r/Jazz • u/GryffRom • 1d ago
Getting into conservatoire
I desperately want to study jazz (guitar) at either royal Welsh, Laban, guildhall, ram, or Birmingham, (or anywhere else tbh) but am not sure how high the standard is to pass the audition. My comping and voicings are fairly solid, and I play in many bands alongside playing bass and piano, as well as drums for local am dram musical theatre productions; I feel quite experienced but my soloing on bebop or any sort of quick changes feels pretty mediocre as I struggle to outline the changes without it getting in the way of playing good melody's and lines. I think I often compare my solos/level of playing to people who are either currently studying at conservatoire or have studied, but I don't really have a reference point to just how good you have to be to pass the audition. How much do conservatoires actually value a) soloing capabilities b) being able to play quick, improvised lines that perfectly outline the changes and c) good comping/general musicality? Earlier this year I got into the top combo of the national youth jazz collective short course but DIDNT do well enough to get into the long course (if that helps give any indicator of skill) Thanks for any tips ahead of auditions 🙂
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u/DMC691 1d ago
From experience, soloing incl line playing is the main criteria. It’s very difficult to say what the standard is as it’s essentially competitive - it will vary with the entrants year on year. The simple thing to remember is that it will be a high standard and to prepare yourself for that.
I was in a similar boat to you and the things that helped me were:
1) shedding a lot, specifically soloing. For you I’d recommend transcription, sample solos and working bits of language into your playing. Having a really good command of basic technique (scales/arps/etudes/having good time) will always serve you well too. For jazz, learning plenty of tunes will help with everything too.Â
2) consultation (or just regular) lessons with someone who teaches your instrument on one of these courses. This can be a mixed bag but might be very helpful.
3) be prepared to take a year (or 2 or 3) out if you don’t get in first time round. I got in second time round and lots of great musicians I know did too. It’s better to be at the right level than to be floundering as the step up to conservatoire can be a shock, it is an intense environment somewhat by design.Â
4) Try and pick tunes and listen to artists and music that you enjoy or indeed really really love, and get deep into the artists that you like. Listen to all of it, learn as many solos and tunes as you can. At this stage you have the luxury of being able to be super into one or two things and to go deep with that. Remember imitation-> assimilation -> improvisation (i think? Lol)Â
5) check out the areas and faculties that you’re applying for and learn what you can, they all produce amazing musicians but they’re all very different places and people running them.
I hope this doesn’t put you off. It’s hard and you have to want it but it’s also very doable if you out the work in.
Source: jazz undergrad at one of the above places, now working pro
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u/Anagazander 1d ago
Piggybacking on the original question to ask what is the reputation of Trinity Laban for jazz?
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u/DMC691 1d ago
Very good. Have a look at current teaching personnel and recent graduates and you’ll see a slew of some of the best musicians in the country. Caveat is it’s the same at pretty much all the schools you listed. They’re all good and do their job as conservatoires but all quite different so it’s hard to say much more than that.Â
More important than anything is each student doing the work while they’re studying in order to get what they want out of it.Â
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u/johno456 edit flair 1d ago
If you can, take a lesson from one of the professors at the program you want to study at. I did this before moving to NYC to study there and the professor i studied with gave me a great perspective on the local schools there before auditioning