Hi,
We’re making an effort to expand our list of schools a bit beyond the very, very short list we have now. My D is a jazz drummer, but so far she’s been focused on the few schools that have a contemporary/popular program alongside their jazz program, out of a desire to have a broader range of musicians to connect/collaborate with. That list typically includes USC, Frost, and Berklee.
We’re from the NYC area and she isn’t much of a city kid, but we’re adding The New School to the list as it’s an easy one to visit and her current teacher at MSM Pre-College recommended it. But now we’re looking to add a few more “pure” jazz schools without the requirement they have a broader contemp/pop program as well.
From research here and elsewhere, three schools that stand out are Oberlin, University of Michigan, and UNT Denton.
Oberlin looks relatively straightforward. It has a prescreen but it’s not so different from her other pre-screens.
But Michigan and UNT are a little more confusing.
Michigan appears to have 3 different jazz degrees, but their website says they only need a pre-screen for one of them (jazz & contemporary improvisation) and I can’t find the actual info on what is required. And frankly from the descriptions I can barely tell the difference between the 3 programs. Any insight?
And UNT looked pretty straightforward (no pre-screen and you do 3 applications: school, music school, jazz) until I got to the audition requirement. It says that for undergrad drumset you also need to audition on snare and marimba? Is that correct? Just seems odd. Snare is no big deal obviously, but marimba is really a whole other instrument. It’s one thing to be able to bang out a scale but she’s certainly not a marimba player, nor would she pretend to be one or want to study to be one. Seems odd to me and this is the only place I’ve seen with that requirement. Any insight?
Thanks again for sharing your wisdom and experience with those of us stumbling around in the dark.