For you, music is not a hobby; it is going to be your career.

	STRING DEPARTMENT • Careers in Performance • Courses • Faculty • Handbook • Summer Programs
	SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT In spring of 2006, Berklee's String Department expanded its curriculum to offer the acoustic string principal. Now Berklee students whose primary instruments are banjo or mandolin can receive individualized instruction on those instruments as they pursue full-time music studies at the college. Accepted students will study banjo with Dave Hollender and mandolin with John McGann. Learn more about the acoustic string principal in the Dec. 28, 2005, edition of the Boston Globe.

We know how your instrument fits into today's music world, and we give it the respect it deserves. We know that the string player is not just a sideperson anymore, but a powerful musical leader, and that string instruments are extremely flexible and expressive, effective in any musical style. Studying at a school that offers you a variety of musical styles is the most important way for you to take your playing and turn it into a career.

Studying Strings at Berklee

At Berklee, you will find your own voice and develop your own style. You will not be limited to one direction. We encourage you to experiment with other styles that interest you, so that you can challenge yourself, improve your skills, and develop your instrumental craft. We will help you to become a string player with a strong musical identity.

Berklee prepares you for today's music by building on traditional aspects of learning. In all instruction offered in the String Department, emphasis is placed on achieving a solid foundation in the standard technical challenges of professional performance, including scales and etudes as well as harmonic materials, contemporary scales, and arpeggio patterns and exercises played through all 12 keys.

Private Lesson

In your first week at Berklee, you will be given a placement audition by a String Department faculty member, and the chair of the department will match you with the teacher best suited to your needs for private instruction. Every student will take at least four semesters of private lessons and must pass a final exam at the end of each semester on the skills learned. Music Education and Professional Music majors will take six semesters; Performance majors will take eight semesters, with extra recital preparation lessons before senior jury and recital.

Instrumental Labs

These specialized string classes bring together players of similar performance levels and provide training in specific aspects of string performance. Many of the materials used in these labs are created by the same Berklee faculty who will be teaching you. Labs include:

• Cello Reading Labs
• Free Improvisation Lab
• Grooves and Horn Lines
• Improvisational String Labs
• Jazz Violin Lab
• Recording Techniques for Strings
• Rock Violin Lab
• Sound Reinforcement Techniques
• Violin and Viola Reading Labs
• World Fiddle Lab

Course Work

The courses at Berklee are continually reviewed and evaluated so that they are up-to-date and consistently reflect today's musical needs. In classes such as Improvisation in the Jazz/Blues Idiom, you will become familiar with a broad range of musical styles and the challenges they afford contemporary string players.

Ensembles

Through ensembles, you will hone essential performance skills and techniques. They will help you to broaden your stylistic range, to expand your network of musical friends and colleagues, and to gain diverse group-playing experience.

Berklee offers an ensemble experience for every entering student. Ensembles are offered in multiple sections with varying levels of ability. You choose the group and style that appeal to you. Your eligibility is determined by ongoing auditions that measure your growth as a performer. This system enables you to move into higher levels of ensembles as you develop your skills.

More than 350 ensembles rehearse weekly at Berklee. These ensembles reflect nothing less than a full range of musical expression:

• Advanced Repertory Workshops
• The Berklee Concert Jazz Orchestra
• The Berklee Recording Orchestra
• Berklee String Orchestra
• Celtic Music Ensemble
• Classical Chamber Music
• Contemporary Small Ensemble
• Contemporary Styles Ensembles
• Country Music Ensemble
• Django Reinhardt/Gypsy Jazz Ensemble
• Improvisational Chamber Music
• Improvisational Styles Ensembles
• Jazz/Rock Ensemble
• Small Concert Jazz Ensemble

String Orchestra

The Berklee String Orchestra is committed to the art of ensemble playing and the development of repertoire featuring improvisation and the rhythmic capabilities of string instruments and players.

Visiting Artists

Through our Visiting Artist Series, you will be exposed to valuable first-hand career insight from some of the finest performers, songwriters, film composers, music business experts, and music professionals from every sector of the industry. Visiting string professionals have included: Paul Anastasio, Darol Anger, John Blake, Beth Cohen, John Cunningham, Eugene Friesen, Joe Kennedy, Alison Krauss, Sharan Leventhal, Mark O'Connor, Paul Peabody, Jean-Luc Ponty, the Turtle Island String Quartet, and Claude Williams.

String Faculty

One-on-one faculty/student interaction is crucial to your Berklee education. As preparation for a career in the music industry, it is essential that you work intensively with men and women who have been living that career already. Berklee's string faculty is a group of innovative educators as well as experienced professional musicians. Their expertise in contemporary string techniques and technology makes them invaluable as teachers.

The diversity of styles and experience of our faculty means you will be exposed to the best education possible. You need not be restricted to one teacher throughout your education. You can work with any number of faculty during your time at Berklee, giving you the ultimate educational experience.

