Wellness programs at Berklee - LiveWell!!!

The life of a musician is challenging to the body. Musicians especially benefit from living a well-balanced, integrated and healthy existence. Healthy habits and practicing wellness principles enhances one’s learning, career, relationships, endurance, strength, flexibility and creativity and helps one through life’s many changes.

LiveWell is Berklee’s wellness and health promotion program designed for the student musician. Serving as a web of support for the student throughout his or her time studying at Berklee, LiveWell provides information on many wellness offerings available on and around campus.

Conveniently located in the Student Activities Center, Room 207, 939 Boylston Street, Jane Stachowiak, Director, can be reached via email: livewell@berklee.edu or phone: 617.747.2411

LiveWell Website: http://www.berklee.net/st/Livewell_Information.html

Your Unofficial Tour of Campus

One of our more creative students put this totally unofficial, mostly accurate and highly entertaining video of campus together. Enjoy!

Link is here - to youtube!

Berklee LA Internship hosted by Alum Richard Gibbs

On June 4^th 2009, 14 Berklee Los Angeles interns found themselves sitting in the craftsman-style living room set up for alum Richard Gibbs’ (’77) studio. Custom built on the back of Gibbs’ home property in Malibu, the Woodshed Recording studio has a unique open-air design and a fabulous view of the Pacific Ocean.

Hearing a squawking sound, Gibbs explained wild parrots live in the area and that sleeping during summer evenings can be impossible due to the local wild peacock mating calls. Gibbs’ dog greeted each guest as they walked in with a friendly bark and his cat even came to snuggle on each interns’ lap as Gibbs spoke about the music industry and his career, film scoring and producing.

Interns asked questions about his writing process (fastest way is paper and pencil, but now he fleshes ideas out via computer), how often he uses mock-ups (every time), and if working for free is detrimental to their career. Gibbs explained he'll cut a deal for close friends and projects that he knows he’ll enjoy working on. “If you have the choice between sitting at home watching TV or working, then work for free. Staying home won’t build your career”.

With catchphrases like “bro-deal” (taken from his beloved surfing world) and “music happy” (a director who wants a lot of music in their project), Gibbs was able to string anecdote after anecdote together to give both the realities of the music industry and create a sense of hope for the future.

While the workshop was scheduled to run two hours, the students didn’t pile back into their cars for the long drive home until three hours later. By then the sun had set over the ocean, but the students carried with them a sense of living a creative life and a stronger bond with the Berklee alumni community.

Justine Taormino

Intern Services Coordinator

Berklee College of Music - LA Internship Program

p)323-326-7479

f)323-375-1668

jtaormino@berklee.edu

Some Student Perspectives on Berklee's LA Internships

Internships with Berklee

Often what happens in education is that students are asked to learn by observation, listening or watching. But one of the best ways to learn anything is to experience it, first hand, by doing! Berklee understands the power of learning by doing and has a number of opportunities for students to work "in the field". Our Office of Experiential Learning (OEL) helps students with service learning and internship opportunities.

The OEL’s goal is to provide practical learning opportunities where students can deliberately connect their Berklee curriculum in a work or volunteer setting. All programs are for college credit and some require application approval and acceptance into the specific program.

We have a range of programs that include:

• Introductory Internship
• Service Learning
• Los Angeles Internship Program
• Summer London Internship Program
• Major specific Internship

For more information on these programs, please visit www.berklee.edu/oel.

You can read more about the LA Internship Program:

http://www.berklee.edu/news/596/l-a-internship-program-a-springboard-to-the-musi

Follow us MySpace and Facebook:

Add the OEL as a friend on MySpace: www.myspace.com/berkleeoel

Become a fan of the OEL on Facebook: Office of Experiential Learning - Berklee College of Music

Off-Campus Housing Support

On Friday June 12^th, 60+ students who are entering Berklee for the Fall 2009 semester and 35+ of their parents, guardians and guests will visit Berklee for the one day Berklee Life Off Campus (BLOC) workshop presented by the Student Activities Center. The SAC has three primary goals for the day.

The first goal is to provide attendees with critical information for searching for apartments in the Boston area including what to know before signing a lease. There are great deals, landlords and realtors our there but there are bad ones as well. A presentation by Kunevich & Lau Realty will provide attendees with the knowledge and tools to make good decisions in their search.

The second goal is to introduce non-residential entering students to each other as a way to begin to build community amongst them. Knowing and seeing that they are not alone as a first semester student living off campus is a huge step in achieving comfort before they arrive for classes in August. Moreover, at last year’s June Off Campus Housing Orientation some students who met through our small group sessions went on to find an apartment over the summer and live together their first year.

The third goal is to begin to allay some of the fears that parents, guardians, and even students have of living on their own – many for the first time – in this city. Many calls to our front desk are from parents concerned about sending their child to live off-campus. For this goal, our best line of defense are students who themselves were in the same situation in first year. Over lunch, current Berklee students will share their experiences about searching for apartments, moving in, commuting throughout the city, and more. Attendees will hear success stories as well as stories that are educational in terms of situations to avoid.

Advisors from the Office of Admissions, Paul Noonan from Public Safety, professional and student staff from the Student Activities Center, Peer Advisors, and others will be on hand throughout the day to offer our perspective during sessions and to interact with attendees informally between sessions.

Many thanks to Admissions, FYSAP, Auxiliary Services, and Dining Services for their support creating and executing this workshop.

If you run into BLOC attendees next Friday and you have a useful “life in Boston” anecdote or one that might assuage their fears, please pull them aside and share.

For more information about BLOC visit http://www.berklee.edu/housing/off_campus.html where you can download a pdf of the advertisement.

Contact the Student Activities Center at x2560 with questions.

Tamia Rashima Jordan, M.Ed.

Assistant Director Orientation and Student Support Services

SWEET MUSIC CAREER ACCELERANT

The mission of Berklee's Career Development Center is to provide expert guidance, leading-edge resources and professional development experiences to a diverse student body for the achievement of students' music career-related goals. Its overall focus is on music career management rather than a one-time job link. Students can get one-on-one advising, tap into its vast library of resources, attend job recruitment events, connect with alumni through the Berklee Career Network and participate in numerous career-building workshops.

At the beginning of February 2009, Berklee was approached (via Jim Odgren) about the possibility of hosting a "Jazz Talent Search".  Compass Management UK, in conjunction with Universal Records UK wanted to put together a "hip, young jazz band" fronted by two singers (one male, one female).  The band would have the full backing of Universal and would spend this summer in London recording an album and then touring in the fall in support of the album.

The Career Development Center coordinated auditions through Compass Management.  A large number of Berklee students submitted their audition materials to Compass Management.  After reviewing said materials, Compass Management selected ~40 students for the first round, which occurred March 28th - March 29th. After Compass Management flew-in to Boston and auditioned those students, they selected 7 Berklee students for a second and final round of auditions which occurred when they flew-in April 18th - April 19th.  During the second round, the A&R rep (Tom Lewis) from Universal Records UK was also present.

Ultimately, three Berklee students were selected to be members of this seven member group!  They are:

   Jeffrey Fajardo - drums

         Matthias Minquet - guitar

         Manami Morita - piano

The band will be called "The New Capitols" and their website is going to be www.thenewcapitols.com (it's not live, yet).  They will be blogging, tweeting, etc. their experience.

BTW, Compass went to other colleges here in the US for auditions but none were as successful or included as many final candidates as Berklee. This college rocks (and scats) - around the world!

-Peter Spellman, Director, The Career Development Center