School of Jazz & Contemporary Music, The New School

Does anyone have any insights into this program? How does it compare to the programs at Berklee? How are the facilities including classrooms and boarding? What’s the acceptance rate for this program? My D just got admitted into this school and the only information I’ve been able to find in the forums is from 2011. Appreciate your help in advance.

There is a thread on the music forum with “journey” in the title. SpartanDrew has posted about New School on that thread for last year. It’s a great choice.

This is an old story; it probably happened about 30 years of so ago.

A young man grew up in my neighborhood. He used to play his instrument at mass at my church. He lived at home while attending Mannes, which is now part of The New School. As part of the graduation requirements back then–I don’t know if it’s still the case–each senior had to give a solo recital. He asked to give a dry run of his senior recital at our church, which doubled as a community center. At that time, our church ran a small homeless shelter. So, this young man gave a recital open to anyone who wanted to attend. A free willing offering was taken up & used to support the homeless shelter.

A classmate told him he was nervous because he’d never played a solo concert before a large audience. My young neighbor suggested he too run through his senior recital at our church. So, we got another wonderful recital & again, the homeless shelter benefited.

It snowballed. We were getting wonderful music 1-2 times a week. Just about every Mannes senior that year did a dress rehearsal at my church. The students were thrilled because they had a sizeable audience in a large space with great acoustics, i.e., more like the concert hall where they had to give their recital than most of them could have managed to duplicate. The homeless benefited.

Mannes back then had a special ensemble of the best student jazz musicians; maybe it still does. The group decided to give a special concert for our church to say thank you after recitals had wrapped up. The Mannes jazz faculty found out. With no advance publicity, about 6-8 of them showed up the night of the special concert. When the students finished their scheduled performance, a group of the faculty performed. Then they started what was basically a jam session back and forth with their students. It was a magical night. The jazz was amazing. The way the students & faculty interacted that night was inspiring. You really got the feeling that the students & faculty liked each other.

That was my one and only contact with the jazz faculty but it’s a happy memory. I hope you don’t mind me sharing it even though it doesn’t really have much to do with your question! Well…maybe it will help you if you don’t know that Mannes had a long & storied history before it merged into The New School and eventually lost the name. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mannes_School_of_Music

That’s one awesome and beautiful story. Thank you so much for sharing @jonri.

Hi my son will be attending in the fall for Drums in School of Jazz - would love to connect with anyone!