drum set performance program (Jazz concentration also interests him) in the Northeast or at least East Coast. We are struggling to find schools, as many of them are classical percussion. So far we have Berklee, Hartt, The New School, Manhattan School of Music, and NYU. There have to be more options. Any other drummers out there in the same boat?
My son, a jazz drummer, is a senior. He only applied to jazz drumming programs at universities. The ones on the East Coast include NYU, The New School, Peabody (Johns Hopkins), Bard College (not the conservatory), and Miami Frost. He decided not to apply to Temple University even though their jazz program fit the same criteria as the other schools.
He specifically decided NOT to apply to any school that had classical performance requirements for their jazz majors. The most notable example of that in the Northeast was Fordham. He was really interested in the university and even had a chance at a full ride, but once it became clear that there was a classical requirement, he dropped them. There were many other great music schools he didn’t even consider because of that. Eastman (U. of Rochester) has a similar requirement. If your son is willing or interested in doing a little classical percussion before focusing on jazz, those schools could be options.
Of course, there are a bunch of conservatories (not universities) that he didn’t apply to that have jazz drumming programs: Berklee, MSM, Juilliard, and New England Conservatory offer jazz drumming majors.
That should get you started. Good luck!