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i am so glad billy said it before i did!!!!!!!


and at the risk of sounding hugely awful and un-PC, i gotta add this: i know many, many people who went to berklee back in the day. they all say the same thing: it is overhyped and not what it was back then. every drummer who comes out of there has the berklee formula sound.

i am not saying they're right, but these are all world-class players who've played with serious jazzers. several of them dropped out of berklee and went on to have nice careers. they got with players who were better than them, put themselves in real playing situations, and graduated from the school of hard knocks.

i think time spent one-on-one with a great teacher can be more beneficial sometimes than going to music college. don't get me wrong--i'd kill to have all day, every day, to devote to musical studies and learn music history and recording techniques. plus there is the camaraderie/competitive aspect which can also be helpful. but i don't think success requires a college degree. and what's more competitive than playing serious gigs with serious players? so many schools work toward rote learning, not building the individual. and in music, so much is about developing your own feel and style.

give it some thought. consider taking a year off, shedding privately with an instructor and making connections with players better than yourself. even if you have to move back home [if that's an option], it can help you get your head and hands together. you can probably even rent a drum studio with the money you save.

you can always go back to school if you really feel it's beneficial.

also--and this requires serious introspection--ask yourself if you can hang. sometimes the pressure becomes too great when our abilities fall short. sometimes we need more time to develop. can't all happen in 4 years. a part of me was relieved when i decided to stop dancing, because even though i was a really, really good dancer, i wasn't a GREAT dancer. and i had to be a GREAT dancer if i was going to succeed in that field. [plus i really hated dancers. they're so friggin' neurotic.


i wound up writing coz i like it better and i'm better at it. dance satisfies my soul self. writing makes me money.