The department is chaired by:

Matt Glaser Chair M.M., Tufts University Performances at Carnegie Hall with Stephane Grappelli and Yo-Yo Ma, and at the Boston Globe Jazz Festival with Gunther Schuller Featured on Grammy Award–winning soundtrack for The Civil War and the soundtrack for King of the Gypsies Performances with the New York All-Stars, Bob Dylan, Lee Konitz, David Grisman, and the International String Quartet Congress Author of Jazz Violin and Jazz Chord Studies for Violin Served on the board of advisors for Ken Burns's Jazz documentary and appears as a narrator on the film Taught at the Mark O'Connor Fiddle Camp, the University of Miami, American String Teacher Association conferences, and International Association of Jazz Educators conferences Specializes in helping string players develop improvisational skills in jazz and folk idioms

View all String Department faculty...

Berklee College of Music

Berklee was founded on two revolutionary ideas: that musicianship could be taught through the music of the time; and that our students need practical, professional skills for successful, sustainable music careers. While our bedrock philosophy has not changed, the music around us has and requires that we evolve with it.

For over half a century, we've demonstrated our commitment to this approach by wholeheartedly embracing change. We update our curriculum and technology to make them more relevant, and attract diverse students who reflect the multiplicity of influences in today's music. We prepare our students for a lifetime of professional and personal growth through the study of the arts, sciences, and humanities. And we are developing new initiatives to reach and influence an ever-widening audience.

More than a college, Berklee has become the world's singular learning lab for the music of today—and tomorrow. We are a microcosm of the music world, reflecting the interplay between music and culture; an environment where aspiring music professionals learn how to integrate new ideas, adapt to changing musical genres, and showcase their distinctive skills in an evolving community. We are at the center of a widening network of industry professionals who use their openness, virtuosity, and versatility to take music in surprising new directions.

Performance Facilities

The Berklee Performance Center, our largest facility, seats 1,220 and is constantly alive with student and faculty concerts sponsored by the college or professional performances sponsored by independent music producers. In addition, Berklee maintains four professional-quality recital halls for smaller concerts and gatherings. All in all, more than 650 performances take place each year at Berklee. As you progress musically, you are sure to be part of many of them.

Learning Resources

The Stan Getz Media Center and Library - offers an extensive collection of printed materials, audiotapes of Berklee performances and seminars, videotapes of concerts and clinics, and other instructional media for student use.

Career Development Center - providing career counseling, a job board listing hundreds of employment opportunities, an extensive career library, and Macintosh computers for student use, this office also houses the Berklee Career Network, which provides students and alumni with assistance in reaching their career goals.

Learning Center - equipped with 40 computer-based MIDI workstations, 15 cassette stations, four tutoring/ private study rooms, and a technology-based classroom, this is the largest networked music technology facility of its kind in the world.

Library of Instruments
Berklee boasts a unique library of electronic string instruments. Students are encouraged to borrow these instruments during the term.

Studio and Lab Facilities

Berklee offers a wide range of facilities specifically designed to help you realize your goal of becoming a professional musician. The technology at Berklee is that of the industry— the same equipment being used in studios and concert halls around the world.

Recording Studio Complex - consists of 12 studio facilities that include 8-, 16-, and 24-track digital and analog recording capability, automated mixdown, digital editing, video postproduction, and comprehensive signal processing facilities.

Synthesis Labs - feature more than 250 MIDI and digitally equipped synthesizers, expanders, drum machines, sequencers, and computers, including hard-disk recording.

Professional Performance Division MIDI Lab
This five-station lab is designed to support your study of new electronic instrumental controller techniques. Featuring Macintosh computers, various synthesizer modules, and the latest in guitar, bass, keyboard, percussion, and woodwind MIDI controllers, the lab enables you to learn to adapt traditional playing techniques to complex electronic setup and control environments.

Professional Writing Division MIDI Lab - offers the ability to produce high-quality demos of compositions, arrangements, and songs at individual workstations.

Film Scoring Labs - provide professional training in the areas of film music composition, editing, sequencing, and computer applications.

Coming to Berklee

Special Annual Events
Berklee String Day is an annual open house, blending Berklee faculty clinics/concerts, student concerts, and major artist performances, clinics, and product demonstrations in a festival-like atmosphere. This may be an excellent time for you to come and take a look at what Berklee and the String Department have to offer.

Berklee Summer String Fling
In addition to Berklee's full-time program and other summer programs, we also feature a three-day Berklee Summer String Fling held mid-season. The program focuses on improvisational technique in such idioms as blues, country, jazz, and rock.

For Further Information

For further information about the String Department, please contact Chair Matt Glaser at (617) 747-2296 or e-mail him at mglaser@berklee.edu.

Complete application information can be found in the Berklee prospectus. Also available is information on the many scholarships available to outstanding student instrumentalists and vocalists. For a copy of the Berklee prospectus, or for further information about Berklee College of Music, please contact the Office of Admissions at (800) BERKLEE (toll-free within the U.S. and Canada), or (617) 747-2222.

Write to us at:

Office of Admissions
Berklee College of Music
1140 Boylston Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02215-3693
U.S.A.

Visit Admissions at:

921 Boylston Street, Suite 600
Boston, Massachusetts

E-mail us at: admissions@berklee.edu

Berklee College of Music does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, gender, national or ethnic origin, age, handicap, status as a disabled or Vietnam-era veteran, or sexual orientation in employment or in admission to and participation in any of its programs and activities. Any inquiries or grievances may be directed to the Vice President for Student Affairs/Dean of Students, Berklee College of Music, 1140 Boylston Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02215-3693, U.S.A., (617) 266-1400, or the Regional Director, Office of Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education, Boston, Massachusetts.