View Full Version : Mandolin in college?
tater71
Jan-25-2007, 2:15pm
Do any colleges or universities offer mandolin performance majors? or any mandolin degree?
melodicdreams
Jan-25-2007, 5:18pm
You can go to Berklee College of Music in Boston with mandolin as your primary instrument. They offer a slew of different majors including performance, composition, jazz composition, film scoring, songwriting, music synth, music production & engineering, professional music, and a few more I can't remember.
tater71
Jan-26-2007, 11:15am
Do you think I could use it as my primary instrument in theory/composition at most schools?
Most schools (correctly IMHO) want a strong piano background for their composers, however, I would assume that there are some "mando-friendly" schools around -- even if they don't offer mandolin as a major.
For example, at the Boston Conservatory we don't have mandolin as a major but we have three mandolinists on the faculty --both of our guitar professors and one of our theory profs (me). We have composition majors whose primary performing mediums are piano, flute, percussion, voice etc.
I am sure that we would accept a mandolinist as a comp. major -- and I'm sure many other schools would as well.
Jim Rowland
Jan-26-2007, 4:36pm
Joe Walsh,(Joy Kills Sorrow)whose tone and touch are so exquisite, was the first Mandolin major at Berklee.
Jim
Yellowmandolin
Jan-26-2007, 5:50pm
Denison University in Granville, Ohio is very friendly toward our kind. Their bluegrass program and great musical faculty are the only reasons I applied. We'll see if they let me in, and then decide to throw buckets of money my way to cover the $42K tuition! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif
cooper4205
Jan-26-2007, 6:37pm
your in tennessee so check out ETSU. it's the only school with an entire course curriculum dedicated to studying and performing bluegrass music (right now its a minor, but it will soon be a major course of study). they offer music theory and theory for acoustic players. there are also private instructors (the faculty which have played with everyobe to the osbornes, bill monroe, jim & jessee, lonesome standard time) that give you lessons from beginner to performance level (jack tottle teaches in the fall, and founded the program to boot).
the students are required to perform in school bands and they really give you alot of freedom on how you want to develop your approach to playing the mandolin and to bluegrass. there are also a number of people in the program who can (and do) play on a proffesional level.
the bluegrass program also offers alot of ethnomusicology classes that really help you understand the various influences and history of bluegrass, country and old-time music.
heck adam steffey is an alum, and from what i hear he worked really hard to learn as much as he could while he was there (you can tell, too)
hope that gives you an idea. i know nothing about berklee (other than its reputation) or south plains, but if you pick the one that seems to have the best fit for you, then you won't go wrong.
jmcgann
Jan-26-2007, 6:44pm
We have 6 full time mandolin principal students at Berklee now (the program was just announced last year) plus many doublers who are guitar and violin principals; it will grow from here. It is a great batch of people from all over the country; hopefully we will have some international mando players soon (the school is about 22% international at this time, which is wonderful)...
Santiago
Jan-28-2007, 11:37am
John, If I was 30 years younger, I'd be signing up! Wish I was exposed to mandolin music at a younger age.
Laura Leder
Jan-28-2007, 5:37pm
Cool Mandolin Company (http://www.coolmandolin.com)
Hi, everyone,
This topic is dear to me so
I just wanted to take the opportunity to say "hi" and introduce myself.
I started a company, Cool Mandolin Company, last year with the primary goal of raising money for mandolin scholarship funding. Bruce Weber & I have partnered together to provide yearly scholarships. Bruce will be donating a Weber Yellowstone mandolin to me on a yearly basis.
100% of the proceeds from the sale of the mandolin will go towards scholarships. Neither Bruce nor I will make a cent on this...it's purely philanthropic. We hope Berklee College of Music in Boston will be a major recipient.
At present, the mandolin for sale is listed on the Cool Mandolin Company website, on the Weber website and in the Mandolin Cafe classifieds.
If you know anyone that is looking for a beautiful mandolin, PLEASE let them know.
We're really excited about the program.
Thanks, everyone.
Laura