<p>Hi, I'm a junior jazz bassist in the Midwest. I've been playing electric bass for 7 years, and started upright this past year because a lot of schools don't accept electric jazz bass into their programs. The couple schools on my list are:
Jacobs SoM (Jeremy Allen)
Frost SoM
University of Michigan (Rodney Whittaker)
New School Jazz
Lawrence University (Mark Erness)
If anyone has gone to or is at any of these schools, I'd love to hear about your experience, whether you're a bassist or not. And I'll definitely take suggestions for other schools to check out. My parents don't want me at a conservatory for undergrad.
I'm mostly a straight-ahead player, but I like a variety of jazz.
Thanks!</p>
<p>Welcome hepcatbassist,
My son is a Jazz bass player who attends NEC. I can sympathize with your parents concern about your attending a conservatory. Perhaps they should visit a conservatory with you to better understand what happens at a conservatory and why going to one might be an important next step in your development as a musician.</p>
<p>Some other schools to consider.
University of Southern Maine has an excellent Jazz Bass teacher. Our son was told to apply there just because he would be somebody who would be good to study with. I am sorry I can not remember his name.</p>
<p>There is another mom on these boards whose son is similar to you and started upright bass rather late in high school. He is attending Hart Conservatory. Hopefully she will see this thread and comment on it. Her son is very happy there and is doing well.</p>
<p>I am a bit shocked that I did not see Berklee School of Music on your list. Is that because your parents would not be comfortable with you going there? Would it help if they knew that if you attended school at Berklee you could take classes at other colleges in the area?</p>
<p>If your grades and scores are good you might want to add NYU Steinhart school to your list. I am not sure which is easier to get into New School or NYU. It might depend on the instrument and the year.</p>
<p>Finally one thing that is VERY important for a Jazz Bass player is to play with as many different people as possible and learn to become flexible. Who your peers are in any music program will be just as important as who your teacher is. And never say no to a gig, at least not now when you are trying to get experience. </p>
<p>You are fortunate that Bass players are in demand and so can be easier than other instruments some years. That being said there seems to be a real increase in students who are taking up Double Bass.</p>
<p>May I suggest you look into the University of North Texas? Lynn Seaton has a well respected and competitive Jazz bass studio there. You would need to play upright bass. Take a look at the program and audition requirements. </p>
<p>Best of luck on your music journey</p>
<p>Yes, I’ve worked with Lynn before. (And Ed Soph, Dan Haerle, Stockton Helbing) UNT seems to be a cutthroat school though. And I think it’s more focused on big band over combos…</p>
<p>Hi-I’m the other mom StipJac was referring to. My son is at the Hartt School studying with Nat Reeves. My son started with electric bass, and took up upright as a freshman in high school. We looked as a number of schools, including:</p>
<p>Berklee
SUNY Purchase
Hartt
University of Miami
William Patterson
U Mass Amherst</p>
<p>My son was interested in a music business program, so he did not apply to SUNY Purchase, but Todd Coolman who is the head of the jazz studies program and a bassist was incredibly nice and helpful. </p>
<p>He really likes Hartt, although his perception is that the students at the University of Hartford are not as hard-working as the students at Hartt. I also have to say, that even though he is not at a conservatory, per se, almost all of his course work is within the music school.</p>
<p>UMSL has Jim Widner and a respectable jazz program if you are interested in staying midwest.</p>
<p>You’ll get a lot of small group work at Frost if that’s what you’re looking for. The required skills ensembles (which take the place of aural skills classes for jazz students) are basically just small combos, and there are a wide variety of other small ensembles you can join. I also hear that the bass professors here are pretty great.</p>
<p>Hi all - this is my first post so please forgive me if I’m not brief.</p>
<p>My S is a senior in HS and an upright/electric bassist. He’s been playing/studying for about 6 years. He plays for one of the best HS music jazz programs in our state. He’s the main bassist for the top jazz band in the HS (there are 4). And consequently the bassist for the top combo and the gigging combo. He earns about $100-150 per month. He loves the money, we love the work experience. There are about 8 bassists in his program. He is looking for jazz studies programs that he can grow in and work outside the program as well. He’s interested in several schools that have been mentioned on this thread and others. He’s an A-/B+ student with pretty good test scores, AP tests credit, volunteer hours, etc, etc. He considers music his passion and his niche in life. </p>
