Berklee College of Music is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world and was established by Lawrence Berk at 284 Newbury Street in Boston’s Back Bay. When it opened its doors, Berklee was primarily focused on teaching classical music, despite also offering jazz and commercial music classes to its students, who mostly already were working professional musicians. When it opened it only had 50 students due to World War II service. Nevertheless, by 1949 more than 500 students were enrolled in the institution. In 1954 the school expanded in academic terms, and it included music education and more traditional music theory classes.Show more
The school has had several musicians serving as teachers throughout the years, and it still is a practice that is done today. In 1970 the school was renamed Berklee College of Music and several curriculum innovations were implemented such as new classes and new instrumental major programmes.
In June 2015, Berklee College of Music and The Boston Conservatory announced that the two schools would merge. In the following year it was made official, and the Conservatory was renamed to The Boston Conservatory at Berklee.
Academics at Berklee College of Music
Currently, there is a wide range of classes, instruments, musical styles and career options to pursue at Berklee. Therefore, students may combine many of Berklee’s 12 majors (in Composition, Contemporary Writing and Production, Electronic Production and Design, Film Scoring, Music Business/Management Jazz Composition, Music Education [degree only], Music Production and Engineering, Professional Music, Music Therapy [degree only], Performance, and Songwriting), depending on the nature of the programme. There are also several minors that the students may undergo aside from their major, such as English, History, Music and Society, among others. Recently, two graduate degrees became available which are a Master of Arts in Music Therapy and a Master of Music in Contemporary Performance.
Student Life at Berklee College of Music
With over 5,000 students and 500 hired academic staff (2018), Berklee has several extracurricular activities and a wide range of clubs and organisations that any student can join and be part of the university’s activities and promote an excellent environment on campus.
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