Training/Education

By Paul Zollo

Your Instrument

You will want to either purchase or rent an instrument that you can use to work on at home for writing, rehearsing and home recording, and also to rehearse out of the home with other musicians, and with which to perform. You will want a good instrument, of course, but not one that is so expensive that its value makes it prohibitive to use at gigs. If you’re a guitarist, for example, you want a guitar with good pick-ups and a great sound, but not necessarily a super expensive one you might damage or lose at a performance.

• Buying
  
  If you are going to buy an instrument, you can look online and get a good idea of the instrument’s value, so that you have an idea how much you want to spend for it. Or you can go to a big music chain and check out their prices, and play various instruments to see what feels good and sounds good. But when the time comes to buy an instrument, we would advise you to steer clear of the big chains and find a smaller local music shop where you can get a good deal, and at the same time support regional commerce as opposed to big corporations. And if you can make a good connection with a small store, you can get good deals on other things you need, such as strings, capos, sax reeds, tuners, cords, whatever. And keep in mind that when it comes to instruments, new is not necessarily best. Many of the best sounding and playing guitars, for example, are the older ones which have aged well, ones made with good word, ones that were made with love by hand prior to the era when corporations took over many of the makers and began building guitars on an assembly line, as opposed to the old methods. Of course, many of the old instruments are quite pricey. You can often get a better deal buying a brand new instrument. So look around. Try everything. Every one will sound different and have a distinct feel. There’s no rush. Find the one that is best for you.

• Renting
  
  Before you make a major purchase, such as that of a new guitar or keyboard or sax, a good way to go is to rent. Most stores will make a deal with you that a portion of the monthly rental, say three or six months of it, can go towards ultimate purchase of an instrument. Therefore if you like the instrument and want to eventually buy it, this becomes almost a pay plan. The rental fee is not money thrown down the drain and it can also give you the option not to buy it. Try it out for a month or more and see if it’s the instrument for you.

• Upkeep
  
  Remember that your instrument will only sound as good as you keep it. Guitars need to be kept clean, polished and have new strings. Pianos need to be tuned frequently (A tuning is usually no more than $100.) Saxophones need new reeds. So if you want your instrument to sound good, and to last for years, make sure you take good care of it.

Educational Opportunities

By Paul Zollo

Choosing a School

Time was when those of us wanting to be a songwriter or pop-jazz-rock musician had no official college offering courses specifically designed for us. Colleges offered courses for traditional musicians in the orchestral arts or composers of orchestral music, but it was as if pop, rock and jazz music didn’t exist for those wanting a college education. Such is certainly not the case anymore in the 21st century, as there are great colleges dedicated solely to these kind of curricula, such as Berklee in Boston and the Musician’s Institute in Hollywood. There are many more around the country that offer songwriting courses, training on instruments that are non-orchestral (such as such radical instruments as saxophones, guitars (electric and acoustic), and music appreciation courses that cover great songwriters and musicians of recent decades, from the Beatles to Zappa and beyond. Many colleges throughout the country offer online courses and seminars, and there are also a wide range of schools offering extension courses, courses you can take without attending the college full-time.

To find a college that teaches what you want, whether you intend to be an instrumentalist, singer, songwriter or all of the above, you are best to look into your local schools, and call and/or check them out online to see if they offer courses in your desired field of endeavor. Here in the Bay Area alone there are several great ones.

Below is a list of selected Bay Area universities and the music courses they offer, in addition to some of the best colleges offering courses for modern musicians and songwriters throughout the country.

UC Berkeley

Berkeley, California 94720

510-642-6000

Offers a wide range of music-related courses, although no specific songwriting curriculum. There are many music appreciation courses, courses in jazz and improvisation, and guitar classes.

Mills College

Music Program

5000 MacArthur Blvd.

Oakland, CA 94613

Phone: 510.430.2171

Email: music@mills.edu

Mills College in Oakland has distinguished itself as one of the best universities in the Bay Area to study a wide range music-related fields, from traditional composition to electronic composition, recording, production, performance and literature . Presently they offer three graduate music degrees:

MA in Composition at Mills College

The master of arts program in composition at Mills has trained generations of composers from all over the world in the American Experimentalist tradition. Composition students at Mills learn in a free-thinking environment that encourages creative work in a wide variety of styles. In addition to courses in orchestration, tonal and post-tonal analysis, and contemporary music criticism, they are encouraged to cross disciplinary boundaries and to pursue studies in special areas of interest that may include improvisation, indeterminacy, and environmental sound composition, as well as composing for dance and film.
The core composition faculty is led by two legendary musicians, Fred Frith and Roscoe Mitchell, who have won international renown as composers and performers in a terrain that covers the spectrum from conventionally notated work to a wide range of experimental practices. Mills regularly invites distinguished guest composers to teach, most recently Hilda Paredes and Zeena Parkins; and composition students may study electronic and computer music with faculty from the Center for Contemporary Music, the historic electronic music studio that has been a pioneering presence in American music for over 40 years.

