Final Decision

[palmerlouie]

This is a long story, so i wont bore you all with the finer details, but after a lot of thought, and a lot of advice from all sorts of people.....i pulled out of berklee.

Ive been home for about 2 weeks now and im pretty happy with my decision. it was certainly the hardest i have had to make yet.

Berklee just wasnt for me. Had nothing to do with homesickness or being in a foreign country or not being to "hack it".....it was just a daily slog and struggle to get anything done and a fight to play any music....yet i was at music college!

the practice facilities were very bad in my opinion. they had one building with 18 rooms with pearl exports in. nothing wrong with pearl exports and they were in perfect working order....but to have an 18 room building as the main practice facility for over 1500 drummers is crazy.

i went down there during orientation week, before it was busy, and took my double pedal and some cymbals i wanted to try out. i was then met with some speech about how its against the rules to bring ANY outside equipment in. so i ask what im supposed to do as im a double pedal player and my routine revolves around using one. i was told that 2 of the rooms had double pedals....these happened to be available so i took one of the rooms.

the double pedal was useless. such an old and basic model that the beater angle couldnt be adjusted and the beaters kept flying back and hitting my feet....all the screws were missing....just terrible. perhaps OK to get by on a gig with, sure, but to practice everyday on....and hope that one of those 2 rooms was available was madness. after term began....then came the queues. i went down about 6 or 7 times in one day just to make sure i wasnt coming down at "rush hour" or something....and everytime there were rows of ID cards on the table....queueing for rooms.

there was also about 10 or so rooms in another building which were empty so one could set up their own equipment. i did this several times and it ended up being the only practice i did. because i was a "1st semester" student i got the shit locker miles away from the rooms (even tho good lockers were available!) so this was quite a marathon. but these rooms had huge doors that opened INWARDS! where is the logic??! so hardly anything could fit in there. all i need to practice on is a bass drum, snare, hats and ride....yet this would hardly fit in. both these rooms and the rooms with the pearls in were TINY. because i tilt my bass drum slightly and sit a little farther back...i was touching the walls.

they both had no air ventilation, so i had to go and buy a fan, i liked using my laptop to practice so that would be placed on the music stand, therefore leaving nowhere to put the music!! etc etc. so the stuff i had to take and do to practice was a joke. and the best way to practice is to do several 1 or 2 hr sessions throughout the day....for me this was just not possible. the 5 or 6 times i did practice i had to set asside 4 or 5 hrs....set my stuff up and practice and take short breaks.

there was one other facility about a 15 min subway ride away which i kept being told was "amazing" and "unbeliveable". all it was was the same tiny rooms with old DW kits in....and like i said practicing 2 or 3 times a day was a no-no here too, due to the long journey and cost!

i know that music college is a community, and sacrifices have to be made and its not like practicing at home whenever and however you want.....but this, for me, was no good. for me, esp. at this stage, practicing is like eating, its part of my day and it cannot be messed with. most of the drummers there werent doing any flippin practice anyway....they were just bashing the same f***ing beats all day long.

ANYWAY....thats just the practcing side. (oh btw, i did try to rent a practice space outside school, but no space and $500 per month!). next came the fact that there was little to no performing on the course. i had one band per week which was cancelled 3 times and it was just a covers band. it was like an r'n'b band doing steve wonder covers etc.....good musicians and would have been a fun band for sure....but i could play in a covers band ANYwhere in the world....and get PAID for it, rather than paying the school! and the rest was all classroom stuff.....which of course i knew id be doing....but there was no balance with playing. and if i wanted to add another band it was like "that'll be another $600 please sir"!!!!

the advice i got from people at the college was that everyone's first year is kinda shit, and its not until ur 2nd or 3rd when u start customising ur timetable and then u could add lots of bands and be playing a lot more. but i dont see why i should pay and sit thru a "shit" year and pay to wait around until it gets good.

the other thing was the jamming with people. i did so with a few in their apartments. but can u imagine at MUSIC SCHOOL how many times the phrase "du wanna jam man" is said in one day. countless. so why then, when a bass player says to me "lets jam today" am i confronted by a guy at the front desk who, when i ask for a room, looks at me like ive just asked to see his dick. he says "no way man, all the rooms are gone. u have to queque up at 8:30 in the morning to TRY and get a room!!! mad.

so anyway, after A LOT of thinking it simply works out that im better off in london. im mean its not as if i live in pakistan....i live in LONDON. a great city. i can drive, i have contacts, i can gig etc etc. all i need is more experience gigging and being thrown in the deep end....and justlearning on the job.

even mike mangini said i had made the right decision. he never actually saw me play properly, yet said he knew what type of player i was and what my mind set is and he just said go home. berklee is better for people why play an instrument, averagely or badly, get in doing that, then study something totally random like music therapy.

so although its kind of a ridiculous situation and there was such a build up to going....i feel good that its now out of my system and i can get on with forging a career here and practicing and just PLAYING.

Berklee is a good school, dont get me wrong. their core music curriculum and system is very good i think and the whole point of going really, is to do the 4 yrs and complete the course,.....if u did that u would come out a GREAT musician in terms of career choices and knowledge. but they are SOOO over subscribed. even the percussion department guy told me that.......as soon as they fix a door handle or something....they let another 500 people in!!

so anyway, im back....again! and well...thats it! looks like i did bore u with the finer details,...oh well.

just thought id let u guys know the story. thanks to all the people who expressed interest in my journey and offered support. much appreciated.

Louie

[benrand]

I had the same experience JT.

Go to school study something useful and jam. That life isn't too bad for a young guy.

[quitou]

I think you probably did the right thing Louie...no point in staying at Berklee if you weren't enjoying it.

[PocketPlayer]

bump below [img]confused.gif[/img]

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ October 29, 2004 07:02 PM: Message edited by: PocketPlayer ]</font>

[PocketPlayer]

The educational paradigm has shifted big time in the past ten years. Berklee, as many other "schools", have benefited from a once stellar reputation. Today, however, mainly due to the internet and the mass marketing of instructional materials (I could get the main freshman courses from Harvard on-line--yes, it's not like going to Harvard, but...) a motivated learner can excel in lands once forbidden to only a few. This is a radical shift from years gone by where it was the sacred privileged of a few chosen ones to be on the "inside" of a facility.

Like T-Bo said, if you want a general education, get one and specialize. Or, just specialize and use your $$ for private lessons with a great player/ teacher. You might also privately conduct your own survey of those who attended such schools and see what they got out of it.

I enjoyed the Abe Jr Berklee story. See his MD cover for the article.

Just a thot!

[Clintuplet]

Louie,
Given your recognition in various UK drum mags, you were on your way to becoming not only a 'name' player but certainly a more experienced one the route you were going. Good luck and keep up the great playing.

[skunkfunk]

It's good to hear that you're happy with your decision.

[Klemme]

You obiously did the right thing. I had a very illusionized view of Berklee until you started writing home about it. It did really made me re-consider going there.

You did the right thing man. I'm sure you will have a shitload of gigs in London soon!

However, don't be afraid trying new institutions again. I'm sure that there are some colleges and universities that suits you much better than Berklee.

[shedder]

memories.

[jonthibault]

Dude, you should just go to a regular school and study music. Man, when I was in college, I practiced in a private little music room at least an hour a day, and I took private lessons from a faculty member, and I was a psychology major!