Oh btw. What's the initial costs of a year there?
Man....Latim you make we wanna pack everything and book a ticket for LA tommorow! You're at great storyteller, if you're that good at telling stories in solo's too, i need to hear some of your recordings!
Thanks alot for the insight!
Oh btw. What's the initial costs of a year there?
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">This is from the site:Originally posted by Klemme:
Oh btw. What's the initial costs of a year there?
"LA Music Academy offers three course lengths. Of course, we recommend that all students attend for one year (40-week) to gain the most benefit from our curriculum.
Course Length Fees
40-week $13,000
20-week $7,250
10-week $4,200"
<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ November 25, 2004 08:38 PM: Message edited by: Suspiria ]</font>
I'd like to add that the same type of program is offered at The Collective in NYC (ex-Drummers Collective). I only have good words for this place and highly recommend it. The time I spent there was the best of my life.
It's not just a drum school anymore, they teach bass, guitar, keys plus they're matched with the SOJ jazz center in the same building for the ensembles. Teachers are top and active pros. Dunno if it changed since but the school didn't take many students at the same time. We were 5 in the Rhythm section, bass+drums, Studio drumming and World rhythms classes. So you can't hide and YOU WILL PLAY. You're really followed and kicked in the butt. They have listening classes, advanced concepts classes (taught by Kim Plainfield, awesome course for a fusion drummer) and now all the harmony, ear training, reading, and so on.
Practice time was a min. 3-hours/day, but I shedded 6-8 hours a day or more if I wanted. Practice rooms are large with A/C and drumsets were top of the line Yams, Pearls and Sonors with plenty of cymbals and pedals (I think the school is probably sponsored by drum companies). They were tuned to perfection and maintained everyday (there was a piano black Yam RC donated by Steve Gadd that sounded fantastic). SOJ was always in need for drummers so you got to play a lot if you want and meet people. There are clinics and master classes every week with top guys like S. Smith who happen to be in town.
And you're in NYC! with jazz clubs eveywhere (I saw Joe Morello, Kenny Washington, Bernard Purdie in clubs with no cover charge) and teachers will invite you to their gigs.
I was admitted at Berklee and PIT also for intensive programs like this but I received only negative comments on these 2 places (basically it was: too many students for the facilities they had). Collective had only positive comments and I chose it.
So it's another place you should consider IMO along with LAMA which looks like a great place also.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Well you need to audition to get into LAMA. From what I understand they accept players at various levels, which is nice.Originally posted by GoMan:
Someday id really like to go to music school. Ive been playing a little under 2 years but I m already 19.... I really love drumming and practice about 2,3 hours per day and when I have the time maybe 4 hours... but I live in Hawaii so the standards are low here so I cant tell how good everyone else is outside....
How good do you have to be to go to school and make it worthwhile? Like looking at this LA Music Academy, it looks really good but how good would you have to be to make the studying worth it. If Im going, obviously I want to be the best I can be already but I dont want to be a joke.
Part of the audition is playing some charts which you can find on their site, they are not too demanding but theres definately a minimum standard. It would seem that an important preparation would be to "learn" how to practice 6-8 hours every day. If you havent done that, youll be in shock once you get there. Remember, once you graduate you are considered a professional musician.
EDIT: Another amazing post latim. Thanks so much for your insight. This was so informative I feel like I only need to go their now and get to know the atmosphere and the faculty. This is really appreciated!
<font color="#a62a2a"><font size="1">[ November 25, 2004 12:12 PM: Message edited by: Suspiria ]</font></font>
<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ November 25, 2004 12:14 PM: Message edited by: Suspiria ]</font>
Sup again fellas!
As I woke up this morning, I just remembered that I left out a few things as I mentioned in the bottom of my past two posts.
Promo video: http://lamusicacademy.com/contactUs.asp#
You'll be getting this video from Iris. If you haven't already spoke to her over the phone, this lady will become on of your best friends who'll swim the Atlantic Ocean for you and back!
Instructors: You'll be surprised how down-to-earth and available most of the teachers are here. Even if you have personal matters that affect your studies at school, some of them will be a warm shoulder to cry on. During our welcoming party, Frank Gambale even came up to jam with the party band. How cool is that?
Graduate program: If you're an international student that can't bear to leave the sunny state of California, you can apply for this extended program in order to utilize the drum labs and get private instruction from one of the staff. For those of you who are highly skilled and possess more than great facility, Ralph also teaches a few students selectively.
