(BM) I went to Berklee, because it was advertised as

How this student rated the school

Educational Quality	F	Faculty Accessibility	F
Useful Schoolwork	B-	Excess Competition	D
Academic Success	C+	Creativity/ Innovation	F
Individual Value	F	University Resource Use	C
Campus Aesthetics/ Beauty	C-	Friendliness	D+
Campus Maintenance	D	Social Life	A-
Surrounding City	A+	Extra Curriculars	B-
Safety	B+

Describes the student body as: Friendly, Afraid, Arrogant, Broken Spirit, Closeminded Describes the faculty as: Arrogant, Condescending, Self Absorbed

Male

Quite Bright

Lowest Rating Educational Quality	F

Highest Rating Surrounding City	A+

He cares more about Creativity/ Innovation than the average student.

Date: Jan 28 2010
Major: Music - Performance (This Major's Salary over time)
I went to Berklee, because it was advertised as a Contemporary Music College, and would offer you endless opportunities as a musician.

Now as a 17 year old male (European), with talent but in need of pointers and inspiration, this seemed like the best possible way to spend a truck-load of money.

Firstly, due to me not being American, I had to attend one of their network schools (I went to L'Aula in Barcelona, which is just atrocious… but more on that another day). This was not cheap either. Nor was it helpful.

Anyway… I paid for an apartment very close to campus, my student visa, application fee, tuition fee… the lot, and off I went.

Now for my experience with BCM. Let me start by saying that I never intended to be a jazz guitar player, nor did I want to completely disregard the genre (that would just be foolish). I wanted an all-round, unbiased education in Contemporary music, specialising in what I deemed most important for my musical growth. A jack of all trades, but with one trick up the sleeve that blow the roof of this b**tch!

What I got was the most disappointing experience I could imagine. I signed up for some blues guitar, but what I got was blues-jazz. Got into some funk, but no… it was funk-jazz. Everything I got involved in had that specific Berklee stamp. You could forget all about actually getting into the nitty-gritty of anything. EVERYTHING had Jazz written all over it, which is just fine if that's your bag. Its also more than fine if it was part of your course… but when it takes over… that's just not good enough.

I mean, I am paying at least $2000 for a month, so I should have a small say in the matter. If they had advertised it as a Jazz school, then fine. But they don't.

Can you imagine if you were to study finance/business, and they would teach you nothing but the significance of sales tax in acquisition cost?

And then there is the faculty. My private instructor was tremendous (J. Kasper), but apart from him I had only negative experience. My harmony teacher (Lucy was her first name…) was the absolute worst teacher of all time. She would actually completely disregard you, unless you complemented her for that awful chord she has just "found".

Then there is the rest of the staff body, which are about as useful as sugar in cold tea.

I could go on for an age, but I think I will end with some advice (and I have a good long time to think about this… 8 years in fact).

If you have a dream of becoming an incredibly competent jazz player, and don't care about the return on your investment, then this is the place to go. If you love jazz so much, that you can ignore the amount of really bad musicians present, and couldn't care for anything else in this world… then BCM is the place for you.

If you fancy yourself a prosperous career in the modern music industry, then Berklee would be a waste of time and money. Do you have any idea what you could do with the amount of money you would spend by going there?

Do the math… Double (at least) your living expenses for the next 4 years, then add $100.000 to that figure (for tuition).

Imagine what kind of private study that would get you! Imagine what you could do to promote yourself!

Imagine a 5 man band that meet at Berklee… if you pooled the money they spend there together you wouldn't be far off $800.000.

And if you were in a top band, imagine what that money would buy your band!

Just think it all through, if you are considering BCM. Really try and get to terms with what it is you want musically from your life. Don't let them lure you in to something that you don't want. I can't stress this point enough.

I met this famous guitar virtuoso once backstage. I won't mention his name, because, For The Love of God, I can't remember his name :D

We were talking about Berklee, and the first thing he said was that is far too Jazzy. He told me about how he used to have to meet up with other non-jazz players in secret, at night, in the rehearsal rooms and tape over the windows, in order to play the music that he really wanted to play and learn.

And its the same story with the guys in that band that Dream about being in a Theatre.

The End.

Responses

That was my criticism of Berklee as well- also as a guitar principal. Berklee should really market itself as a jazz school, because you are being trained to be a jazz musician! Most of the private instructors and ensemble leaders are jazz musicians so of course they are going to be biased toward jazz (some would say jazz snobs)-

and as a musician you're ability is judged primarily on your ability to play jazz- as a guitarist this means playing heads, comping, soloing, playing chord solos. I think it is a good jazz school, but they really should call it that so people don't go there with a false idea!

I think your are just not musically mature enough (and i don't mean that in an insulting way) to understand that jazz harmony and your ability to be a competent jazz player is not ONLY for playing jazz. They teach you music, specifically improvisational music. And while jazz being an improvisational art they teach you the fundamental teaching of it. It is YOUR JOB AND RESPONSIBILITY to see the use in the information being presented to you, whether in a funk band, blues, or a folk group.

I agree with the "musically mature" response above. Jazz is the basis of everything-if you know jazz, you can apply it to whatever-funk, rock, pop (stevie wonder!), reggae, metal, hell even hip hop! and unless you name this "virtuoso", i have a hard time believing you on the uber-honest internet.

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