<p>banddad I wanted to thank you for that bit of info. I’m personally losing touch with my musical passion because I find my current school program to be very restrictive and in a less formal way, its sucking the fun out of music. So essentially, I haven’t motivated to practice.</p>
<p>After hearing that the Uchicago ensembles are something enjoyable is reassuring. I think I’ll start practicing dillegently again and hopefully if I get into UChicago, I’ll be able to do one of their ensembles. Thanks!</p>
<p>BandDad, do you have any information about jazz ensembles? My DS passion is jazz piano and he would like to continue it at UC - although he won’t be a music major.</p>
<p>I live on the UChicago campus and frequently attend concerts there. </p>
<p>I know the U. of C. has a Jazz X-tet (X for the number of players, as it varies from year to year; I think that is cute.). They give concerts occasionally at Mandel Hall during the noontime concert series on Thursdays. I have heard them twice. </p>
<p>The U. of C. is not a music performance school, but the Jazz X-tet sounds like it would be a good option for your son. </p>
<p>Hope that helped, but I am sure BandDad can tell you a bit more about it than I can.</p>
<p>I actually saw the Jazz X-tet (didn’t understand the name reference until you told me) and emailed the director. When he never responded (you know those jazz types, haha) I spoke with a very nice woman in the Department of Music.</p>
<p>I was trying to determine how competitive it was to get into the X-tet. My son is a jazz pianist, which makes it kind of tough sometimes because, like drums and bass, there is usually only one per band. I have found that some schools, like Columbia, form as many ensembles/combo’s as there are kid’s to fill them. They just use the audition process to sort the kids by ability level.</p>
<p>I couldn’t get a sense for that from my discussions with the Music Department, so I’m wondering if you have any insight.</p>
<p>I’m sure we’ll get a better sense of that when we visit May 8 for Juniors Spring Visiting Day. Really looking forward to that.</p>
<p>I do not know any jazz pianists myself, as I play classical piano, but there is one, of course, in the Jazz X-tet. I am not sure if there are very many students interested in jazz here, which might be a good thing for your son. If there are a few students who would like to play piano in the X-tet, they would probably take turns. The group does not look too competitive to me, so I am sure your son would be the pianist if he already has jazz experience.</p>
<p>I went to a few Juniors Days last year, and the university seemed to be saying that if one is interested in something and there is no group, one can always make one. There are also some other musical groups running around in which your son might find of interest, such as the Klezmer band and chamber groups.</p>