DS26 plays double bass, and prefers jazz to classical.
He’d like to do a summer program next summer when he’ll be a rising junior. We’re open to locations anywhere in the US.
What are some programs to look at?
NYO Jazz for sure. If he is interested in chamber music at kinhaven the bass groups definitely did some pieces that were jazz for their chamber pieces and I can’t say enough about how wonderful the whole program was.
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Class of 2026 means rising sophomore. I assume that he is in school orchestra and maybe local youth orchestra as well. Although double bass is not as popular as the other string instruments, it is likely that he (or his orchestra director) can identify several older student musicians with similar skill level and progress. Maybe you can find out what summer programs the other students participated in.
From the handful of (fewer than 20) student musicians I know, those ranked (based on all-state audition results) approximately top 10 (for that instrument) in the state have a decent chance getting in NYO/NYO2/NYO-JAZZ and/or receiving scholarships from several top summer programs. I know six students who fall in this group. Those who are in the top orchestra of all-state have a great chance of getting in well-known summer programs (i.e. Interlochen, BUTI, Brevard, etc.) and decent chance for scholarships. I know four students in this group; however, only two chose to attend Interlochen. Those who are in all-state orchestra have a great chance of receiving scholarship to attend local (within the state) summer programs. I know five who did. Many student musicians who have stronger interest in sharing the love of music than perfecting techniques choose to volunteer/work for local (within the state) summer music programs, such as youth orchestra summer camp and K-12 summer camp musical sessions. They are deeply appreciated and loved by the young kids and their parents.
Paging @Shellg who might have some recommendations.
One daughter did a program at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, and liked it quite a bit.
Jazz House Kids in Montclair, NJ has a great summer workshop the first two weeks of August.
HI! Sorry we were soaking in the last vaca before college move in THIS WEEK! SO…my son is jazz guitar and we were just helping a friend make his list of summer camps ('26 as well). My son puts UNT jazz combo tops of his lost followed by Eastman and Berklee…he noted that if there is any interest in attending Berklee they should do a summer camp #1 to see if they like “the vibe” and #2 because they give out scholarship money at the end of the camp (he got his biggest single scholarship there). The vibe wasn’t what he was looking for personally. Doing these college camps led him to the professor he wanted to work with in college so it was SUPER helpful for his process. Other camps he did not do but friends have and really helped in their decision making were UMiami and NYU. You can only do so many! lol. We also have two good local camps (CT) he did every summer that were on par with his college experiences. One is Litchfield Jazz Camp and kids from all over attend there. Lastly, he recommends doing first an instrument based camp at Berklee (he did Guitar sessions) and if they like Berklee, def do the ASPIRE Camp between Junior and senior year for scholarship purposes! Note he got his $ at the end of Guitar Sessions so they do give it out at every session…Aspire is just known for it. Hope this helps!
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Can you tell me more about Berklee? What is the vibe that people do or don’t like?
Also, if Berklee offer you $ is that a sign you will get in? Or is it just “if you get in, you’ll get this money.”?