<p>Hi. I am writing for myself and a friend. We are both juniors-i am a drummer interested in jazz programs and she plays flute and has classical interests. We are both considering the future and schools. Besides the usual suspects (Juilliard, Mannes, Manhattan) we were wondering if anyone had any comments about the following schools and their jazz or classical programs for the instruments we play:
NYU
Hartt
Purchase Conservatory
the New School
any of the CUNY (city univerdity) or other SUNY (state) programs
William Paterson (?)</p>
<p>Thanks we really appreciate the help. We both have personal family needs to stay in the tri-state area if possible so we are trying to do the research in advance. Any info would be a big help.</p>
<p>Flutewise Carol Wincenc at Stony Brook is a great performer and fine teacher, competition to study with her is strong.</p>
<p>John Wion at Hartt has an excellent reputation and that program would be just a notch below the top programs.</p>
<p>The others as far as I know are not highly considered for top flute players although NY schools often draw excellent part time professors so you could get really lucky at a school like NYU. But going somewhere without a top full time professor is risky.</p>
<p>Depends what level player she is and what her objectives are.</p>
<p>William Patterson supposedly has a very good jazz program, but it is not a strong school academically.</p>
<p>My understanding is that NYU does not have a strong classical program. </p>
<p>We have known some reasonable classical musicians at Hartt, but not as strong jazz ones. UHartford is also relatively weak academically.</p>
<p>Has anyone independently critiqued the level of your play? That might help sort out schools as well, since you have a pretty wide range between MSM/Juilliard and WP.</p>
<p>uhartford may have a academically weak reputation, but the hartt school is considered totally separate.
the high school i attended has had a nationally ranked jazz band for at least the past 15 years, with yearly downbeat magazine awards as well as yearly national awards, and each year at least 1 musician attends hartt. (probably would be higher if it wasnt 5 minutes from the high school).</p>
<p>Sorry, didn't mean to suggest they were connected. I appreciate the info. As far as teacher's assessing, we are both talking with our teachers, etc. but the fact is places like Juilliard, Manhattan and Mannes take so few kids that we figure it's important to look at all the schools in the tri-state area. Most of the kids I know at school who talk about Purchase and NYU are the MT kids so I wanted to get some feedback from music performance people about those schools and their music programs. I know NYU is strong academically and for their MT program at Tisch so I guess I figured they were strong for jazz and classical. Purchase and the New School make a lot of claims on their web sites but so do most places including the City University Schools like Brooklyn (anyone know about them?). Also, has anyone had any experience with The Collective for Jazz? Thanks</p>
<p>Well...flute and jazz percussion are very different. First...for flute, the competition for performance majors is extremely competitive almost everywhere because there are so many flute players. Many of the top schools require a prescreening (audio/CD) on flute before they will even consider you for an audition. For jazz percussion, you want to look at schools that have a strong jazz program. I'm sorry that I don't have any specifics in the tristate area you refer to. I will say that both of the flute faculty at Hartt are excellent. The adjunct is an outstanding flutist and plays principal with the Hartford Symphony. He is a great teacher too. Ithaca might be another school to consider for the flute player. Eastman's jazz program is highly competitive, but you might want to look into that as well. How about Temple for the flute player?</p>
<p>I really think you have two very separate questions lumped into one.</p>
<p>Although you and your friend are looking into schools in the same geographic area, classical flute and jazz percussion are really dissimilar.</p>
<p>I second the suggestion to get some critiques of your level to help target schools.<br>
Juilliard, Mannes, Manhattan are on many aspiring musicians' lists, including our son's a few years ago. Competition at these schools will be intense, no matter what instrument.</p>
<p>Hartt is a great school and a much more difficult admit than UofHartford, which is not competitive academically. Our son was offered a generous merit award based on audition there but decided against it.
Son's private teacher had also suggested Purchase for tuba. Don't know about flute there though.</p>
<p>William Patterson is also not an academic powerhouse but the jazz program is well thought of.