MFA in Electronic Music and Recording Media at Mills College

The master of fine arts in electronic music and recording media is directed by a core faculty of distinguished composers, including John Bischoff, Chris Brown, James Fei, Maggi Payne, and Technical Director Les Stuck. This is a program for composers who are working in electronic music and recording media. Based in the Mills internationally acclaimed Center for Contemporary Music, it focuses on electronic and computer music, the recording arts, and experimental media. It offers courses in recording and mixing, digital and analog synthesis, music software design and programming, interactive music composition, video, and live electronic music performance. The program encourages interdisciplinary and collaborative works across disciplines, including dance, art, computer science, poetry, and literature.

MFA in Music Performance and Literature at Mills College

The Mills master of fine arts in music performance and literature offers students the opportunity to study a broad range of repertoires and techniques from traditional solo and chamber music to recently composed works, from notated music to indeterminate scores. The program has two options: one dedicated to the performance of composed music and the other to improvisation. Students in both sections learn in a dynamic environment in which older traditions inform contemporary idioms and new music inspires re-evaluation of work from earlier periods. Students may study and perform with top San Francisco Bay Area musicians as well as with distinguished guest artists.

Sonoma State University

1801 East Cotati Avenue

Rohnert Park, CA 94928

707-664-2880

Just about an hour north of San Francisco in the wine country, it’s a beautiful small college with many music courses. There is an extensive music school with courses offered in composition, sound design, jazz, music appreciation, instrumental studies and more.

San Francisco State University

1600 Holloway Avenue

San Francisco, CA 94132

415-338-1111

The music program at SFSU brings together professional classical performers, active jazz artists, and internationally recognized composers, historians, and music educators to provide a superb learning experience. Located in San Francisco right on public transportation, their urban campus is just minutes from symphony, opera, ballet, and chamber music venues as well as downtown jazz clubs. On campus, students can focus on their own specialty or take advantage of ensembles of all kinds: jazz combos, symphony, band, world music ensemble, three classical choirs and a jazz vocal ensemble, big band, operas, and chamber music. Their School of Music and Dance offers an extensive variety of degrees: undergraduate professional degrees in classical and jazz performance, composition, music education, music history; Liberal Arts programs in world music and jazz, electronic music, music history, and classical music; and graduate degrees in classical performance, chamber music, conducting, music education, music history, and composition.

Other Bay Area Colleges:

h6. College of Alameda

510-522-7221

www.peralta.cc.ca.us

Berkeley City College

510-981-2800

www.berkeley.peralta.edu

California College of the Arts,(C.C.A.C.)

