Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2023 7:47:15 GMT -6
I'll just add one comment here. I went to Berklee and graduated in 1977. I'd already been playing clubs up and down the East coast for years, but realized I needed to increase my skill level as well as my options. It turned out differently than I thought, but in a good way. Despite my time on the road, clubs are clubs and it doesn't take long to learn all you're going to learn inside them. There was still a lot of small-town boy in me when I got to Boston. Man, oh man, were my eyes opened! There were so many cultures to learn from: Italian, Irish, Jewish, Greek, Japanese, Peurto Rican, and on and on. You could find free concerts just about every day of the week. You could go to ball games in Fenway Park. You could enjoy the yearly hacks that MIT students pulled.
I went into Berklee as a journeyman guitarist who knew there was something more. I came out on a completely different musical path. Part of that was understanding and supportive teachers and part of it was living in the active cultural life of one of America's first cities. It's been nearly a half-century since then and the school has changed for sure. Some of my musical friends have been faculty there for a long time. I don't know Belmont at all, so I can't draw a direct comparison. But there's something to be said about being at a dynamic school in an even more dynamic city.
I'll just offer one word of caution: Boston can be a tough town and has its temptations like any large city. I was a little older when I went there and that helped me keep some focus. But it opened my eyes to possibilities I didn't know existed. There are great contacts to be made and friendships to build.
I went into Berklee as a journeyman guitarist who knew there was something more. I came out on a completely different musical path. Part of that was understanding and supportive teachers and part of it was living in the active cultural life of one of America's first cities. It's been nearly a half-century since then and the school has changed for sure. Some of my musical friends have been faculty there for a long time. I don't know Belmont at all, so I can't draw a direct comparison. But there's something to be said about being at a dynamic school in an even more dynamic city.
I'll just offer one word of caution: Boston can be a tough town and has its temptations like any large city. I was a little older when I went there and that helped me keep some focus. But it opened my eyes to possibilities I didn't know existed. There are great contacts to be made and friendships to build.