It’s about starting over . com

This is the long awaited blog post. I’ve officially announced that I’ve been accepted to The Berklee College of Music in Boston (Hallelujah!) but the oft’ asked question is, “did they give you a scholarship?”

This year, around 7,000 budding musicians auditioned around the world to attend Berklee . Each one was considered for a scholarship that’s based solely on talent at first. Once a few are selected as being worthy, they then must prove financial need. The need is the final determining factor.

Out of the 7,000 (I hope I remember these numbers correctly), 30% were considered talented enough to be considered in the first round. That’s around 2,100 people. Out of these, 70% are weeded out in the second round. That leaves 630. This is the final selection group. I don’t remember the percentage that actually gets selected for some type of offer of talent-based scholarship, but it’s small. The top, most coveted scholarship, the Presidential Scholarship (covers all cost of attendence) is usually offered to only around 7 to 10 of the original 7,000. What’s that, 1/10th of 1%?

Oh, and BTW, the entire student body of Berklee at any given time numbers around 4,000. Yup, a LOT of people are turned away each year.

Scholarship selection process: What is talent?

So, I recently asked someone who is involved in the selection process exactly how this works. I was told that people are grouped into categories based on their main instrument. So all singers are in the vocal group, guitar players in the… well, you get it. Then, within each group, the most talented are identified. Then, the most talented from each group are compared to those from the other groups.

What is talent anyway? Continue Reading »

Waiting for Berklee! 

Answers will be coming in from the Berklee College of Music on January 31st. I just received an email confirmation of the date. Since my December 9th audition, I’ve been waiting and pretending that I’m not. Not an easy thing to do, especially since I like to envision long-term goals. It’s hard to plan ahead when you’re waiting for an answer on something like this.

I do, however spend a lot of time saying things like, “No, not yet, not until January 31st…” and, “I’ll let you know as soon as I know,” and, “….if all goes well…”

So, if all does go well, I’ll have to wait another two weeks after the 31st to receive their decision about a scholarship.

Meanwhile, Et al has signed on for the Spring Jacob’s Ladder Folk Festival! And I’m plugging away at my studies at Rimon–the end of the semester is just around the corner, and mid-term finals are coming up. Second semester is going to be a busy one. But before that, January 28th brings another Ray Scudero memorial concert at the Tzora Folk Club.

Keep the good wishes and prayers going up! And yes, I’ll let you all know as soon as I know!

Those of you who know me know that I’ve been planning to audition to attend the Berklee College of Music in Boston for some years. Actually, it was in my thoughts from the moment I learned about the articulation agreement that Berklee has with the Rimon School, which I’ve already attended for three years.

How does it work?

For the curious–it works like this. The Berklee College, not to be confused with any of the colleges or universities in Berkeley California, has an articulation agreement with what are called BIN schools around the world. The agreement works like this (in a nutshell): you take certain courses at the BIN school and, as long as you get a grade of B or better in each one, you can transfer those credits (and yourself) to Berklee. Once you’ve completed the required courses, you’re in. You don’t need to be accepted because, by virtue of the fact that you’ve completed these courses at the BIN school, you’re in.

What’s the catch? Really folks, there isn’t one. A word or two about studying at the Rimon School though–I’ll tell you right now that it’s pretty easy to get in, as long as you possess a modicum of talent, but it’s not at all easy to stay in. It’s hard work and the less educated you are in music theory, the harder it is. I came in with nothing behind me and it’s been a real uphill battle, but one I adore. I adore the challenge, the hard work, and most of all, the results.

Why did I audition?

So, back to the Berklee thing. Everyone who applies to attend Berklee, BIN transfer students included, must audition. The purpose of the audition is twofold. First, it’s for placement. They test you in various areas and your placement in classes at Berklee is based on the results. The second and, for me, more important purpose is for possible scholarships. Without a substantial scholarship, I cannot attend.

Is there much competition or is a scholarship a sure thing?

Hmmmm, well, the competition is pretty tough. Now, I think that Rimon is one of the smaller schools in which auditions are held. They were scheduled back-to-back, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. over a two-day period with a one-hour lunch break in the middle. Each audition was supposed to last only 15 minutes. So, that means 4 musicians per hour, 7 hours each day, two days: that’s 56 musicians auditioning at Rimon. Oh, and this is called, “The World Scholarship Tour.” They’ll be auditioning musicians at multiple locations around the world. That’s a lot of competition! And believe me, Berklee is one of the best music schools on the earth so a lot of people want to get in.

How many people will be granted full scholarships? Not many. I think it’s something like seven to ten. You can read about it here.

So, how’d it go already?

Okay, I’ve gotten so many emails asking how the audition went! I promised I would post about it, so here it goes. It was Continue Reading »