Can you get a Masters in Jazz

[UnderDogbassist]

Hi Lynn,

I'm currently working on my bachelors in jazz studies up here in Vancouver, and my current plan is to (eventually) go down into the states and acquire my masters in jazz performance. However, for a variety of reasons I decided that upright bass isn't the instrument for me and decided to stop playing it in favor of the electric. I gave it a lot of thought and I was worried that no graduate school would accept someone who could only play electric bass, but one of my professors convinced me that there are plenty of schools that wouldn't look down on me for my decision, as long as I had the chops to back it up. I was wondering if UNT was one of these "electric friendly" schools he spoke of. I tried looking at the website, but the information it provides me doesn't provide the answer I'm looking for. I would understand if completing a masters on just electric would take a little more effort than on upright, but not impossible to do.

So what is UNT's stance on electric-only bassists? If they don't accept them now, what are the chances of that changing in the future? Are the standards different between grad and undergrad? Thanks for your time!

-A.A.

P.S. I know it's not music-related, but I couldn't find information on tuition costs for international students. Would I be recognized as an out of state student, or would I have to pay substantially more? Thanks again!

 

[Lynn Seaton]

Hello,
The University of North Texas is an upright oriented program at all three levels, Bachelor, Master, and DMA. That will remain so in the future. Most of the lab bands require both electric and upright basses to be played well. All private lessons are on the upright. At the Bachelor level, classical upright lessons are required additionally.

The performance expectations for an incoming Master level student are higher than for an incoming Freshman. For others reading this post, here is a link to the jazz audition page at UNT: http://jazz.unt.edu/admission-auditions . It has links to the audition requirements for all levels. Please note there are two separate links for information about the DMA.

When a student is given a scholarship at UNT that comes with in state tuition rates. That makes UNT very affordable.
Here is a link to the tuition page: http://www.unt.edu/paying-for-college.htm

International Students are recognized as out of state, but do have some special application requirements.
Here is a link to the UNT International page: http://international.unt.edu/