Hi everyone! I’ve been reading the posts here for a while! 
Does anyone have an opinion of University of North Texas? It’s a top-rated music program but I haven’t seen it on anyone’s lists! I scrolled through the acceptance thread. My son is a junior and plays trumpet. He’s thinking of looking into this school for jazz. Ideally he’d like to do both classical and jazz trumpet but it seems like no program allows for both. I’m just curious, why this school isn’t considered more here on CC?
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It’s just the year. There was a parent on here up until a year ago ago whose son was a jazz bass major at UNT. My son is a current student (classical voice, cello, music Ed). There were a few applicants/acceptances a couple of years ago when my son applied It’s a great school, especially for jazz. No idea about classical trumpet though. My son is getting an excellent education there. It’s also very affordable.
You’ll have to ask about doing both jazz and classical trumpet at UNT. My son was able to audition on two instruments and got acceptances for both and a music scholarship for voice… He entered as a voice major and he also takes lessons on cello. He can audition for vocal jazz ensembles and the classical choirs. He has so far stuck with classical although has a jazz background and may try a jazz ensemble at some point, The rehearsal times for his choir and the orchestra he would audition into overlap so he can’t easily do both choir and orchestra, even though lessons are doable. He could maybe do string quartets but hasn’t pursued that.
The problem with trying to keep everything, in my son’s experience, has been a logistical one, once he got permission to try it.
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Thank you! I can definitely see the logistical issues with doing different programs.
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My son was accepted to the UNT Jazz program, on drum-set for fall 21. I can’t seem to find much either. He was accepted into Berklee, Jacobs (Sound eng), Eastman, Lamont, CSULB, DePaul (sound eng), UNCO(industry). We can’t afford most of the schools because we can’t take on 150-200k in debt, even after scholarships. UNT, because of scholarships, we can. I hear it is a great Jazz school, but can’t find much on the school for being so good.
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As @Parentof2014grad says: it’s the year. UNT is often discussed. It is a great choice particularly due to financials. In putting a list together, it’s a good one to have on your list since it’s financial reasonably and highly respected.
Here is the journal where the student chose UNT…and he just graduated after winter semester. Unfortunately I don’t think his father comes on much anymore but you could try to DM him or use @Parentof2014grad as a resource. There is an ebb and flow on which schools are discussed. UNT was HOT until, maybe, just this year. As comparison, there have been years where IU was lightly discussed. So it depends on the year. It should not be thought of as a reflection of the quality of the school.
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UNT offers one of the top jazz programs and has many ensembles and big bands to play in. Some jazz students don’t prefer their classical training requirement in first year or two. But some students get benefit from the training.
Many UNT Jazz videos are available in YouTube. Hope, GoForth (UNT bassist’s parent) can give more insights of UNT jazz program.
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First of all, congratulations on many good acceptances! Second of all, just don’t stress out too much!!
I was there and probably many people here, too and went through those “affordability” or more like “debt” issues. It is hard, very hard seeing a child worrying about money for days and nights and weeks…
Your son has a very good choice of UNT already. It is a great school to study jazz. You and your son can spend entire April to see if any of other schools can come with big scholarships or / and financial aids. Appeal and be patient. My son has several students who got an almost or full-tuition-scholarship offer on 4/30 (one was on 5/1 at 5PM Pacific Time) from top private conservatories. They first got small scholarships from all schools they auditioned (very disappointed) so they were about choosing community college path or a gap year to re-audition for bigger scholarships in following year.
I don’t know how to explain but I think that there may be “jazz band puzzles” that schools are going to figure out how and who to fill space / spots in entire April while admitted musicians are committing to just one music school. If UNT isn’t your son’s top choice, it might be wise to make a final decision on 4/30 or 5/1.
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Thank you. Your post and comments help a lot.
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The upside of UNT: well regarded music school in general, and fantastic for jazz. National reputation.
The downside of UNT:
Location far away from big music centers. Let’s be honest: Dallas is absolutely NOT the kind of city that supports live music or has a commercial music production infrastructure like LA, NY, Boston DC, Miami, or Nashville. And Denton is a healthy drive from Dallas. People well mention Austin as a great music city, and it absolutely is — it’s a great music city laden with UNT grads who didn’t want to venture outside of Texas, and it’s another 2-3 hrs past Dallas, so even further from Denton.
UNT alums will say this isn’t a problem, but my own empirical evidence suggests otherwise. One highly regarded studio musician in LA told me, “It used to be that saying you were in the UNT 1pm lab band would get you an automatic in. Not anymore. Too many good musicians out there, and the UNT “mafia” that used to guarantee spots to alums isn’t nearly as strong as it once was.”
Other things to consider (which may be good or bad depending on the individual student):
- As already mentioned by others above, the classical requirement will either be a plus or a minus
- UNT as a university is solid but not “prestigious” or academically rigorous as a USC, Northwestern, Michigan, or [insert other school here]. Some people feel very strongly about this one way or the other (it’s absolutely irrelevant vs. it’s a huge issue); this isn’t a diss, it’s a statement of fact that one should at least acknowledge.
- It’s in Texas. It’s a unique culture. Again, not saying it’s good or bad, just that it can be different. I have many friends from there and who have moved there. They’re all wonderfully nice people. This isn’t about individuals being nice or not nice, this is about the overall culture of the state and how it can manifest itself. Some people love it, some people hate it, some people don’t care either way.
Hope this helps.
