Jazz parents - Curious to hear about people’s experiences with these summer programs:
UNT Jazz Combo
Shenandoah National Jazz Workshop
Jazz House Kids
Kid is a sophomore, did Eastman’s Jazz program last summer, serious about making jazz piano/music his life, into fusion, composition, collaboration. He’d like to choose the summer experiences that best support college prep and expose him to new and challenging experiences with music. We’ve got to get moving on making final decisions.
He plans to do Berklee’s 5 week program next summer after Jr year.
100% do Aspire after Jr year…my son got a BIG undergrad scholarship at the end of his Berklee program (guitar sessions). He preferred UNT Jazz combo to Eastman. It was challenging. The ensembles were “leveled” and you had to audition. It was a great mock audition for college! Look at NYU’s 2 week and Miami/Frost as well.
Hi! Just to confirm, did he get a scholarship to attend Aspire after attending guitar sessions his sophomore summer? My son is also a sophomore attending the Berklee 1 week program this summer.
My son has been involved with Jazz House Kids for several years, and it’s a great program. Virtually every living jazz legend you can think of comes to work with Jazz House at some point. They regularly send kids to top college jazz programs. Montclair has a vibrant jazz scene, so you get very enthusiastic and knowledgeable audiences. My son has only done the Summer Workshop virtually, and he had a very good experience but we found that it was somewhat more focused on instrumentalists than vocalists (he’s a singer). He also had great opportunities in the jazz program at MSM Summer–ended up meeting his current jazz voice teacher.