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time bomb studios

Lessons and Advantages at, and After Berklee, part 2

Last week, Kyle discussed the realities of being a music student and of the music industry. In the second half of his two-part series, Kyle shares the advantages of combining real-world experience and strategy with a Berklee education.

Assuming you’ve built a solid foundation and haven’t fallen into the traps I mentioned last week, here are some privileges to attending Berklee and more specifically, taking an internship:

Advantage 1: Everyone knows Berklee. My friends in France knew what Berklee was when I told them I was going to apply. The best part is, the further you get away from Boston, the more well known it becomes. The East coast, especially Boston, is so saturated with students and musicians that nothing you do seems to stand out, and you get lumped in as a generic “Berklee Kid”. Because the music scene is so limited here, most of you will move away, and you’ll find that you will be embraced more so than in Boston.

I was even told that if you move around to the other side of the world to Thailand, you can get a job in no time with what would be the equivalent of a six-figure income! Don’t try it though, I just heard that from my friend Bobbi (he’s from Thailand), and I’m not sure if he found a job yet.

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Lessons and Advantages at, and After Berklee, part 1

This week, former intern and current Berklee City Music faculty member Kyle Pyke shares unique perspectives gained from his experience as a student and intern. Next Tuesday, part two includes thoughts on the advantages of combining Berklee education with real-world experience.

Whenever I meet a high school Berklee-hopeful, the one piece of advice I repeat the most is this: “You’ll get out of Berklee what you put in”. I made sure to reiterate this point in my last blog, but when that blog was written, I was still a couple of months from graduating.

The you-get-out-what-you-put-in ideal was definitely true then while building my portfolio, but it is even more apparent now as I begin building a career. Looking back on my internship, I can say that the knowledge you gain is important (that goes without saying). The most important thing you can learn for an internship, however, is how to interact with your coworkers, and how to apply the knowledge you’ve gained in a realistic situation.

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Tips for Students, Interns, and All Human Beings (cont’d)

Be sure to check out the first entry of Kyle’s blog, Four Tips for Students, Interns, and All Human Beings, here.

Once you find yourself speaking and writing correctly, you have your online image cleaned up, and you’ve decided to up the ante on your ambitions, you’re ready to start meeting people in the industry- be it via networking, jamming, interviewing, or simply on the street.

5) Be a personality, not just a person.

If you’ve read my last post, you know I’m big on maturity and professionalism. I think I last left off with tip number 4: “Present yourself online the same way you would in person.”

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Four Tips for Students, Interns and All Human Beings

I always thought that after I graduated, I’d write a book- something with a title like “Surviving Berklee” or “How to get through: The Berklee User Manual”.  It would be a collection of my own tips, as well as interviews and hindsight from successful students of each major. The purpose of which would be to help new and prospective students. Being in my final semester now, the idea of writing a book is very much present- shouldn’t I have some way to pass the torch?

Recently, I’ve reconsidered the title. The problem with writing a book about ‘surviving’ or ‘getting through’ is that it’s contradictory to the message the book wants to send.  Any successful student shouldn’t be striving to just ‘survive’ or ‘get though’, they should be striving to flourish and kick ass. Actually, that’s tip number one in my book. Mark it (aren’t I a great guy, giving away tips for free? After my book comes out, you’ll have to pay for pearls like that).

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