My son's going to Berklee in the fall

[redwitch]

Any Berklee grads here? We are so excited for him- not sure how we will come up with the $, but he's a good bass player with the potential to be great and we're going for it. Any advice from Berklee grads?

[LeftCoast]

1. Not a Cal grad, but I did graduate from UCR and now live in SF

Congrats to your son! Berkeley is a great place to live and go to school. Where will he be moving from? Is he familiar with the area?

[LeftCoast]

8. Whoops. Looks like we're talking about two different schools

My bad! :)

[AlCzervik]

2. The Berkley book store is the best ever

Whenever i go to SanFrancisco i stop there. I hope you can figure out how to finance it. Best of luck to him.

[Worst Username Ever]

3. Berkley or Berklee?

Berklee is a music school, Berkeley is a well-known liberal arts college in CA (which also has a music program), just curious which...

[bobbobbins]

6. considering she spelled it correctly and she mentions bass playing

i'd think you could put 2 and 2 together

[Worst Username Ever]

9. Berkeley has a music program, as I mentioned in my post. Also,

numerous posters are assuming Berkeley. I was just clarifying for the board, so what is your problem?

[bobbobbins]

13. my problem is...

that common sense dictates that if she spelled it like the music school and mentions music, its gotta be the music school.

Looks like a duck, sounds like a duck...

[Worst Username Ever]

15. Evidentally your definition of common sense is being a jerk.

Considering that BOTH posts in front of mine mistake it for Berkeley, and the poster FOLLOWING mine also felt the need to clarify, it would appear your definition of common sense is lacking.

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Worst Username Ever]

19. Riiiight.

Whatever you say.

[seriousstan]

4. Just for clarity, you are talking about the Berklee College of Music

right?

[bobbobbins]

5. I didn't graduate from there, but i had made plans to go there

ended up changing my mind, the cost detered me. I wish your son the best of luck!

[redwitch]

14. The cost is scary

and we have nothing saved for him. Loans, grants, donations gratefully accepted. We toured the school last April and it appears to be heaven. Thought about having him do 2 years of community college but were afraid he'd lose focus if we did that- it would have saved a ton of money though.

[Coastie for Truth]

7. My cousin started at Berklee, ended up at Berkeley

My cousin started at Berklee (Music in Boston), ended up at Berkeley (Pre-Law, California). Change in career plans - plus, the old joke:

Young kid sees a man on the street in Manhattan, asks "How Do I get to Carnegie Hall?"

The man replies "Practice, practice"

[tigereye]

10. it's a great music school from what I have heard

lots of cool musicians attended there.

[redwitch]

11. Berklee, Boston, bass

And practice, practice, practice works for that too. Come on Berklee grads- where are all the DU musicians????

[Bluebear]

12. Uh, do you mean BERKELEY????

(Kidding, kidding!!!)

Berklee is the coolest school, I have known quite a few people who went there. Advice? Soak it all in, network, enjoy the heck out of Boston. Congrats to your son!

[redwitch]

16. Thanks!

The other big consideration for having him go there was the chance to network-it's a tough (but wonderful ) way to make a living. I figure there is tons of work for a dedicated bass player and God knows the world needs music. My fear is that he'll go for a year, form a band and go on tour without ending up with a degree. But he's a musician and they tend to "think different" as the Mac ads say. Impossible to stop the creative process in some people. And I don't even want to stop it in him- nothing thrills me more than seeing him on stage playing his heart out.

[regularguy]

21. I found that the people who really made it as performers

were long gone by the time they would have graduated.

[Squeech]

20. I couldn't agree more

Berklee has a curriculum that will teach you the mechanics of music, how to read the dots, how to transpose, how to keep time, etc. This part of the Berklee experience will teach you how to be a musician as a day job-- playing in wedding bands, or cruise ships, or doing jingles for advertising, etc.

The real artistry can't be taught, although it can be (and will be) alluded to, and you'll be exposed to various systems that may or may not be useful. (George Russell is actually around the corner at N.E. Conservatory, but they do study his Lydian Chromatic Concept at Berklee.) But a great deal of the real learning experience is in jam sessions with your fellow students, and maybe even your professors. Listen to everybody, figure out who's got something to say and who's full of shit, and figure out how you fit in and what you have to say.

