Trumpet57

My opinion is much like violadad's. One size does not fit all. Some families might not even know where their child is going until he says goodbye and some like Donald Trump build little Jr. clones of themselves that go to the same school as dad and go into the family business. Not necessarily anything wrong with either or anywhere in between.

I have not been here long, but I see no real sign of micro managing. In the real world there are those like violadad talked about that want to be able to say my kid is going to Julliard for their own ego whether that school is a fit for the child or not. But that is rare and again I see none of that here.

Steve M. you might also consider that the four years of college make a huge difference to a young adult. Leave home at 17 or 18 and live on your own for 4 years and make everyday decisions and at around 22 you leave a much more capable person, a very different person, and far more able to handle the difficulties of the real world than when you left for college. That is a huge part of college. So to say if they can not handle the entire process of picking a music program and going to auditions etc at 17, that they will not be able to handle the tough music industry after living 1/4 more life and the college experience to me is not a logical argument.

Now if violadad's is only worth .02 than I can only ask for .01.

Steve M.

I seemed to have touched a nerve here.... sorry, if anyone feels personally slighted or maligned.
I was speaking in the most general terms and stand by my comments.

Trumpet57

No nerves touched, just an issue of accuracy.

You are of course entitled to your opinion. Differences of opinion can be productive.

Did you answer if you were a student or a parent? Your opinion seems to reflect personal problems you encountered with your parents. I hope you have patched up any differences.

violadad

SteveM, I agree in principle with your comments. I doubt that many students at this level are where they are without strong parental support, encouragement and backing. But if one as a parent is involved over a period of years helping their "kid" through this process, you will run into kids who are micro managed, and the parents that engage in it. I see your point and agree with it. It's true in other fields: academics, sports, medicine, you name it. Some never learn when to cut the apron springs. Some apparently never do.

I did take your post as a general comment.

In the spirit of this board, I responded with an opposing view. My position is that beauty of this particular forum as an open exchange of info and opinion, and offering options is particularly helpful to the neophyte, be they parent or student. It broadens the perspective on a very confusing and complicated process.

And that's just my economically adjusted opinion. May well not be worth the $.02.

Steve M.

Trumpet57 -
- Personal problems with my parents? Certainly sounds like somebody's "nerves" were touched.
For the record, I'm a 59 year old married parent of two boys, one who is a young musician. I'm also very fortunate to still have a wonderful relationship with my mother 89 and father 93. My wife and I had a lovely dinner with them last night.
Thanks for the stunning psychoanalysis...

violadad - thanks, it's been an eye opener.

Trumpet57

Excuse my Dr. Phil level attempts at discovering your problem.

Sad that a thread like this had to be hijacked from what was a valuable asset into off topic issues involving your personal philosophy. Unless you want to share a specific statement that was made in this thread that made you decide to bring the concept of micro managing and your personal offense at that, I remain puzzled by your comments.

It could only touch a nerve for me if anything you said could have been about asking a few preliminary questions in a forum. I did want to protect the value of this service and not restrict people from feeling comfortable discussing their efforts to assist their child in a very important decision because one person had issues.

Hopefully whatever damage you have done is minimal and limited to destroying this thread.

Maybe the information that would have been available in this thread can still be shared in another one.

momofgtm

Greetings trpt,

I am new to cc. I was just scrolling through postings to glean some information regarding jazz programs. My son is a drum set player who would would like to pursue jazz studies. So many schools require symphonic participation as well. What schools are students able to concentrate only on jazz? Thank you. momofgtm

violinmom

Welcome, momofgtm

I'll jump in and address UNT. Classical and jazz majors are completely separate as far as performance requirements. They all take some of the same required music classes, i.e. theory, history, etc. But if you go to the UNT College of Music website, you'll see that there are very different requirements for each major. If your son is a jazz drummer, then he would only be involved in the jazz dept. The UNT symphony and other performing groups are strictly on the classical side. I would imagine in much smaller programs (UNT is huge) there are more opportunities for students to play both classical and jazz. So, in a nutshell, to answer your question: No, he would not be required to play symphonic music if he's a jazz major at UNT.

momofgtm

thank you violinmom I appreciate your input.

SJTH

Momofgtmn, Berklee in Boston and the New School for Jazz and Contemp music in NYC do not have a symphonic requirement.

Steve M.

Hi momofgtm,
My son is a first year drum set student at UNT. His required semester classes this fall include:
1. Aural Skills (sight singing and pitch training)
2. Keyboard 1 (basic piano)
3. Music Theory 1 (basic theory)
4. History of Recorded Jazz (music history)
5. Percussion Studio (must be able to play all instruments to the appropriate levels for jazz major - and there are about eighteen to twenty drum set players in this class)
6. Private drum set lessons (1/2 hour each week)
7. Private mallet lessons (1/2 hour each week)
8 Jazz Ensemble/Lab performance (by audition beginning each semester - I believe students are assigned a class group if student does not succeed with any audition into a public performance ensemble or lab band.

Hope that gives you an idea of what's required at one school for first semester drum set players.
Cheers

SJTH

At Oberlin, my drumset freshman son has: Music Theory I, Jazz Theory, History of Jazz, Aural Skills, Jazz Ensemble, Private lesson with drum teacher, private lessons with other jazz teacher (optional). He will have piano proficiency, but that doesn't come into play until 3rd/4th years, and will have a classical requirement sometime during the 4 years. He did NOT have a classical component as part of his audition.

jnystrom

My son is a senior at UNCSA (North Carolina School of the Arts) and wants to continue pursuing his music education on double bass. Do you have any information you can share about the bass program, both jazz and classical? Thanks!

SJTH

At what school or schools jnystrom?

Steve M.

I assume that your son is interested primarily in jazz bass. Jeffry Eckels and Lynn Seaton at the University of North Texas are wonderful players and outstanding educators.