What Instrument/Music Equipment to Bring to UNT?

College Majors Music Major
1

<p>My S will be attending UNT in Fall 2011 as a freshman in the Jazz Studies program (guitar). What does he really need to bring with him in regards to his instruments, amps, etc? He wants to bring EVERYTHING he owns but 1) we live in Chicago! and 2) what does he need and 3) what will fit in his dorm room? He is my only child so I have no experience in sending a child off to college several thousands of miles away!</p>

<p>Also, how do I get this stuff out there? I can figure out all the stuff like clothes, bedding, etc. but not the heavy, expensive equipment. I really, really, REALLY don't want to drive him out there but am leary about shipping extremely expensive instruments and such.</p>

<p>Any tips you can provide on 1) What equipment he needs and 2) how to get it there would really be appreciated!</p>

2

<p>randmsan, I don’t have any answers for you. In fact, I hope someone can answer because I have been thinking about similar issues, namely, what do they do with all their stuff during the summers when home is 2,000 miles away? Find a storage company?</p>

3

<p>

</p>

<p>Yes. </p>

<p>Examples:</p>

<p>Univ of Michigan:<br>
[About</a> Us SSS](<a href=“http://www.studentstoragesolutions.com/aboutusboxes.html]About”>http://www.studentstoragesolutions.com/aboutusboxes.html)
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-michigan-ann-arbor/878682-summer-storage.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-michigan-ann-arbor/878682-summer-storage.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Univ of North Texas
[Simple</a> Summer Storage for Students, Orangebox Storage](<a href=“http://www.orangeboxstorage.com/colleges-we-serve.asp]Simple”>http://www.orangeboxstorage.com/colleges-we-serve.asp)
[Pack</a> 4 Summer - your college storage solution](<a href=“http://pack4summer.com/faq/]Pack”>http://pack4summer.com/faq/)</p>

<p>PS - We haven’t gone this route yet, but, when we do, we will ask about climate-controlled storage</p>

<p>Some schools have ‘student-run’ businesses. I think I have seen at least one of those which is geared towards assisting with the logistics of summer storage</p>

4

<p>Congrats on UNT!! We were in a similar situation 2 years ago, live in south Florida and school in upstate NY. We rented a minivan, all seats folded flat into the floor, and drove one way for the initial move. We had lots of dorm room supplies handed down from older son. I would recommend buying most of your supplies when you arrive so that you don’t have to move it but take what you already have. Bed Bath and Beyond had a program where you could shop at home and pick up at your destination. We did a one way rental and flew back home but it may be less expensive to drive round trip. Seems like your trip is a similar distance, stayed overnight one night on the way. S is classical strings player so doesn’t have as much equipment. Figured we could always ship specific items if needed. Over the summers he has shared a local storage unit with friends, works out to be about $25 per month. </p>

<p>Now we are in an even more interesting predicament with older S, he’s off to New Haven for PhD (non music). Needs to move his whole life there (5 + years) and it wont even begin to fit in his small car. It’s a long ride with a rental truck towing the car vs. driving the car and hiring a mover. Makes the undergrad college move look easy.</p>

5

<p>You guys are amazing! Thank you, mtpaper! What a quick reply.
Happy Spring to all!</p>

6

<p>So, just in the area of music, my son wants to bring:</p>

<p>Jazz guitar
SG guitar
Acoustic guitar
Amp
Stands, cables, etc
All music books</p>

<p>There is no way he is going to need 3 guitars, right? I know he’s a guitar major but does he really need all that? Then he’ll want it back home with him at Christmas… and summers…</p>

<p>It would have been so much easier if he went to school in the area!!</p>

7

<p>He probably does not need all his music books. DD left most of hers at home because they get their music at school. If he needs something you can always mail it to him. Guitars? I have no idea :slight_smile: Easier to take a voice to school - harder to keep it in shape though.</p>

8

<p>UNT drumset students get a key to their own practice room. Try a search for “jazz studies handbook” on the UNT site-percussion has their own handbook online so maybe jazz does to</p>

9

<p>Maybe his prof could either directly give him advice or put him in touch with a couple of students who might make helpful suggestions?</p>

10

<p>It could be worse. My daughter used to take two acoustic double basses, an electric bass, an acoustic guitar, an amp and various cables, instrument and music stands, a couple of bows, a tuner, a metronome and a milk crate or two of music.</p>

<p>If he plays different styles, I can certainly see the need for all of the guitars, unless he is able to borrow something at least as good from the school. I would expect the school has a pretty good collection of amps and speakers, but he may need something on the smaller side for practice sessions.</p>

<p>Driving out there is a van is a good idea. We did that with daughter a few times a year (until we gave her the van and let her drive herself) between New Jersey and Ohio, with her music stuff filling most of the back and everything else in a large rooftop carrier. Your son will need a way to get at least the instruments back and forth both so that he can practice at home and because storing them over the summer in Texas would require a facility that is air conditioned and humidity controlled, else he will come back to find them damaged.</p>

11

<p>Thanks, randmsman for starting this thread! I got your PM and will reply after this post.
(Both our sons are going to UNT this fall).</p>

<p>And clrn8mom, I hadn’t even thought about the summers yet, thanks for bringing that up too.</p>