That's my advice, and worth every penny you paid for it too!

[redwitch]

27. He has his own style already

and I don't think they'll be able to squeeze him into a mold. Jam sessions will be his favorite pastime, I have no doubt. He's a big Moe fan- is bummed he won't make the Moedown this year. He's also a bit sad about leaving the band he's been in here for the last two years, they are really quite unusual, and it has been a great experience for him.

[regularguy]

18. I went to Berklee for a year '80-'81.

My advice would be:

1) Make sure music is really what he wants to do with his life.

2) Don't compare. There are so many killer players there that it's easy to get discouraged.

3)Consider majoring in Music Ed., or Producing or something other than performance.

The weird thing about Berklee is having all these 18 and 19 year olds who basically know that their chances of making a living at this are very slim. This plus a massively disproportionate male-female ratio (maybe that's changed) made for a very strange and stressful environment. OTOH, I had a great time and jammed with a lot of great players.

For me the right choice was leaving and going to what we called "real college".

[redwitch]

24. He's 18

At this point music is everything to him. He may change his mind and do something else eventually but I figure if you can't follow your heart at 18, you might as well hang it up. I hope it's hard- challenge is a great thing, I don't want him to be stressed, but challenged works.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

22. One of my best friends goes there

He was/is also a bass player when he started. He can now play virtually any instrument put in front of him and has a cool music studio running out of his bedroom. (He's done it all with a lot of hard work and a G4 laptop.)

It's neat listening to his work. A lot of the stuff he does sounds a bit like Moby or Air - and he plays all of the parts himself.

He works part time, summers, got a small scholarship, and took some loans, I believe.

Did you take the tour? I gave him a ride up there from NYC and acted as his "parent" on the tour. The facilities there are really amazing.

[redwitch]

25. The tour made me want to own a time machine

I would be 18 again but this time, with a guitar or a great voice.

[seemunkee]

23. My son is down the street at Northeastern

He is in the music tech program. Apparently the NEU music students don't get along with the Berklee students all that well, although they have no problems with the Emerson students. They see the Berklee kids as being snobby. He'll have to work hard to maintain any sense of personal style in his playing. From what I have heard,students get molded into a particular style that is recognizable as being from Berklee.
I'm not taking away from his accomplishment. I know he must be talented to get accepted.
It is a great location and if your not familiar with it Boston is a great city. Don't even think about him needing a car. There is a "T" stop right out front. Newbury street is a fun place and just a few blocks away.
Good luck paying the tuition. My son was accepted to Emerson but ended up at NEU due to scholarship money.

[redwitch]

26. No snobs in this family

That's been one of the great things about music for him- go into any good music store (from the time he was 13) and the people relate to each other musician to musician- age doesn't matter, only the music and the ideas. Very egalitarian and I love that. We'll need lots of luck with the tuition- I may have to start a "send my kid to Berklee" drive here- let's see, if everyone gave $2 he'd be covered. The weekend we took the tour there was an article in the Boston Globe about a parking space selling for $160,000. So, no, he won't be taking a car. MTA pass works for us! I also got lost one night going to pick him up from a bass seminar- in the pouring rain. I eventually found my way back to the hotel (in the shadow of Fenway Park) but with all the one way streets it wasn't easy. Boston is a great town, I look forward to getting to know it better.

[seemunkee]

28. Stay away from the Fens at night

It's not a safe place. There is a youth hostel just a few blocks away if you ever need a really cheap place to stay when you visit there. And stay off the streets the night of major sports events if a Boston team is playing. An emerson student was killed the night the Sox won and my son said there were cops everywhere the night of the superbowl.

[borlis]

29. No grads here, but

our beloved babysitter has applied there and it's her first choice, if accepted. Not sure if she heard yet. She is absolutely in love with that school. Best of luck to your son. As for our babysitter, we'll sure miss her. :cry: