Opinions wanted about music colleges.

[Catlin]

Opinions

 

Hey guys, well I graduate from High School this year, and the only thing I want to do is play bass, this has been my foucs for post secondary for the last, i would say three years of high school.

So I have been looking around, and I have been told by my Bass teacher that I should go to MI.

So i got in touch and received at catalog in the mail. Wow it looks and sounds great.

I am just curious as to how the school is, can you help me out with your opinions, or what you have hered. Also LA is along way from Nova Scotia Canada. What is it like living in LA?

Thanks -Catlin

[Edendude]

Cat...

 

Don't rule out some of the good schools near you here in Canada...

 

http://www.mta.ca/faculty/arts-letters/music/

[Catlin]

Thanks Edendude, I beleive they came to my school earlier in the year. I wish they had tuition fees posted and up to date on sites.

I just received an email fomr MI, saying for the BIT 1 and 1/2 year course it would be close to 23,000....I have a feeling that is not Canadian curreny.

 

But yeh, I am so unsure where I should go, and if I am skilled enough as a player to go ahead with it.

-Cat

[Mudcat]

Originally posted by catman:

...Also LA is along way from Nova Scotia Canada. What is it like living in LA?

Thanks -Catlin

Warmer.

 

It's also probably more crowded and smoggier. Not sure how the cost of living compares.

[jeremy c]

I'm sure you will be quite shocked by the cost of living in LA as opposed to Nova Scotia.

 

You may notice a complete automobile culture. You can't get anywhere without one and the distances can be huge and freeways gridlocked.

 

The women wear a surprisingly minimum of clothes and plastic surgery is considered not only normal, but required.

 

I believe that BIT may have a placement exam. So does Berklee College in Boston. Boston is also a private institution with high tuition, but you can get a college degree from Berklee. I don't think you can get a degree from BIT. Boston may also be a little more culturally similar to your area.

 

Next time you post, could you put a little more information in the thread title?

[BenLoy]

As long as you're spending that much money, I highly reccommend that you go to a school that offers an accredited Bachelor's Degree Program.

 

You need a real Bachelor's Degree just to get a day job that provides a livable wage while in a large US city as you attempt to further your music career.

 

Check out Universities in Canada and the US that offer Bachelor's Degrees in music. You may have to play double bass, but that's okay. You'll find that there's a large demand for bassists who double on both instruments anyway.

[Mr. Phil]

you can come to school with me, Five Towns College in New York

 

Its cheap for a private school.

[Mike Bear]

I have many friends who went to MI here in L.A. Sometimes it seemed like the biggest waste. They treated it like typical college. Didn't go all the time and such. I've also met some really great people from around the world because of MI. I'm sure that would be the same with most music schools. MI, I'm sure would be great for most anyone and they do offer a degreee program. One of the best guitarists I know here in L.A. graduated MI in '94. He was always very hardcore into theory and such. A few years after he graduated he decided to enroll in harmony classes at a Junior College. The application of the theory can be facilitated by a private teacher. Some of the colleges and universities have some good modern music programs these days.

 

One thing I can say about L.A. right now is "Expensive". I used to live blocks from MI about 10 years ago. It was $1350 for a 2 bedroom in a semi-save area. Add 10 years of economy to that. Not that the apartment I had was the cheapest around, for some reason I had money back then. But more and more people between 20-35 are leaving L.A. because they just feel there's no room for them to grow. I'd certainly look into it though. I'm sure MI has some options where they can pair you up with a room mate and such.

 

Good Luck.

[73 P Bass]

My cousin went to MI. For him, he could have done as well finding a better teacher in Connecticut.

My boss' daughter is going to Boston University for opera (I'm not sure if it's a BA, or a BFA). I think the structure, and level of expectations of BU's program are definitely pushing her to achieve her goals.

Personally, I received a BFA in sculpture (from Hartford Art School), and although I do very little of what I would consider "fine arts", I feel my life was enriched by the experience.

[bruiser_dup2]

If I didn't already live here, I wouldn't want to live here. The houses are like two feet apart but nobody knows their neighbors, nobody knows how to drive but they all drive 80 mph all the time, and the air isn't fit to breathe. Every summer, all the lunatics drive around and set wildfires all over the state, then every winter the recently burned hillsides come sliding down on top of us.

 

Besides, I couldn't afford to live here if I hadn't already been here for 35 years. And I've got a decent job. I'd leave, but I'm so highly specialized in my job that I'm not qualified to work anyplace else.

 

Don't come here, you'll hate it. Trust me.

 

Bruiser in LA

[Catlin]

Originally posted by BenLoy:

As long as you're spending that much money, I highly reccommend that you go to a school that offers an accredited Bachelor's Degree Program.

 

You need a real Bachelor's Degree just to get a day job that provides a livable wage while in a large US city as you attempt to further your music career.

 

Check out Universities in Canada and the US that offer Bachelor's Degrees in music. You may have to play double bass, but that's okay. You'll find that there's a large demand for bassists who double on both instruments anyway.

Yeh i have been playing double bass at school alot . we got one a couple of months ago, I love it.I cant wait to start using it in jazz band.

 

sorry about that Jeremy C, I will put in some more info next time.

 

As for MI, I am going to hld off, it is alot of money and I am not sure what I will get out of it.

I may take a 10 month course at this place in Cape Breton NS called Mckenzie college, its basically introducing you to the world of the music industry. In the one course they work on theory,busniess,recording arts,ear training,reading,and private lessons also.

So yeh I am going to explore that option, then after the 10 months see what is going on and evaluate where i could possibly go from there.

-Catlin

[alexclaber]

Catman, could you possibly make your thread titles a little shorter? They're taking up an awful lot of forum bandwidth and provide such a handy synopsis of your queries that I barely need to read your posts...

 

Alex

[Dave Brown]

Fixed the title!

 

Unfortunately, I fear I've made some posts lose their meaning!

 

In this situation, I think I'd like to know more about who I'd be studying with.

 

I will say it's absolutely important that you seek a degree.

 

You might consider doing some bass summer camps...Jeff Berlin has one in Florida, I think. Networking is a good way to learn about options.

 

Good Luck!

[Ed Friedland]

Originally posted by Bruiser:

 

Don't come here, you'll hate it. Trust me.

 

Bruiser in LA

Aw, come on now man, don't sugarcoat it for him, give it to him straight!

[musicfiend]

LA.......imagine namm without the gear

[basses_arent_fish]

Here's an article from the BP archives, about choosing a school - check it out.

 

http://archive.bassplayer.com/z2001/0106/school.shtml

[jeremy c]

Hey, that's the article where I was quoted!

[dcr]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned North Texas State University. A real university, with a long & impressive track record for bass.

[ClarkW]

Originally posted by dcr:

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned North Texas State University. A real university, with a long & impressive track record for bass.

I was about to, since I went there for two years. I was a computer science major, though, and only spent a semester playing bassoon in the concert band and took a private piano instruction class. But the music program is huge and stellar, and the learning environment is very condusive to music. It's in a town that is half college student, half quiet little small-town. Living expenses are quite reasonable. I haven't lived there in a while, but I would be surprised if you had to pay more than $400 to get a single room in a shared apartment. The weather will hit 0 C in the winters and 40 C in the summers, and there's the occasional tornado or ice storm or hail storm, but not much else. You'd only be 45 minutes outside of Dallas and Ft. Worth for gigging purposes, and Dallas is nice as far as big cities go.

 

I would highly recommend that you investigate UNT.

 

http://www.unt.edu

[tatudbassman]

Berklee! I asked a famous bassist the same question. There was no hesitation at all. Good luck. UNT is pretty famous for their jazz/music program though...

[musicfiend]

Originally posted by jeremy c:

Hey, that's the article where I was quoted!

Do you still play clarinet Jeremy. I'm still amazed by the value of brass, woodwind, and classical string instruments. I have a friend that has an intermediate level 30,000 dollar violin and a 3,000 dollar beater! When he brought the 30k violin to a lesson his teacher asked...when are you gonna get another one?

 

Another pal has a 5000+ dollar clarinet that's "ok". NOt that these people are amazingly rich.....it's just what the style demands. This takes GAS to a new level

[Dave Brown]

Originally posted by ClarkW:

Originally posted by dcr:

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned North Texas State University. .

I was about to, since I went there for two years. . But the music program is huge and stellar, and the learning environment is very condusive to music. It's in a town that is half college student, half quiet little small-town. Living expenses are quite reasonable. I haven't lived there in a while, but I would be surprised if you had to pay more than $400 to get a single room in a shared apartment. The weather will hit 0 C in the winters and 40 C in the summers, and there's the occasional tornado or ice storm or hail storm, but not much else. You'd only be 45 minutes outside of Dallas and Ft. Worth for gigging purposes, and Dallas is nice as far as big cities go.

 

I would highly recommend that you investigate UNT.

 

http://www.unt.edu

Plus, you'd only be 30 minutes from davebrownbass.

 

UNT is a great college...but it's easy to get swallowed up in the numbers.

 

Dallas is a nice town, but Ft. Worth is more REAL. Lots of nice life goes on here. We have the most NEW cars per capita of any city in the US.

 

We have the best TV news of any metropolitan area in the nation, with the possible exception of New York or Los Angeles.