Gig opportunities: If you're a complete machine in soaking up everything the school throws out at you and are willing to take on additional projects outside of class, there are plenty of clubs in town and in LA/Hollywood to network with other musicians and exposure in this super-saturated city. Don't fear though, there is still plenty of work and opportunities as long as you're a persistent and hungry seeker. In this industry, your best bet is to stay humble in the knowledge and experience gained, and tossing any ego out of your system like a bad batch of cookies. You'll get more friends and work that way. Trust me!
Online Resources: www.musicianscontact.com Sterling's website is a great tool for finding work.
Other sites include www.craiglist.com
http://recycler.com/asp/Class.asp?iC=45
http://www.musicconnection.com/mccla...classmain.lcgi
EW's: Ensemble Workshops. Like many of you mentioned, is run throughout the year with pro cats from the surrounding area. The duration of the EW sessions go down from 1.5 hours to 1 hour or 45 minutes towards the latter phases based on time survey averages and class downsizing. Usually, there are always a few people in the class that only attend LAMA for 1 or two phases. Regardless, if you are quick to volunteer yourself early in the ew session and become the guinea pig for a completely foreign chart that the instructors bring into class, you'll always end up playing. There is a good likelihood that you'll crash and burn in the odd-meter tunes such as Mamacita or 15 candles (tune by Ralph and the Outsidemen staff from MI)unless you breathe and eat odd-meters for breakfast. The advantage to volunteering later will be the better retention and understanding of the song form to play freely instead of burying your head in the chart.
Music Charts: Along with all the great charts handed out during the ew's, you can also keep all the charts you select from your 3-horn and big band sessions. The 3-horn and big band are offered to you as an outlet to play with a horn section that most bands out in the real world can't afford. PLEASE take full advantage of it as you're already paying a good chunk of money to attend this school. I found my particular class to be a bit on the apathetic side and not quick to sign up for playing tunes with the horn section. You may ask yourself 'How could that be?' Yes, more and more today than a decade ago, this generation of musicians are becoming less focused on crafting their artistry and quicker to find the easy way out or dreaming of the impossible high-dollar record deal. I ended up taking two to four big band charts each week during the 3rd and 4th phase. Keep these charts in a 3-ring binder encased in the plastic sleeves and bring them out again on a rainy day.
Metronome: The two standards these days are the Boss DB-88 and the Tama RW 105. I personally use and prefer the Boss clicker because of the more versatile variation in time-keeping and user-friendly interface. It's also mountable on a small-threaded cymbal stand unless you find a conversion kit using a regular cymbal stand. I'm sure it's going to open up a whole can o' worms to discuss the amount of time to use metronomes versus practicing without them. It's always wise to use them as a barometer for where your internal time is beating. Don't use them so profusely where it becomes your crutch as you find yourself not being able to keep good time off the clicker. As the foundation of the band, we are responsible for being stewards of great time. This will always be something I'll be sweating and bleeding to achieve in my lifetime.
Grading: Like a regular school system, this accredited school is run on a grading system with letter and number averages based on test scores of two phases. There are two phases (I forget which two) which don't calculate scores, but give you an assessment of your progress of the record. Your first comprehensive exam will be graded by your private instructor as you are notified on the general areas to prepare for. If you stick around for the entire year (I highly recommend it if you can finance or pay for it), you'll be tested by the drum panel (Ralph, Mike Packer, Mike Shapiro, Joe, and Tony) on the summation of everything you've soaked up through the year including your own designed 32-bar solo before a standard tune with pros, playing techniques (observed through your playing with pros), sight-reading (chart handed out by Mike Packer), odd-meter tune (selected by Ralph), playing along to a big-band tune on CD or tape with chart, and Latin test (Shapiro's choice on the fly from Brazillian or Afro-Cuban) with pros. This cumulative test runs 15 minutes long.
You may question why the school goes on a grading system. Your life in the real world as a session drummer won't depend on the grades received at LAMA. However, it's a good way to objectively assess your personal growth from where you start as well as spark a healthy competitive way of keeping you on your toes at all times to take your level of playing to that next level you always said you were going to achieve but never quite did. (Can we say run-on sentence here?!!? Haha!)
Again, this doesn't do justice for what you'll experience hands-on for the year. Just find out for yourself how your time will be well worth spent in Pasadena, California!
Latim:
Hey, is Jimmy Mahlis a guitar player? I think it must be the same person i am thinking of because his brother lives up in Seattle and teaches at a place i've done time at. If you know him, ask him if he has a brother named Larry who is a drummer... just curious about if it is that small of a world...
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