<p>I’m thinking of what my son has to transport in terms of musical equipment. Required: orchestral trombone & jazz trombone, mutes, music and trombone stands. Probably all his music, especially the “Real Book” and his classical pieces, studies and exercises that he is currently working on. He may want to bring his electronic keyboard but I’m sure they must have access to that at a music school (?) We’re planning on driving our mini-van down, don’t want to risk damaging the trombones on a plane ride.</p>

<p>Then I was going to see just how much clothes and linens we can fit around that. Will buy toiletries and other things as found out he needs during move-in. Will want to find nearest Target! Useful info from slovesviola about the Bed, Bath and Beyond program. My older son is graduating from college this spring so I think we can use his bed linens which are made to fit those extra long twin beds that college dorms have. Also what I remember from older son is that there is a mail-order company (approved by the universities) where you order your bed linens online and they are waiting for you when you get there…they are something like bed in a bag and include comforter, blanket, sheets, and towels if you like, all color coordinated. You may get a solicitation by them this summer.</p>

<p>I was spoiled by older son’s move-in. He was only 40 miles away! So we didn’t stint on extras, like mini-frig, microwave, throw rug, lounge chair. Seemed like all summer I was making lists and buying things with nary a concern for transportation. Which reminds me, I hope I saved his pack list, if I did this will at least come in handy for shopping in Texas.</p>

12

<p>There is a SuperTarget in Denton, as well as Bed, Bath, Beyond, etc. Ordering ahead things you know you will need at BBB is great. You don’t even have to take all of them if you change your mind on site. Be glad you have boys. Much less stuff.</p>

13

<p>We purchased a number of things online (free shipping from amazon) that were a duplicate of things at home - and he leaves everything in storage over the summer - keyboard/stand/speakers/subwoofer for his room for composing. This summer he’s leaving his guitar behind, and may purchase another for home use. He’s borrowed electric guitars from friends at school. He has acquired many yards of scores which he stores over the summer. I figure after the five years he can pack it all up in a car and drive across country. However, the cello travels back and forth - if I were wealthy I’d buy him a second one of those, too!</p>

<p>Bedding et. al again we purchased online with free shipping and it, and winter clothes, all go into summer storage. Most schools have arrangements with storage companies who will pick up at the dorms - but often kids have friends with cars…</p>

14

<p>Three guitars and amps doesn’t seem unreasonable, especially for a guitar major. He may use each every day. I had two tubas, a bass guitar and an amp that came back and forth cross-country. I just got used to the fact that I wasn’t really flying anywhere.</p>

15

<p>Well, I must say that this year I can honestly answer this question with more insight than I did two years ago. </p>

<p>In both cases, they need to take whatever they will want to play. I truly did not think that my son, whose a music tech major, not a performance major, needed: a trumpet, electric guitar, electric bass, acoustic guitar, accordion, viola, beat box, keyboard, korg vocoder, amp, looping pedal, mini-synth, presonus fire studio, presonus firebox, three microphones; microphone stands; H2 zoom; cannon video recorder and tripod.</p>

<p>Honestly! But he proved me wrong, perhaps deliberately. EVERY SINGLE SONG HE WROTE AND RECORDED THIS YEAR included most of those instruments, and not a SINGLE instrument went unused. To very nice effect, I might add, which was particularly surprising because he didn’t traditionally play accordion or viola :wink: In addition, he also ended up using all the video gear making a film which he then scored, also for a class. So despite our rather passionate argument about “YOU WON’T NEED THAT” I now stand corrected, and he was quite excited to point out that his compositions netted him a straight A!</p>

<p>Now, if your sons at UNT are like my son and the rooms at UNT are like UMich, you will also need to know how to fit all this gear into a dorm room. I recommend a single if you can afford it. In a single, I then recommend putting the bed at “half stack” configuration, which should give you about 4 feet of clearance under the bed to store the musical goods.</p>

<p>For the OP, I am thinking this means a nice long drive to Texas. But your mileage may vary, depending on how attached your offspring is to multiple instruments. Clearly, mine is. Happy trails ;)</p>

16

<p>My daughter is in the music program at up at UNT and took all of her instruments. Several guitars, keyboards, amps, all her stuff. Books, notebooks full of her songs, everything. We live in the Austin area and Denton is a 4-5 hour drive away, depending if we make any pit stops. My daughter lives in an apartment, not a dorm, so we took furniture etc too. We rented a u-haul truck and drove it up there and back because it was cheaper to return it down here. She ran short on funds and was able to sell her extra equipment easily there on craigslist.</p>

17

<p>Thank God my son is going to school 15 miles from home and 8 miles from my office!!!</p>

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<p>We rulled out any colleges in our county real quick - time for him to get out of the house. At the same time, we had enough choices that were within a 4 hour drive that it didn’t make sense for him to have to fly accross the country. </p>

<p>Ended up selecting a college that is a hour and a half drive away. Just far away enough that he won’t be home every day, but close enough that he can come home when he needs to.</p>

<p>Kind of like the Goldylocks story: “this one is just right”</p>

19

<p>imagep, the determining factor was it was the best program for my son. He is going to live on campus. As he said, “there are two people who want me to live on campus…me and my brother.”</p>

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<p>My kid ended up less than an hour from home and we rarely saw her, unless she was sick or needed something. It’s pretty much the same as being farther away, with the added bonus that we get to go to all the recitals!</p>