http://www.berkleemusic.com/index

[SimpleMind]

just wondered if any of you could give me a tip about the berklee courses. I am technical quite advanced can reed notes but am a musical illiterate. I read about the Berkley courses and wondered if any of you participated and can share their experiences. I was especially interested in the musical theory courses but am not quite sure if the lessons are good after what i read about the books.

[MattyCakes]

just pick up the books. they are really great. they do expect you to know a certain amount of theory depending on what class you would take


i also have the course curriculum in the form of PDFs, but i would need space to host them

[Smitty]

I plan on going there in a couple years, once I graduate high school.

Basically, get a fake book (the sixth edition of the "real book" is fantastic)
Learn to play a bunch of the jazz standards and be able to solo over them.
Learn jazz theory, meaning mostly the dorian and mixolydian (did I spell that right ?) modes, also be familiar with the half/whole and melodic minor scales.
Also learn the jazz abreviations. For example, C- means a C minor chord, but it implies that it's a Cm7, probably in the dorian mode.
Learn a bunch of chord shapes, learn how they relate to one another.
Keep focusing on technique, but if youre technically proficient, the best thing to do now is to develop a technique style all your own. If you hate legato, then screw it. Don't practice it. It'll only mess you up if you think about it. You'll end up doing it anyways, its basically impossible to avoid it. Same thing with alternate picking, economy picking...whatever. Find what you like and learn to play effectively.
And if you like neoclassical, stop listening to it That's a half joke, but seriously, for the most part, Berklee jazz cats hate shredders.
Have fun, I hope to see you at Berklee some time man.
smitty

[Meedlyx10]

Originally Posted by Smitty

Basically, get a fake book (the sixth edition of the "real book" is fantastic)
Learn to play a bunch of the jazz standards and be able to solo over them.
Learn jazz theory, meaning mostly the dorian and mixolydian (did I spell that right ?) modes, also be familiar with the half/whole and melodic minor scales.
Also learn the jazz abreviations. For example, C- means a C minor chord, but it implies that it's a Cm7, probably in the dorian mode.
Learn a bunch of chord shapes, learn how they relate to one another.
Keep focusing on technique, but if youre technically proficient, the best thing to do now is to develop a technique style all your own. If you hate legato, then screw it. Don't practice it. It'll only mess you up if you think about it. You'll end up doing it anyways, its basically impossible to avoid it. Same thing with alternate picking, economy picking...whatever. Find what you like and learn to play effectively.
And if you like neoclassical, stop listening to it That's a half joke, but seriously, for the most part, Berklee jazz cats hate shredders.
Have fun, I hope to see you at Berklee some time man.
smitty

-try to seek out the 5th edition real book. the 6th edition is the legal version Hal Leonard released and is missing tunes that they couldn't get the rights for. The 5th edition (illegal version) isn't as easy to find anymore, but a resourceful person shouldn't have too much trouble
-Extensive knowledge of scales/modes is always a good (and necessary to an extent), but it's more important to be able to solo using chord tones and being able to play through changes using them.
- C- doesn't always imply a m7 chord. Often times they really do just want the triad, but this is dicatated by context moreso than what's on the paper. But yes, it is important to understand chord symbols. Jamie Aebersold has (or did at one point) a downloadable pdf on his site about chord symbols that is really helpful for someone just getting into that stuff
-Chord shapes are good, but understanding harmony at a level beyond shapes and fingerings is better. If you're going to be playing jazz, learn your drop 2 and drop 3 voicings and learn them well
-Unfortunately the rock guys are starting to overrun berklee. I'm saying that half-jokingly, but there is a lot more diversity there than there used to be and they are a lot more acceptant. As a rule of thumb though, don't expect any scholarship money playing anything apart from modern jazz. I wouldn't rule out shredding at a school where Joe Stump teaches
-for someone looking to go to school for jazz, there are better and cheaper schools out there. A lot of people see the Berklee name and develop tunnel vision. Not saying you have, but you'd do well to keep your options open and after looking at all of them you still want to go to Berklee, then more power to you. For $40 grand a year, I advise that you make 200% sure it's what you want.

Another thing that will help a lot is getting the Bill Leavitt "modern method" books 1-3. Working through those diligently and really understanding everything in them (anyone with some decent sight-reading chops can get through any of the books in a day, but really understanding and internalizing that stuff is a different story) will give you a major heads up at any college you go through.

[Smitty]

Nice suggestions.
The University of Miami and North Texas are two other great jazz schools. I'm looking extensively at those, and at Butler and Ball State in my home state, Indiana. The most worth while thing you could do is go to the summer program, which I'm doing this summer, and maybe make a visit. 40 grand a year is too damn much to learn jazz!
smitty

Oh, I have a question for you, person who replied and whos name I forgot.
I want to make this clear-I've heard too many explanations of drop 2 and 3 chord voicings, and many of them are contradicting. I've heard drop 3, 5, and 7, meaning that degree of the chord. I've also heard 2 and 3 being 1st and 2nd inversions. Please make this clear. Thanks man.
smitty

[Meedlyx10]

Both are great schools and if you're only interested in doing Jazz (with some classical too maybe) then I'd reccomend them over berklee any day.

Drop 2 and Drop 3 voicings are much more simple in concept than some people make them out to be. With either one, you simply take a closed position chord (any inversion...and it's most practical to start with any kind of seventh chord without extensions)and drop a note down an octave. For drop 2, you drop the second highest note down and octave, for drop 3 you drop the 3rd highest note down an octave. Worry about any tensions/extensions after you get the basic chord formed. Another common one is Drop 2&4. Following the trend....you drop both the 2nd and 4th highest notes down an octave. These sound really cool, but don't always produce very practical fingerings. Both Drop 2's and Drop 3's are indispensible for comping and drop 2's are a must for chord melody playing. No specific inversion is implied by the term "Drop _", they can be any inversion. Odds are if you play much jazz, then you already know a good deal of the voicings and just didn't know they were called Drop 2's and Drop 3's

[Smitty]

Gotcha. Sounds good man.
smitty

By the way, sorry we hacked your thread!

[linthat22]

Man, no wonder I gave up going there after receiving the package in the mail when I was 18.

[MattyCakes]

university of tennesse also has a really sweet jazz program