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Thank you for your honest opinion about UNT. Unfortunately, he did not apply to USC, Michigan and was waitlisted at Northwestern. In addition to the list above, he also got into Peabody, but really out of reach cost wise (240K/4 years.) The only schools in the cities mentioned above he got into is Berklee for sound eng., and CSULB for composition (we are CA residents.) He also got into DePaul sound eng., in Chicago. He is really at a loss, because taking on a lot of debt over 4 years is a lot for us right now and that is with scholarship money. He is trying to appeal the financial aid at a few schools, but we probably won’t get anymore (we got no financial aid except loans.) So that is why UNT was so appealing because his tuition is paid for by a scholarship. But, we also need to find the right fit for him. He is a Jazz Drummer, who also plays percussion, loves film, all kinds of music, and is not afraid of hard work, and has a 4.0 unweighted and a 4.4 weighted GPA. Some schools he applied to his GE is almost done with his AP classes, but some schools don’t really take AP classes. Thank you so much for all your advice above and spending so much time with your response.
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Your son has some good options.
I will say that graduating with no debt is a gift, especially for a musician. The affordability of UNT is a huge plus. Your son would get a good education there, and I say this as the parent of a very bright UNT student. It’s a large university with a huge variety of course offerings, just like any large university. It has an honors college for additional academic challenge outside of music. If his AP classes take care of a lot of gen Ed’s, and UNT is generous with credit, then your son will have a bit of space in his schedule for more that interests him. There’s certainly plenty of challenge inside the college of music! Jazz is a big deal there. It may not be New York, but the UNT degree still does mean something.
We are from Arizona, the previous comments about Texas having it’s own culture are true. I’ve sent two kids to college in Texas (one at UNT and one closer to Austin) and we joked that the first one “studied abroad” in Texas. But Texas is welcoming.
Good luck with your decision. I remember the stress of this part well!
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Thank you for your feedback. I know being almost debt free is huge, especially being a musician. He is aware of debt vs. no debt because we showed him how much he would be paying a month for 20 years, with taking out loans, and his comment was, “wow.” We would help him of course, but trying to make it some what equal for my three kids. I feel better about UNT. And he won’t be in Texas forever, if he does not want to be. We live an hour outside of Los Angeles. Last night, after a year of not playing with others some kids from Colburn, where they all go for community band, asked him to jam with them. He was so happy, because he says they are soooo good. So all smiles last night. Everyone tells us he will be fine. I hope so. Thank you so much.
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We are from CÁ too, and it sounds like our sons have much in common. Certainly not trying to discourage you or him from picking UNT if that is the preferred school.
We have a good family friend’s daughter who is now a junior at UNT. She’s a jazz performance major who strongly preferred UNT over local schools like UCLA, CSUN, and CSULB, and got into all of them. A major scholarship from UNT helped seal the deal.
Contrast that with my son, who (a) despite absolutely loving classical music from Vivaldi to Stravinsky to John Adams, didn’t want to be required to spend two years of college studying it instead of jazz, and (b) loves being in a big city near the ocean (and Denton clearly fails on both of those criteria).
I’ll PM you and we can go into a bit more detail and specifics, and perhaps I can get you and/or your son in touch with our friend to see if she can answer any specific questions you may have.
(Happy Easter!)
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I often suggest UNT, often through PM’s sorry! It is a really good school for composition with strength in electronic work. GoForth’s son was really happy in the jazz program.
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Thank you for your information about UNT. He weighed all his options, He sent appeals for merit aid, he did a lot of research and while it was very hard to say no to some colleges, he decided on UNT. He just could not pass up their offer. A couple of professors at other schools even told him not to go into debt if he could help it, but told him they would love to have him in their program. When he called the professors to tell them his decision, they were all so nice, encouraging and told him to reach out when he applies to grad school. Maybe our boys will meet some day at a jazz festival or competition someday. Thank you!
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Fantastic!! He is going to love it. It has an incredible reputation and the student body is unlike any other school Texas — quirky, artsy, diverse. It’ll be great.
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Hello, friends.
It has been almost a year since S graduated from UNT with a BM in Jazz Studies on the bass. During the time he was there is was quite good for him. He had his first portfolio of work after college as a music lesson instructor at a music academy with about 30 students, and he was in some bands and subbed in for some gigs. He is currently rotating his work portfolio to be private music lessons without a middleman, and he is rotating into higher pay bands. He has a regular church gig and has an occasional music theater job. And then some other smaller slices in the portfolio like fiverr work.
Just for fun, here is a band called Rebel Alliance Jazz Band at a restaurant called BuzzBrews in Dallas (Deep Ellum) with S on the Bass: Rebel Alliance Jazz Ensemble - Cherokee - YouTube
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Good to hear your son is doing well, GoForth! I’m in Denton this weekend to hear my son in some of his ensembles. One of them is Third Street and it made me wonder where your son was now. We also got to hear the One O’clock at the syndicate yesterday. What a treat!
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My kid auditioned at UNT on trumpet and was accepted. The teacher at the time was absolutely fabulous and played at a summer festival with DS’s teacher here. DS was more interested in the classical end of trumpet playing. It would have been a fine choice.
He decided the program was too big and he didn’t want to get lost in the crowd.
But it’s a terrific school…and their jazz programs are so so well regarded! Wonderful facilities too.
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Hi. Yes it is big. One thing I see is that not only does UNT produce students, but they also produce teachers/instructors. To give the masters student something to teach, they have a lot of students there. The size can be a plus or a minus, but it is definitely a feature.
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