<p>He’s been preparing for his prescreening videos and live auditions and starting to work on all that application stuff including essays. This is like a part-time job in itself.</p>
<p>Anyway, he’s most interested in California, New York and Chicago. I don’t see a lot of posts about Chicago schools - Depaul, Northwestern … Can anyone speak to the jazz programs in Chicago? </p>
<p>And after those areas of the country, he’s interested in these schools but not necessarily the city they’re in - Berklee, Miami Frost and UNT? If you have experience with these schools and the surrounding area for a take on their jazz scene, I would really appreciate it.</p>
<p>I’m at Frost right now. The musicians down here gig a LOT. There are plenty of little jazz venues in the city, though it’s no match for NYC. Faculty are very active around Miami/Miami beach and always clue students in to their shows, often telling the students to bring their horns and come jam. I’d say it’s a fairly active scene- probably not as good as NYC or Chicago, but pretty solid.</p>
<p>uprightmom,
As I mentioned above my son is a Jazz Bass player at NEC in Boston. NEC and the top Berklee students definitely interact and play together. Boston is a great place to be a student musician. Last year my son had no shortage of gigs in the Boston area, and was turning down gigs in the spring as the semester came to a close. Boston is not as rich and active a scene as NYC but then again NYC is only a few hours away and many students do go there for gigs. In fact my son and his friends are going there this weekend to perform. What is nice about not going to NYC right away is that it allows students to develop their voice and identity before getting “known” among the NYC crowd and then labeled for what sort of musician they are. One nice thing about Boston is that there are so many student musicians that as a bass player student your son would have the opportunity to play with many different people, which is an important learning experience for Bassists. </p>
<p>My son has a friend (a Jazz guitarist) who after graduating went to Chicago. He definitely enjoyed the scene there. It allowed him to grow and define himself as a musician. But he is now moving to NYC. He is 25. He has another friend who went to McGill and loved the Montreal scene. Did extremely well there and also is now moving to NYC, now that he has defined who he is as a musician. </p>
<p>Don Braden is the director of Litchfield Jazz camp. One of the things he says to kids is “You make your scene where ever you go. What is important is that you play as much as you can in a wide range of settings.”</p>
<p>Downside of Boston: Living expenses. Rents are high and as a bass player your son might not want to live too far from campus. </p>
<p>On a side note, one thing I didn’t realize is how the subtle differences in approach to music education would shape our son as he grew as a musician. What do I mean by that? Well how they teach ear-training, what sort of music the faculty plays-ie: Frost definitely has strong latin Jazz , what the other student’s listen to and play, how the Jazz students and the classical students intermingle…etc…</p>
<p>When our son chose NEC I largely thought it was because it was familiar as he attended their prep program and also because he likes Boston. But I now can not imagine him at any of the other places he applied because the philosophy at NEC about music and the creation of music is indeed the right match for who our son is and how he wants to evolve as a musician.</p>
<p>S is a percussion major at DePaul-newly transferred. He loves it so far and the opportunities to see music in Chicago are endless (they just had the Chicago Jazz Fest). He is not interested in jazz at this time but the DePaul jazz ensemble tours the US and regularly plays downtown Chicago. It’s all about the city there. We toured UNT and that school is also very impressive but altogether different. The school has I believe 8 or 9 “jazz labs” which are extremely good. The student body is going to be larger there than a private school or conservatory, so the number of bass students in the studio will be large. The town that UNT is located in is outside of Dallas so it would take a little longer to get to a jazz scene downtown. If I remember correctly, the city of Denton also has a jazz festival every year. As far as Northwestern, I only know of their percussion studio, nothing at all about their jazz program. They are building a new music school which looks beautiful. Northwestern is actually a little north of downtown Chicago while DePaul is right there.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your words of wisdom. My son has an audition next month at Berklee and is waiting to schedule an audition date at Depaul. He’s interested in Steinhardt at NYU and the New School for Jazz as well. Any thoughts or experience with either of these schools? My gratitude for any thoughts on this matter.</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>