510-594-3600

www.cca.edu

h6. Chabot College

510-723-1600

www.chabotcollege.edu

Chapman University

925-680-1407

www.chapman.edu

City College of San Francisco

415-239-3000

www.ccsf.cc.ca.us

h6. Contra Costa College

510-235-7800

www.contracosta.cc.ca.us

Diablo Valley College

925-685-1230

www.dvc.edu

Expression Center for Digital Arts

877-833-8800

www.expression.edu

Foothill College

650-949-7777

www.foothill.fhda.edu

Golden Gate University

415-442-7000

www.ggu.edu

California State University, Hayward

510-885-3000

www.csuhayward.edu

Heald College

510-783-2100

www.heald.edu

Laney College

510-834-5740

www.laney.peralta.edu

h6. Las Positas College

925-373-5800

www.laspositascollege.edu

Los Medanos College

925-439-2181; 925-424-1000

www.losmedanos.edu

College of Marin

415-485-8811

www.marin.cc.ca.us

Merritt College

510-531-4911

www.merritt.peralta.edu

Mills College

510-430-2255

www.mills.edu

Ohlone College

510-659-6288; 925-659-6000

www.ohlone.cc.ca.us

Patten University

510-261-8500

www.patten.edu

University of Phoenix

800-448-6775; 415-495-3505

www.uofphx.info

Samuel Merritt College

510-869-6511
www.samuelmerritt.edu

Saint Mary’s College of California

925-631-4222

www.stmarys-ca.edu

College of San Mateo

650-574-6161

www.pls.lib.ca.us

Skyline College

650-738-4100

www.smcccd.cc.ca.us

Solano Community College

707-864-7000

www.solano.edu

University of California, San Francisco

415-476-2557

www.ucsf.edu

University of San Francisco

415-422-5555

www.usfca.edu

Stanford University

650-723-2091

www.stanford.edu

The Wright Institute

510-841-9230

www.wrightinst.edu

Outside of the Bay Area:

Berklee School of Music

1140 Boylston Street

Boston , MA

617-266-1400

www.berklee.edu

Founded in 1945, Berklee College of Music is the world’s largest independent music college and the premier institution for the study of contemporary music. Besides all the on-campus courses and curricula offered, Berklee also offers an extensive on-line school, in which students can study elements of songwriting and musicianship. If you want to play an instrument, write music and/or songs, or learn sound design, Berklee is one of the best universities in the world for the contemporary musician. . Countless legendary musicians are Berklee alumni, including Quincy Jones, Melissa Etheridge, Donald Fagen, Arif Mardin, Gary Burton, John Scofield, Bruce Cockburn, Paula Cole and Branford Marsalis.

Musician’s Institute

1655 McCadden Place

Hollywood, CA 90028

323-462-1384

www.mi.edu

In the past decade, it’s become one of America’s premiere colleges for those wishing an education in how to be a contemporary musician; from rock guitarist to pop songwriter and beyond, MI as it’s known is a great place to be. It offers a comprehensive, hands-on education in contemporary music performance, recording, guitar making, music business and film.

Accredited program

Accreditation is a process of validation in which colleges, universities and other institutions of higher learning are evaluated. The standards for accreditation are set by a peer review board whose members include faculty from various accredited colleges and universities. The board aids in the evaluation of each potential new school accreditation or the renewals of previously accredited colleges/schools.

In order for potential colleges to proceed with the accreditation process smoothly, they must meet the general standards set by the peer review accreditation boards. Each college is typically assessed using the following criteria: Overall mission of the college, objectives and goals, student requirements for admissions, services available to students, quality of education, reputation of faculty.

• Un- accredited program
  
  Doesn’t mean a program isn’t scholarly or viable, simply that it doesn’t have accreditation.

• Budget
  
  There’s no disputing the fact that higher education in America is a very costly proposition. For tuition in addition to room and board, it could cost up to $30,000 per year for private schools and about half that for public schools in your state. Estimates predict it could cost up to $50,000 per year for private school by 2015.

Therefore any potential student must certainly be realistic about costs, and must consider financial aid. It is available to those students who need it, and there are many avenues by which you can attain it, including grants, scholarships, student loans and work study programs. Being a student means learning how to do research, and one of your first research projects should be an exploration of financial aid available to you in your state.

Choosing a Private Teacher

• Genre Focus
  
  There is a profusion of fine musicians and educators who live to share their wisdom and technique and experience with students. Decide first exactly what you are striving to gain from study; are you focusing on a specific instrument, on singing, on songwriting, on music theory? There are teachers for all of these and more. In every major city, you will find that many of the finest instrumentalists, (those musicians who perform on albums and in concerts and clubs), also teach. These are the teachers that are the best; the ones who have a lot of life experience on their instrument, and who have a wide range of expression and utility. But you also want those musicians who are fine teachers to translate their experience and scholarship into understandable lessons for students. The best way to find good teachers is to talk to musicians and find musicians involved in your instrument of choice, Ask them to recommend teachers. There is much to learn, and many who can teach it to you.

• Private Lessons
  
  These are one-on-one lessons from a teacher to a student, which is the most effective way to learn and/or study a specific instrument. Private lessons are usually held in a home; either your home or the home of the teacher. Many teachers will come to your home.

• Class Lessons
  
  These are lessons in which an entire class is taught at one time, and is a good introduction to an instrument, often a good way to start, before deciding if you want to takeprivate lessons.

• Budget
  
  Again, lessons can be expensive. Yet it’s important to take them weekly, so as to gain some kind of momentum in your mastery of your instrument. A good teacher can cost from $50 to $100 per lesson, so budgeting for this every week is paramount.