Berklee College of Music
The Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music,[6] it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including rock, hip hop, reggae, salsa, heavy metal and bluegrass.[7]
For other uses, see Berkeley College (disambiguation).Since 2012, Berklee College of Music has also operated a campus in Valencia, Spain. In December 2015, Berklee College of Music and the Boston Conservatory agreed to a merger. The combined institution is known as Berklee, with the conservatory becoming The Boston Conservatory at Berklee.[8] Berklee alumni have won 310 Grammy Awards, more than any other college, and 108 Latin Grammy Awards.[9] Other accolades for its alumni include 34 Emmy Awards, seven Tony Awards, eight Academy Awards, and three Saturn Awards.
History[edit]
Schillinger House (1945–1954)[edit]
In 1945, pianist, composer, arranger and MIT graduate Lawrence Berk founded Schillinger House, the precursor to the Berklee School of Music, after quitting his job at Raytheon.[10] Located at 284 Newbury St. in Boston's Back Bay, the school specialized in the Schillinger System of harmony and composition[11] developed by Joseph Schillinger. Berk had studied with Schillinger. Instrumental lessons and a few classes in traditional theory, harmony, and arranging were also offered.[10] At the time of its founding almost all music schools focused on classical music, but Schillinger House offered training in jazz and commercial music for radio, theater, television, and dancing. At first, most students were working professional musicians. Many students were former World War II service members funded through the G.I. Bill. Initial enrollment was fewer than 50 students,[12] but by 1949 there were more than 500 students.[13] In 1954, when the school's curriculum had expanded to include music education classes and more traditional music theory, Berk changed the name to Berklee School of Music, after his 12-year-old son Lee Eliot Berk, to reflect the broader scope of instruction.[14]
Berklee School of Music (1954–1970)[edit]
Lawrence Berk emphasized learning from practitioners, as opposed to academics, and generally hired working musicians as faculty members. Several of the school's best-known musician-educators arrived after the school's name change. In 1956, trumpeter Herb Pomeroy joined the faculty and remained until his retirement in 1996.[15] Drummer Alan Dawson and saxophonist Charlie Mariano became faculty members in 1957.[16] Reed player John LaPorta began teaching in 1962.[17] Like many of Berk's ideas, this practice continues. Although far more emphasis is placed on academic credentials among new faculty hires than in the past, experienced performers such as Gary Burton, Mick Goodrick, Pat Metheny, Arif Mardin, Aydin Esen, Hal Crook, Dave Santoro, Ed Tomassi, Ted Pease, Joe Lovano, and Danilo Perez have served as faculty over the years.
Also during the mid-1950s, the school began to attract more international students. For example, Japanese pianist Toshiko Akiyoshi arrived in 1956.[18] Multiple Grammy-winning producer Arif Mardin came from Turkey to study at the school in 1958.[19]
In 1957, Berklee initiated the use of technology in music education with Jazz in the Classroom, a series of LP recordings of student work, accompanied by scores. These albums contain early examples of composing, arranging, and performing by students who went on to prominent jazz careers, such as Gary Burton, John Abercrombie, John Scofield, Ernie Watts, Alan Broadbent, Sadao Watanabe, and many others. The series, which continued until 1980, was a precursor to subsequent Berklee-affiliated recording labels. These later releases provided learning experiences not only for student composers and performers, but also for students in the new majors in music engineering and production, and music business and management.[20]
Berklee awarded its first bachelor of music degrees in 1966.[21] Members of the first graduating class to receive degrees included Alf Clausen, Stephen Gould and Michael Rendish. Gould taught film scoring at Berklee and became the program director for the Educational Leadership PhD program at Lesley University. During the 1960s, the Berklee curriculum began to reflect new developments in popular music, such the rise of rock and roll, soul and funk, and jazz-rock fusion.[21] In 1962, Berklee offered the first college-level instrumental major for guitar. The guitar department began with nine students, and developed into the largest instrumental major at the college. Guitarist Jack Petersen accepted an invitation by Berk to design and chair the first formal guitar curriculum. Berk discovered Petersen through his affiliation with the Stan Kenton Band Clinics. Trombonist Phil Wilson joined the faculty in 1965.[22] His student ensemble, the Dues Band, helped introduce contemporary popular music into the ensemble curriculum, and later as the Rainbow Band, performed world music and jazz fusions.[22] In 1969, courses in rock and popular music were added to the curriculum, the first to be offered at the college level.[21] The first college course on jingle writing was also offered in 1969.[23]
Academics[edit]
Berklee College of Music is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE).[64] The college stated that it was the first to offer online undergraduate degrees in 2002, and introduced graduate degrees in 2018, starting with programs in music production and music business.[65]
Admission[edit]
Berklee's admission process is holistic; it focuses primarily on an audition, an interview, and on the applicant's academic record.[66]
For the 2017–2018 school year, the acceptance rate for the Berklee College of Music Boston was 33.8%,[67] for the Boston Conservatory it was 38%,[67] and for Berklee Online it was 66%.[67]
From 2014 to 2017, Berklee reported acceptance rates ranging from 28 to 36%. As of fall 2018, Admissions updated its applications reporting to count only paid applications. Previous years' totals includes all partial applications, regardless of status or payment.[67]
Berklee offers three different terms for entering full-time students: the traditional fall semester, spring, and summer. Unlike other colleges, entering students may choose their own entering semester. Typically, the deadlines are November 1 (early action) and January 15 (regular action) for fall semester, July 1 for spring semester, and December 1 for summer semester.
As part of the application to the college, applicants are required to complete a live audition and interview. An integral part of selecting the entering class is the audition and interview experience, designed to show applicants' strengths while helping the school to assess applicants' talent and potential to succeed in Berklee's dynamic environment. Although there is a general format for the audition and interview, each experience is unique. Berklee considers all applicants for both admission and scholarship through the audition and interview process.[68] Starting in 2014, the college will audition some applicants online using high speed internet technology.[69]
Berklee is known for its high cost of attendance, with the yearly undergraduate cost without aid at $73,391.[70] The high cost of attendance has forced many low-income students to quit after the first two semesters, or take out large loans,[71] as the school offers very few merit-based scholarships,[72] and close to no need-based grants.[73]
Demographics[edit]
As of the 2021–2022 academic year,[74] total enrollment at Berklee was 7,943 (7,177 undergraduates and 766 graduates).[75] Among undergraduate students, 42% were female and 58% were male. Among graduate students, 46% were female and 54% were male. 73 students out of the total 7,943 identified as transgender or gender diverse. Students from 97 countries outside the U.S. accounted for approximately 25% of the student population. China, Canada, India, Brazil, and Colombia were the top five countries of origin. In addition to students attending the Berklee campus in Boston, in the 2021–2022 academic year, 1,895 students took online courses through Berklee Online.[37]
