| He wants to continue playing in college? Well good rock music happens at virtually every school I can think of so...
If he would prefer not to go conservatory route (and Berklee is similar to a straight conservatory, as it is all music), then I would say go to the place (like an academic school) that he would probably fit in the best, because chances are he'll find reasonable rock musicians anywhere (most likely, not one of the school's ensembles will be a rock band, but you never know). What I'm saying is, for most rock musicians, I don't think the school is of prime importance. Let's look at examples:
The members of "Phish" went to UVM and Goddard College
"Guster" was founded at Tufts
A lot of people from "The Offspring" went to colleges in southern cal. (USC - but not or music)
Many didn't go to college - Dave Matthews, Jimi Hendrix
"Radiohead" went to local universities in England
The lead guitarist for "Linkin Park" went to UCLA
etc...
These are just a few examples I found by searching around - but I imagine you will find that most rock guitarists didn't go to a music school (some, but not a huge majority of the very succesful people went to Berklee - mayer, dream theater, etc... but I would say if he might not want to study music as you said, Berklee is not the way to go). The scene, though, I would say is important. Local bands in Vermont are drastically different from those of southern Cal. (Phish and jam band music vs. more traditional modern rock)... So I would say he should just pick the school that seems to have the best vibe, maybe search around on myspace to find bands that are based out of a particular school, etc...
And though a teacher may be worth looking into in the area, it's not all too necessary, because I would say that rock music is one genre that can easily be self taught (and evidence of past players backs that point up). |