Where shall I goto school?

[swingintrpt]

Well, I'm 20, I live in So. Cal., and I've been playing trumpet for half my life. I've spent the last two years floating around the local JCs and the State University system, and I've come to the conclusion that is I want to be a serious player then I need to goto a serious school. I want to focus on classical ensemble work, but I also want a decent background in commercial/jazz music. My current strong points are my upper register, my sight reading, and my picc playing. I've narrowed my choices down to, in roughly west to east order:

1. USC
2. Oberlin
3. Eastman
4. Manhattan S. M.

Any input would be thoroughly appreciated, especially from current students of the institutaions, alumni, or faculty. Additionally, any thoughts on audition rep. would be cool. Thanks in advance for all your great advice!

Ryan

[ This Message was edited by: swingintrpt on 2003-04-21 03:02 ]

[adamcz]

Those are all great schools, but depending on how seriously you want to supplement your classical playing with jazz, I would reccomend going to school in the city. I visited Eastman when I was checking out grad schools, and I couldn't believe how weak the scene in Rochester was, considering it's reasonable population. Also, the players there weren't at the level they are at some other schools (although the faculty is great). In the end, I wasn't interested in applying. I've heard, but don't know first hand, that there is a similar situation at Oberlin. I'm sure you have your reasons for narrowing it down to those schools, but I want to point out that NEC and Julliard are also strong schools for classical and jazz. I'm doing my MM at Manhattan right now if you have any specific questions about the school; I'm pretty happy with it so far, as year 1 comes to a close.