<p>I am a guitarist and I am very interested in pursuing an education in Jazz guitar. I have been playing for 8 years, but have only become interested in jazz in the past year. I’m going to be a senior this year. I am learning to read music and am going to play in my high school jazz ensemble this year. I have taken the Jazz Improv and Music theory classes that my high school offers. My problem is, I feel that my sight reading skills may not be satisfactory when audition time comes, but I am practicing a lot. What are some schools that offer majors in Jazz guitar and are likely to accept you even if you don’t do so hot on your audition? Also, I feel like most schools will only take musicians who are already proficient in jazz and not musicians who are not yet proficient in jazz. Any information on my issues would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>guitarkid6836, welcome. Take a read through these as starters </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/258796-so-you-want-music-major-one-familys-experience.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/258796-so-you-want-music-major-one-familys-experience.html</a></p>
<p>This is the best general info jazz thread
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/154774-best-university-jazz-programs.html?highlight=jazz[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/154774-best-university-jazz-programs.html?highlight=jazz</a> </p>
<p>The more active (in terms of number of posts) jazz guitar specific threads:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/798976-jazz-guitar-whats-required.html?highlight=jazz+guitar[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/798976-jazz-guitar-whats-required.html?highlight=jazz+guitar</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/481926-jazz-guitar-schools.html?highlight=jazz+guitar[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/481926-jazz-guitar-schools.html?highlight=jazz+guitar</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/638471-looking-info-specific-jazz-guitar-programs.html?highlight=jazz+guitar[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/638471-looking-info-specific-jazz-guitar-programs.html?highlight=jazz+guitar</a></p>
<p>There are 102 titled jazz threads, which you can find using the methods I describe here <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/892168-search-tips-other-insights.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/892168-search-tips-other-insights.html</a>. Using the master lists as detailed is a good way of identifying specific posters and searching threads by user name.</p>
<p>Giving us some academic background, grades, stats are helpful as well, as some programs have minimal academic thresholds which even a superb audition may not overcome if these are below the line.</p>
<p>I’m not much help on jazz, but there are a number of knowledgeable folks here.</p>
<p>guitarkid, my jazz guitarist son auditioned at quite a few schools across a broad spectrum from conservatories to university-based programs. Surprisingly, the only one that required a sight-reading component as part of the audition was USC Thornton (which he will attend). The other schools would, however, have made him undergo some sort of sight-reading evaluation upon the start of the program, for placement purposes.</p>
<p>I can’t answer the jazz proficiency part of your question, though, as my son has studied and played jazz (along with rock) since the age of 11. But I do remember a student we saw perform at Stanford Jazz Camp a few years ago (about 17 or so) who had been playing jazz for only a year or two at most. He was probably the best there.</p>
<p>Good luck! There are dozens of jazz guitar programs. You should probably find a private teacher to help you prepare for auditions. Download the audition requirements from a few schools you are interested in and take them to your teacher to help you prepare.</p>
<p>It matters how much you can soak up in the time you’re playing, i’ve only been playing “jazz” guitar for less than a year and i think i’ve gotten along very well, so they can probably take note of things like that. and i love jazz and i know a lot of people who look into jazz programs don’t actually listen too/play jazz too much</p>
<p>Stanford Jazz Workshop just ended, but suggest you call the director, Jim Nadel. In addition to first class musicians, many of the instructors/performers at SJW are college instructors. USC has a fabulous program. Bruce Foreman, one of the absolute best jazz guitarists around, is an instructor there. You might also contact him. Musicians are generally very willing to talk and help out other musicians, especially students. Best of luck!</p>
<p>In my previous post, I forgot about another school my son auditioned for that also had a site reading component to the audition: Berklee. But there students were allowed to see the music in question for 15-20 minutes beforehand, which in my son’s opinion, kind of takes the “on sight” out of sight reading. Even if he couldn’t sight read fluently, he would’ve learned the piece in that amount of time.</p>
<p>think hard about the type of program you want. Listen to a LOT of jazz, and look for programs that have the most variety. I was in your position (liked jazz, but hadn’t been playing it for all that long) last year and I did not realize how much my tastes would expand after a year at school.
Id recomend that you stay away from schools that push straight-ahead jazz (the kind of stuff they play at jazz at lincoln center and what many people who think jazz stoped evolving in 1965 consider to be jazz) at the expense of other styles. Consider that its not 1965 and, that while playing straight ahead jazz (and more, knowing tons of standards and being able to comp well, swing and play the changes in a bebop-oriented manner) is an extremely important skill, it is not where the music is today and is not what the great players now adays are playing. Basically, when looking at schools make sure that, if you seek out a good education and practice you will be able to play more traditional tunes in an authentic straight-ahead style (which means you will be transcribing like crazy) but at the same time, not make you stay stuck in the past (meaning it does not shun modern repetoire, inside/outside type playing or modal playing). Also make sure you will be taught sight reading and the notes on your fretboard–if you don’t already know them cold-- (chord charts and single note lines). Just because a school doesn’t make you sightread at the audition doesn’t mean they don’t teach and vice versa.
A list of schools to begin looking at would probably start with Berklee, as well as more competitive places like UNT, indiana, miami, USC, NYU and the new school for jazz.</p>
<p>you think indiana is more competitive than berklee?</p>
<p>and hey after 1965 wasn’t horrible for jazz, we still had wes and jim hall!</p>
<p>Yes, IU is much more competitive for jazz guitar than Berklee.</p>
<p>Huh…that’s surprising, do you mean in the student body or for auditions</p>
<p>For jazz guitar, there are fewer spaces and a much lower percentage of admitted students at IU (based on auditions for the most part, though IU does care about academic record more than Berklee does–we were told at Berklee that a 2.5 gpa was a minimum, but that the admissions committee is very flexible) An interesting side note is that Berklee’s graduation rate is less than 50%.</p>
<p>I believe it was only in Fall of 2008 or 2009 that IU added jazz guitar to their program. When we first started looking at schools a couple of years ago, it was not an option. That may play into the size of the program/number of spots.</p>
<p>In New York, you could try Schenectady County Community College, several local students have had success there after not being accepted to a 4 yr program and then transferring. One of my sons friends went there for 1 year and is now moving on to Berkley in Boston.
Also, The College of Saint Rose has recently put a great deal of money into their music department and is generous with music scholarships.</p>
<p>yes the jazz guitar program was added in 2008, and the low rate of graduation from berklee is apparently from kids leaving after they find jobs. Or just the weak players getting thinned out 
but i think it will go up from now on, i heard they’re cutting the guitar program in half every year or something and also the auditions are much harder</p>