 

We have tornados and grass you cannot walk barefoot in. Rattlesnakes, copperheads and water moccasins. Clay soil with ruined foundations. Floods, droughts, heat waves (how's 37 consecutive days of 105 for ya?) You don't live without AC. We execute more people than anywhere else in the nation.

 

Of course, D/FW is a must stop for every touring act of every genre. We generally (so they say) have the best looking women anywhere. Life's cheap enough, we got the Cowboys, Stars, Rangers and Mavs, we got the graveyard of Lee Harvey Oswald. We got rodeos and Tex-Mex, and they've just opened a Krystals!!!!!!

 

Yore children'll talk in colorful speech. They will attend schools of uneven performance, but with the best football and music programs in the nation! You'll be strongly attracted to a beat up truck, or a new one. Maybe 1/3 of our cars have tailgates.

 

They's a lotta stuff we use-ta have we ain't got too much no more...oil wells, cattle, 10 gallon hats, spurs, barbed wire, cattle drives, longhorns, Caddy's, wide open spaces. You can still see that stuff...in tourist areas!!!!

 

And...we got a lotta giggin' bassists. I guess there's always room for more.

 

Seriously, UNT is a great place, and lots of folks hit the big time from there.

[Rick Hoffman]

I have been thinking about pursuing a formal education in music, too. I mean, I have money from uncle sam throught the GI Bill and all, it would be a shame if I never used it.

 

I was thinking psych major with second major ins music comp/performance...I'm sure there's other classes I'd be interested in.

 

I just got off the UNT's website. I'm really thinking about packin all my stuff up in a van and driving out there and makin a go of it.

 

I've always wanted to see texas!

[davio]

I've heard people jokingly say that nobody graduates from Berklee...they all get gigs/jobs while they're there because everybody looks there when they need musicians!

[Ed Friedland]

Catman,

One thing you didn't mention is if you play electric or upright, or both. Some of the "serious" music schools still don't accept electric bassists. Of course, Berkee, MI, Musictech, Player's School and others do... but I'm not sure about some of the accredited college programs like North Texas, Indiana State, etc. Some may take you with the understanding that you'll learn classical upright bass while there (not a bad thing to learn). That's something to be aware of.

[bspangleyahoo.com]

Ed's question is a good one (about double bass and electric).

 

The other things you should consider about the path in which you choose is what your background is in terms of theory, eartraining & reading along with your level of keyboard proficiency. If you have little or no background in theory, etc. you might be better off enlisting one of the master teachers (like Ed F or JC) in a month of three lessons per week along with serious hard study before you go "off to university" as you canadians would say. I would recommend this even if you have to find a place to crash for that month in the teacher's respective city. Another option might be one of the shorter sessions at Jeff B's Players School. If you're relatively solid in those areas, get some piano instruction, like now or even sooner;)!!

[Catlin]

Originally posted by Ed Friedland:

Catman,

One thing you didn't mention is if you play electric or upright, or both. Some of the "serious" music schools still don't accept electric bassists. Of course, Berkee, MI, Musictech, Player's School and others do... but I'm not sure about some of the accredited college programs like North Texas, Indiana State, etc. Some may take you with the understanding that you'll learn classical upright bass while there (not a bad thing to learn). That's something to be aware of.

I have been playing some at school because we recently got one, I like it alot, wish i had one of my own to tell you the truth.

And as far as what I would like to learn personally anytihng bass and music related is right up my ally.

I may end up taking school off for a year and continung studies with my Bass teacher, also look for some gigs around. I have also been asked to record bass for a fusion guitarist out of montreal , so I look forward to that. Thanks alot everyone you have been a great amount of help as well as guides. -Catlin

[bruiser_dup2]

Originally posted by Ed Friedland:

Originally posted by Bruiser:

 

Don't come here, you'll hate it. Trust me.

 

Bruiser in LA

Aw, come on now man, don't sugarcoat it for him, give it to him straight!

Hey Ed, just saw your reply. It's just that after every sunny New Years Day in So Cal with 16 straight hours of Rose Parade coverage, another million or so people want to move here from Michigan, Ohio, and the colder provinces of Canada (which pretty much includes all the provinces of Canada). I consider it my duty to discourage them.

 

Terrible place. Riots. Brush fires. Gawdawful traffic and smog. Ugh. I need to go to the beach and unwind... oops, forget I said that.

 

Bruiser

[Rick Hoffman]

The beaches, people, and overall beauty of California is what made it worth it for me. Wish I never left. And now you got such a cool governor!

[Fred TBP]

Berklee. Boston, MA.

If you're serious about your career, look there.

A lot of famous and semi-famous people went there. In fact I've worked with a couple of ordinary grads, and their curriculum impressed me. If this is your one shot, make it count. And you CAN get financing for it.

Word.