Also, consider Mason Gross at Rutgers for jazz. I have a friend who is a junior there and loves it. </p>
<p>If both of you can really play, what about Temple in Philadelphia. Great jazz program at the school and very good jazz scene in the city. Lots of great teaching and opportunities in percusssion on both the jazz and claasical sides. A top flutist could study with a Philadelphia Orchestra member. Their orchestra is excellent and the flute competition is tough. And.....Temple is just across the river from Jersey.</p>
<p>How does Temple's jazz program rank, compared to Hartt, or even Berklee? I know it isn't in an Eastman category, but the jazz side seems harder to sort out than classical....</p>
<p>Trying to assess a jazz program is, in my opinion, quite difficult. We looked to some degree at most of the programs in the New York area, and basically, we were told by students that while the programs at Rutgers, NYU and the New School were well structured with good faculty, the students were not generally of the highest caliber or the most serious. Again, I want to emphasize that I am not stating an opinion, I am just repeating what my son and I were told. One of my son's teachers recommended we look at Rutgers and we gave it serious consideration until a friend who went there for jazz guitar decided to transfer out. He said he liked the school, but he did not think the students there were serious. He will be going to Juilliard in the fall on a full scholarship--but he does have to start over as a first year. We were also pretty interested in NYU, expecially me as I would have preferred a university based program, but my son lost interest pretty quickly after listening to some of the ensembles. He also met more than one student during his auditions who was applying to transfer out of NYU due to the overall caliber of the students in the jazz program. New School was probably the biggest question mark. It looks like a great program. But I was told by a grad student that I know personally and whose opinion I respect that the students on the whole were not strong musicians. He personally loves the school because he is studying with the teacher he wants, but he has been performing professionally for years, so that is a different situation.
New School was a real dilemma for us because my son got a large scholarship there, but none of his teachers recommended it.<br>
Basically, in an attempt to assess this a little better I resorted to tracking some of the top jazz high school students nationwide(NFAA award winners, Grammy Ensemble participants, DownBeat Award Winners) to see what colleges they selected. It looks like Berklee has attracted a significant number of them; it is a large program and they have a lot of scholarship money. It also appears that Berklee was the choice over New School for more than a few. However, New School did pull a few in, and in my son's acceptance letter they did note that they had an exceptionally strong applicant pool this year. Only one opted for NYU and it was Gallatin, not Steinhart, so I don't know what that means. Other places were USC Thornton, Oberlin and of course, Juilliard and MSM.
Your best bet would be to identify the schools with faculty you might wish to study with and then go to performances, talk to students and faculty and see what feels right. Next year my son will have friends entering the jazz programs at Juilliard, NYU and New School and he will be at MSM, so I should have better information beginning in a few months.</p>
<p>Thank you for that response Spelmom. My son is exceptionally serious about his music, and kids who don't take their music as seriously as he does annoy him to no end. Plus, he plays in nationally and locally recognized ensembles, and has friends going to Oberlin, Eastman, MSM, etc. and sees himself at a school of that caliber. He insists on continuing to play at the highest possible level, and the level of other musicians is probably at least as important as his actual teacher.</p>
<p>hello. i'm pretty much in a competitive music environment with friends majoring in performance everywhere. but i'm not a jazz musician.</p>
<p>suny wise -
fredonia
potsdam
purchase (top percussionist in my area will be attending there i believe)</p>
<p>new school (some student i from my area who i think is the best jazz pianist is there)
curtis
ithaca (my best friend who won every music scholership and award didn't get into here for flute; it's really competitive)
eastman is beyond amazing
cincinatti (sp?)
new england conservatory
penn state has a good music dept from what i hear
northwestern as well</p>
<p>Don't consider fredonia for jazz, they technically don't even have a degree program for it. It is an entirely classical school, albiet the students are very progressive musicians.</p>
<p>oh YEAH.. by the way suny stony brook? i know a percussionist who was given a full ride there but don't know if they have a jazz program. mcgill in canada is also great. but visit the colleges or ask your teachers for their input and if you are good enough for the top schools</p>
<p>stony brook doesnt have much of a jazz program either although the classical performance degrees are strong. I was actually offered full tuition from sbu's school of music but its only 15 minutes from my house and i really wanted to get out of here.</p>
<p>To the person who said that jazz was not too big at Fredonia , do you know SUNYS that are big on jazz, a little classical ( double bass ) -- but also has some good science programs ??? I 've got a music performance major hopeful who got 100 on his Physics regents and in a quandary .</p>
<p>theres no sunys that are really big on jazz save maybe purchase, but its not a real strong science school. your best bet would be to look at stony brook or outside the suny system at a private school. i would suggest miami or something along those lines</p>
<p>Hello, my son is a similar situation to your son's last year. How did he respond to MSM, New School, NYU after talking with students who had been there for a year? He is also looking at MSM, and the New School. His list is svery short and I know he is limiting himself to much. any suggestions on that?</p>