It’s not your average band camp! Summer students and staff take you behind the beach umbrellas and ice cream cones to see musicians get their first taste of the Berklee experience.
The Five-Week Summer Performance Program is in full swing! Students from across the country are continuing to make progress in their writing workshops, jam sessions, ensemble rehearsals and other enriching program activities.
With so much going on, its hard for the staff – even the students – to keep up, but we managed to catch some of the past weeks events on camera.
On Monday night Jennifer Carino, Denisse Torres, Elle Gomes and Jennifer Aldana, all recent graduates of Boston area High Schools and City Music Scholars Program sang the National Anthem at Fenway Park before the first pitch of the Red Sox vs KC Royals game (video).
Recording session from the 2010 Video Game Sound and Music Workshop at Berklee (photo by Phil Farnsworth)
Why spend your summer playing video games when you can learn to write music for them? Video game music has really taken off around here in the last few years—you can even minor in the subject now. This week, for the first time, Berklee is offering not one but two summer programs for aspiring video game composers. We caught up with faculty member Michael Sweet before students arrived.
- What video game summer programs is Berklee offering?
It’s official! Summer programs are officially underway at the Berklee College of Music here in Boston, and the Five-Week scholarship students have arrived. Some are returning participants, but many are taking in all that Berklee has to offer during the summer months for the very first time.
We were fortunate enough to receive word from different affiliate sites within the Berklee City Music Network, that some of our full scholarship students had recently been featured on various news stations in their local areas.
Congratulations, Five-Week Scholars! We trust that you will all enjoy Boston and continue to allow the gift of music to enrich your life as well as the lives of others.
Coming to you Wednesday afternoon from the Mark O’Connor/Berklee Summer String Program… fiddle cases are everywhere!
Fiddler Dan Carwile is so detail-oriented he has a spreadsheet ranking brands of rosin. He told a dozen students he wanted them to learn past masters’ fiddle tunes so well that they could name every lick they stole. “I’m a fossil,” he said. But not a fogey: “I like to go for something different every time… it’s controlled improvisation.”
The program’s “contest-style” or “Texas-style” teacher, Dan ran the class through a classic fiddle breakdown and shared tips from his experiences judging (among other competitions) the National Oldtime Fiddler’s Contest and Festival in Weiser, Idaho. That’s “Weiser,” pronounced “weezer,” to insiders.
Please imagine this all in a soft Alabama drawl. Read More »
Andrew Riezebeek, a guitarist from the Netherlands, attended the Five-Week Performance Program on-campus at Berklee this past summer. In this post, he describes his experience, and what he’s gained in his second year attending the program.
Andrew Riezebeek, Photo by Shelly Booth
I have just completed the Five-Week Performance Program for the second time, and let me tell you, It was another crazy experience! This Five-Week proved once more that Berklee is the place where I need to be. It is the place that will help me reach my ultimate goals as a musician, and help get me where I want to go within the music industry. I have been part of great moments during this year’s Five-Week Program and those moments will never be forgotten.
I was a bit skeptical at first. I was actually more nervous than last year. I was scared that this year would not be able to top last year’s Five-Week. I asked myself, “Would I meet people as nice as the people I met last year? Will I learn as much? Will my teachers be as cool?” I was worried with all these questions. Now, looking back on my experiences, all these questions came out with super positive answers and even more!
The Five-Week Summer Performance Program is in full swing! Students from across the country are continuing to make progress in their writing workshops, jam sessions, ensemble rehearsals and other enriching program activities.
