<p>Ok, since we are practically starting over, we've been going back to our first posts and searching all of CC, esp. the music major forum for previous suggestions, etc. First I'd like to thank everyone for all the help from way back at the beginning of the year. Ya'll are a true wealth of information! Looking back at the suggestions, I think S and I probably crossed some schools off the list too soon.
For those who don't know or remember, here's a recap:
S plays electric guitar (primarily) and generally contemporary and jazz. He was accepted to Berklee with not enough scholarship money so is deferring a year. He was also accepted to Denver/Lamont with a pretty scholarship (academic and music both) but we didn't realize Denver is even more expensive than Berklee! So we had to decline. (S is very sad)
So he is taking a year bc of Berklee and in the meantime we are going to apply/audition at other places we didn't last year.
Goals: composing, performing, recording - so schools with contemporary or jazz guitar with opportunities to record, preferably classes in it, though we are strongly looking at UNT which has a lab, but it doesn't look like any classes.
He'd prefer a conservatory-type school but they are usually pricier, so we'd rather stick with schools like UNT that either do OOS waivers or low out of state tuition.
Right now, we've got:
Berklee (reaudition for scholarship $$)
Denver/Lamont (same - for scholarship)
University North Texas
Five Towns
UMass Lowell
SUNY Purchase
Belmont
New School for Jazz/Contemporary
USC Thornton
Middle Tennessee State</p>
<p>Does anyone have any thoughts on any of these? Any additions, any ideas, any experience?
U Miami Frost has also been mentioned to us many times, but they are also very expensive, so I wasn't sure.....
I don't know if all of these will stay on the list, but I like options.</p>
<p>You might want to take a look at the Hartt School. they have an audio engineering program. </p>
<p>My son visited Suny Purchase, and although he decided not to apply there, we were really impressed by our interview with Todd Coolman, who is the head of the jazz program. He went out of his way to stay after an evening concert to talk to us.</p>
<p>I don’t really know anything about UMass Lowell, but I do live near Lowell. It is an interesting small city, with some good neighborhoods and some less good neighborhoods. He’d probably have to see it to see if it appealed to him. You can easily get the commuter rail into Boston. It’s about a 45 minute ride. </p>
<p>Have a look at William Patterson too. I think they have a recording option. It’s close to NYC. My son looked at it, but rejected it because he found the campus very unappealing. That kind of stuff may not be as important to your son.</p>
<p>Check out Humber College in Toronto Ontario – very very economical, yet great program.</p>
<p>Also, Miami Frost is a great school for recording/eng – and while they ARE expensive, they’ve certainly been pretty generous with awards in the past.</p>
<p>Shellybean, The College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) at University of Cincinnati has both a Jazz Studies major and a Commercial Music Production Major. My son is in Jazz Studies, but there are CMP majors in the the jazz ensembles, too. Take a look at their website for more curriculum information about both. We found UC to be more affordable than many OOS schools, plus they are willing to stack academic and music merit scholarships to keep the cost down. There are specific scholarship deadlines, though, so read carefully. Several of the jazz students play in groups outside of school, not just jazz, but all styles.</p>
<p>UMiami Frost sounds like a great fit. How are your son’s academic stats? If he’s a strong student, there’s a definite possibility for some serious merit money in ADDITION to music scholarships. Miami draws many bright students through their extensive scholarship offerings- I got way more money from them than anywhere else and that’s why I’m there now.</p>
<p>As for academic programs, from his interests it sounds like he has two choices- Music Engineering and Media Writing and Production. Music Engineering (my major) has more coursework in recording, but honestly that’s not even the focus of the degree. Upper level courses consist mostly of audio programming/electronics/digital signal processing stuff. I find all of that incredibly cool, but if you’re son’s more into composition he should look at Media Writing and Production, which is essentially a composition degree with some music business and music tech/recording classes thrown in. And of course he could audition for either of these majors on contemporary guitar.</p>
<p>I actually just transferred into Frost for next year (started out as an audio engineering major in UM’s college of engineering but I missed music too much!) but I’m a jazz guitar principle and have actually already started taking lessons with Dr. Brian Russell, who will be my professor next year and would likely be your son’s if he ends up at UM (Dr. Russell teaches the contemporary guitarists as well as non-performance jazz; jazz performance majors are taught by John Hart). I have nothing but great things to say about him- he’s a stellar guitarist but more importantly a truly excellent instructor.</p>
<p>If you have any more questions about Miami don’t hesitate to drop me a message. Obviously I’m a little behind on the Music Engineering courses since I just transferred in, but two of my closest friends are MuE’s (as we affectionately refer to them) so I do have some reasonable perspective on it.</p>
<p>Also if you’re on a budget, look at Ball State in Muncie, Indiana. Not exactly a musical Mecca, but their facilities are outstanding and they have a brand new contemporary music production program. I have a buddy (piano principal) in that major who is absolutely loving it and is into many of the same things your son is.</p>