CCM

[Paul S]

CCM- also Concrete, Construction and Music

Do not let the outside appearances and location of the campus knock your impressions of the program though.

I attended UC & CCM back in the late 1970s-early 1980s prior to Mr Northcutt and have an Associate, Bachelors, and Post-graduate degrees from CCM and OCAS in the University of Cincinnati system. I worked for UC & CCM first as a student employee in the Physical Plant to earn money for tuition and then as a part time instructor after I graduated.

Simply put, I made the right choice and loved being there. The faculty was and is first rate throughout, the ensembles, practice and performance venues are superb and you are in city with a great amount heritage and arts to be found easily.

CCM is part of the entire UC campus. You can lock yourself away there a bit but I would say it would be Very hard to do that so I will comment on UC in general as well.

I was raised on a farm with the nearest neighbors a mile away in a very non-ethnically diverse area with a high school graduating class of 225. UC is an extremely dense packed campus, quite diverse in its students and my first Biology classroom had more students in it than every grade level in my entire High School combined. There were some areas around campus that might not be the best to be alone in the middle of the night but that is true of most cities. Sitting in the park in Kentucky across from downtown and watching paddle wheelers far offsets much of the bad.

I understand that UC is working to really change the lay of the land around campus but until that time you will see a lot of construction work, a lot of less than pretty neighborhoods, and not many green areas in the close campus area. The part of town is called Clifton and is one of the hills of Cincinnati overlooking downtown and the Ohio River. As an aside, I lived under the radio tower featured in the opening segment of the WKRP in Cincinnati TV shows. That image shows where the campus is positioned.

Once you are inside CCM you will notice that the acoustics throughout, the cleanliness of the practice room and class rooms and the quality of the other musicians around you is where the school shines. I have been to schools with pretty campuses and less than stellar interiors and that always makes me even more impressed with what I had at UC.

The last thing I will say about UC is that when I look up old friends from my classes there I find a LOT of extremely accomplished composers, working conductors of well respected orchestras and wind ensembles and department heads of university music schools. That is the best testament I think a university can offer.

[andrew c oppenheim]

While studying at ASU I lived with Tim for a year. In addition to being a GREAT guy, I learned as much from him (he was very generous with his time/instruction/knowledge) as I did from my lessons with Mr P (albeit I spent significantly more time with Tim). I reccomend, wholeheartedly, taking advantage of an opportunity to study with him. I hold my current position in large part because of knowledge passed on to me from Tim.
Andrew Oppenheim

[Tom Holtz]

I've heard his students in auditions. Northcutt gets results.

[Thomas Maurice Booth]

Tim is very committed to getting to know his students and their families before they come to CCM. He goes out of his way to make you feel welcome when you come to visit, and makes sure that you feel comfortable about your college choice. I am very happy I made the decision to come study with Tim, not only is he a teacher but also a friend.

[WoodSheddin]

I've heard his students in auditions. Northcutt gets results.

Bingo. The school also has great scholarship money for grad students. CCM is not only turning out great tuba players either. Many students on other instruments are getting gigs out of that school. I would put CCM on your short list.