by Matt Baamonde.

Matt Baamonde

For the first time in about four months I’m allowing myself to take a break from work to sit on the couch and watch TV with my family. This much needed Holiday break could not have come at a better time, as I have just experienced one of the most brutal, work-intensive, semesters I have had at Berklee so far.

In the rush up to finals, the things that needed to be done included: preparing for 9 finals, arranging two interviews for the Berklee Achievement Based Scholarship (BAS), my new interview with Shannon Crawford of Monster in the Machine, and still trying to maintain a working relationship with my friends, girlfriend, and others in my social network have left me exhausted and stressed.

But now that I have the time and energy to look back, I’ve fully realized how much has gotten accomplished since the summer. The sheer amount of music that I have written for classes like Groove Writing, Arranging 2, Harmony 4 have given me a whole new understanding of jazz, Latin jazz, rock, blues, and modal composition, and nearly thirty songs that I can call my own. My performance skills have also received a major boost from classes like Rock Lab, my private lesson, and Ear Training.

I’ve had a few emails about what finals are like at Berklee, and the response to that is very mixed. Ultimately it depends on the type of classes you are enrolled in and the amount of credits you are taking. My experience, for a full 16 credit load, has been a lot of work with a few classes requiring more attention than others. Usually, your core music classes will require a good amount of work and studying as they are the most credits. The great irony, however, is that classes like guitar labs may end up requiring a huge portion of your time and energy- as my rock lab did for me, and my roommate’s Guitarmony class did for him, yet they are only worth one half of a credit. In order to succeed at finals you need a solid understanding of your priorities and how to time manage what you are working on.

Remember, if you are an instrumentalist, that you will get much less time than you anticipate to practice, especially if you live in the dorms, or a quiet apartment and require amplification or have a loud reverberating sound. For the most part you will not even have to the time due to the sheer amount of ‘other’ work you have to do, including written work and projects.

Though I am still awaiting my grades for last semester I am anticipating all good things, and thoroughly excited for next semester.

Currently I am enrolled for the Spring Semester in 14 credits worth of classes, including required core classes such as Traditional Harmony 2 and Counterpoint 2, (now called Tonal Two-Part Canon and Invention,) and Private Instruction for Guitar. I want to take Ear Training 4, though the class I want to get into with Paul Stiller, the teacher I’ve had for the past two semesters, was completely filled before I even had a chance to register. The advice I was given was to wait for next semester as some students tend to drop out at the last minute and I can then register, since there is no waitlist.

I am also taking two required classes for my major, Contemporary Writing and Production (CWP), called Midi Applications for the Writer, and Tech Tools for the Writer, both with Richard Grudzinski (who I took for Arranging 1). Finally, I’ll be taking Creative Writing: Fiction for my elective credits, since writing has always been a passion of mine and I look forward to seeing how this class compares to the one I took back home at George Mason University.

Overall, I’m very excited about the way things are turning out, though I do expect a whole lot of work to come in the near future. In particular, I need to prepare for my ensemble ratings re-audition that will occur near midterm’s time of next semester. I need to improve these in order to get into better ensembles in the future and to get a higher possible scholarship award.

For new entrants, remember that however well or poorly you do on your entrance exam; you can always re-audition twice a semester (after your second semester)!

I hope everyone has an awesome vacation and holiday season and I look forward to seeing everyone in the spring! Stop by room 344 in the 150 Mass Ave building and say hi!

Holiday Teacher Review

Chris Buono – Guitar Effects Lab, Private Lesson – Chris is a highly opinionated, very effective guitarist with a vast array of practical and creative guitar knowledge. He will push you hard and expect a great deal of work out of you, and is highly recommended to students with a strong work ethic. He also has an awesome assortment of packets for the proficiency exams and a history of work for the guitar magazines that he writes for that he frequently uses in class. He is also very easy to contact and find on campus.

Robert Doezema – Groove Writing – Bob is one of the most fun teachers I’ve had at Berklee. He is an accomplished guitarist as well as an expert at dissecting and analyzing grooves in many styles. He does require a lot of work and will give you honest feedback on the work you are presenting. Highly recommended to students with a strong work ethic and a creative sense of rhythm and groove.

All the best!

Matthew Baamonde
“Baazar”