Berklee in LA Summer Program 2004
by Shannon Kennedy
This last summer, summer 2004, I went to the Berklee in LA Summer
Program. As far as this camp went, I thought it was a little lame and very
anticlimactic in comparison to the Aebersold camp I had just come from.
There were way too many guitar player rock-heads for my taste. In one of
the jazz combos I was in, there were three guitar players and me. Plus,
because most guitar players cannot read music (no offense), the classes
had to be taught to the lowest denominator and therefore, I was bored
quite often.
My theory class was nothing but a bunch of bass players noodling over
blues, and I have a lot of training in theory, so I was not at all impressed.
However, when I asked my combo teachers to personally help me out and
give me a lesson or two, they were very willing and when I sought it
independently, I learned a lot.
Another thing that was kind of annoying about the camp was that we could
not practice. We stayed in a hotel and were not allowed to practice in our
rooms, so we could not practice the new concepts that we had learned
that day.
There were jam sessions every night, and there weren't very many
opportunities to hear the faculty perform except at dinner every night.
I think the camp could be good depending on what you are looking for, or if
you are a guitar player. If you are looking for experience and fun - go for it.
If you are going for the education, don't worry about unless you are willing
to take some time on your own to seek it out while you are there.
