Juilliard?

[Fate0555]

So I always thought of Juilliard as a strictly classical school until I met the mother of a jazz player there! I forgot what he played, but it was something rather obscure like bassoon.
I've always been a classical instrumentalist until a professor (at my junior college) finally let me play tuba in jazz. I can honestly say that I haven't been the same since. It's only been one semester and I already have my first New Orleans style jazz gig this weekend!
So that was a rather roundabout way (sorry!) of saying that I have caught the jazz bug. I have decided that jazz (tuba, flute, and bari sax) is going to be my main focus in my musical career.

TO GET TO THE POINT ALREADY..... Are there possibly any previous posts about Juilliard that anyone can refer me to? Or is there anyone who has gone that is willing to give me a little advice? I can do research, but would also like to hear from someone who has gone. Specifically about the jazz program.

Thank you guys very much!

[Fate0555]

Wow that's embarrassing!

Thank you though!

[royjohn]

While I would never want to discourage someone from aiming high and considering Juilliard, it is certainly not the only place to go for an education in jazz and maybe not even the best place. I would also think that it is rather expensive (living in NYC or nearby certainly would be) compared to some of the other good jazz ed places. My third point is that, from what I have read, Juilliard seems to burn out some students. Take a look at how many who enter actually finish and end up in music as a profession.

IDK where you live. . .at my State University in Tennessee (Knoxville campus) we have at least two nationally known performers in jazz teaching at the School of Music, which just moved into a totally new building. I am not trying to get you to move to Knoxville, just pointing out that there are places that could give you a very good education at a very good price. In Knoxville, our two nationally known performers are pianists, but maybe somewhere near you there is someone who plays jazz tuba or bari sax or flute and teaches at a State University with a killer jazz program. I am assuming that if you are at a junior college now you are not particularly flush with cash, but perhaps I am wrong. The last thing a musician needs is $100K in loans to pay off from an undergrad degree.

[Monstertuba]

Unless something has changed, there is no cross pollination between Jazz and Classical music at the Juilliard School. What that means (or what it did) is that if you're accepted to study on the classical side you do not have the opportunity to study on the Jazz side and visa versa. That being said, if you're in New York in general and at the Juilliard School specifically opportunities abound for taking lessons from top professionals in any discipline.

If you would like the opportunity to study both Jazz and Classical simultaneously, and have the opportunity to participate in both jazz and classical ensembles sponsored by the school, Juilliard is not the place for you.

If you think that by the virtue of a degree from Juilliard or by studying with a certain teacher at Juilliard you will be a successful musician, Juilliard is not the place for you.

If you would like to work your a$$ off at a place that can offer you one of the best musical educations in the world, offered by some of the best teachers and performers in the world, while sitting next to other highly talented musicians who are also working extremely hard and who also understand that hard work is the most important ingredient to their future success as a musician, then Juilliard represents one of the best atmospheres in the world for such work. There are other atmospheres as well. The guy working his butt off at Poe-Dunk State U will likely beat out the guy at (insert big name music school) who plays video games all day.

Not suggesting that atmosphere is not important, but it pales in comparison to passion and hard work in the ultimate success of a musician. Seek out the best atmosphere you can find that is able to teach you to become what you want to become, then go work like you've never worked before.