New York hard rockers Who On Earth have unveiled the official music video, directed and edited by Rob “Shottie” Shotwell, for ‘Good Man Down‘, the latest single from their recently released full-length album, ‘It Takes The Village‘, available now on all streaming platforms. Following the intensity of previous singles “Vigilance,” “Any Other Way,” and “Shadows,” “Good […]
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Many young musicians dream of studying at Berklee, Juilliard, Curtis, Eastman, New England Conservatory, USC Thornton, Manhattan School of Music, or another elite program.
Admission is not based on talent alone. Strong applicants combine training, discipline, repertoire, stage experience, artistic identity, and control under pressure.
Selectivity varies sharply. Juilliard is listed with a 9% admission rate, Curtis with 4%, Eastman with 13%, New England Conservatory with 43%, Berklee with 50%, and San Francisco Conservatory with 52%.
A Curtis applicant faces a tiny classical program. A Berklee applicant enters a larger environment centered on contemporary music, production, songwriting, jazz, film scoring, and music business.
What does it take to become ready for Berklee, Juilliard, Curtis, Eastman, NEC, or USC Thornton?
Students should first define their path. A classical violinist, jazz pianist, opera singer, singer-songwriter, producer, composer, film scorer, and music business student needs different training.
Fit depends on genre, goals, learning style, faculty, campus culture, location, performance options, and career outcomes.
Students should compare:
Students comparing several programs may also need to organize their research clearly, especially when weighing conservatory training against contemporary music, university-based programs, or industry-focused schools.
For those who need help structuring comparisons, writeanypapers.com analytical writing support can be mentioned as a resource for organizing arguments, school differences, and decision factors.
Juilliard is tied to elite classical performance, jazz, composition, conducting, and voice.
Berklee is known for contemporary music, jazz, pop, rock, electronic music, production, songwriting, film scoring, and music business.
Curtis is known for selective classical training, small class sizes, and full-tuition scholarships.
NEC offers conservatory training in Boston. Eastman combines performance study with academic options through the University of Rochester.
USC Thornton connects classical music, jazz, popular music, film scoring, vocal arts, opera, and Los Angeles industry access.
Each dream school has its own training style. Comparing them helps students avoid choosing only by fame and focus instead on fit, selectivity, faculty, location, and career direction.
Juilliard is known for classical performance, jazz, composition, conducting, and voice.
Founded in 1905, Juilliard is located at Lincoln Center in New York City. Students study near major arts institutions and professional performance spaces.
Juilliard is listed with about 650 students, about 600 of whom study music. Admission requires a live audition, so applicants need stage control, confidence, stamina, and polished repertoire.
Notable alumni include Miles Davis, Yo-Yo Ma, and Renée Fleming. Juilliard fits students ready for intense conservatory training and serious competition.
Berklee is a major choice for contemporary music careers. Its strengths include jazz, pop, rock, electronic music, production, songwriting, film scoring, music business, performance, engineering, and modern media music.
Founded in 1945, Berklee became the first music school in the United States to include jazz in its curriculum.
Berklee has more than 8,000 students. Programs include songwriting, performance, music management, music teacher education, and music therapy.
In 2025, The Hollywood Reporter ranked Berklee second and pointed to its Film and Media Scoring and Game and Interactive Media Scoring programs.
Notable alumni include Quincy Jones, John Mayer, Diana Krall, Charlie Puth, Keith Jarrett, and Howard Shore. Berklee fits students who want to write, perform, record, produce, score, and work in modern music industries.
Curtis Institute of Music is one of the most selective classical music schools. Its admission rate is listed at 4%.
Curtis is known for small class sizes and full-tuition scholarships. Annual tuition is listed at $0, and the undergraduate student body is listed at around 150 students.
Curtis specializes in classical performance, opera, conducting, and composition. Applicants need advanced technique, musical maturity, and professional potential.
Notable alumni include Leonard Bernstein, Samuel Barber, Lang Lang, Alan Gilbert, and Jascha Brodsky. Curtis fits students prepared for elite classical training and close faculty mentorship.
New England Conservatory is strong in classical performance, jazz studies, composition, musicology, and contemporary improvisation.
Founded in 1867, NEC is described as one of the oldest independent conservatories in the United States.
Nearly half of the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s members are noted as having ties to NEC. That connection matters for students interested in orchestral playing and professional performance culture.
NEC also offers a joint degree program with Harvard. A small number of students can earn a bachelor’s degree at Harvard and a master’s degree in music at NEC.
Jordan Hall, NEC’s 1,013-seat concert hall, is a National Historic Landmark and is widely respected for its acoustics.
Eastman School of Music is known for performance, composition, music theory, orchestral training, and academic connection through the University of Rochester.
Established in 1921, Eastman offers conservatory-level training inside a university setting. Students can also take academic classes or pursue a minor through the University of Rochester.
Eastman is strong in orchestral and instrumental training. Programs include bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral study in performance, composition, and theory.
Its student body is listed at about 900, and its admission rate is listed at 13%.
Notable alumni include Renée Fleming, William Warfield, and Maria Schneider. Eastman fits students who want technical depth, ensemble work, academic options, and serious performance training.
USC Thornton is strong in classical music, jazz, popular music, film scoring, and music industry access in Los Angeles.
Thornton offers contemporary, classical, and research degrees in music. Programs include choral and sacred music, jazz studies, popular music, vocal arts, and opera.
Thornton enrolls more than 1,000 students. Its Los Angeles location matters for students interested in film, television, recording, live performance, and commercial music.
About 72% of Thornton students receive financial aid they do not have to pay back, including USC merit scholarships, alumni scholarships, and outside aid.
USC Thornton fits students who want serious music study connected to a major creative-industry city.
Students should build fundamentals before senior year. Last-minute audition preparation is rarely enough for selective music schools.
Daily practice should target tone, rhythm, technique, interpretation, sight-reading, ear training, theory, ensemble skills, and performance confidence.
Core skill areas include:
Young musicians should record themselves often. Playback can reveal timing issues, tone problems, weak transitions, unclear phrasing, and nervous habits.
Students aiming at Juilliard, Curtis, NEC, or Eastman should focus on classical technique, polished repertoire, ensemble training, musical maturity, and performance experience.
Students interested in Berklee-style pathways should build range across jazz, pop, rock, electronic music, songwriting, production, film scoring, groove, improvisation, and style.
Listening also matters. Students should study great recordings, live performances, scores, rhythm sections, orchestral excerpts, film cues, and current music production.
A strong teacher helps students choose repertoire, fix technique, build practice systems, prepare auditions, and make realistic school decisions.
Students need honest feedback before application season. Teachers and mentors can identify gaps in technique, musicality, rhythm, style, diction, tone, stage presence, or portfolio quality.
Useful feedback settings include:
Mentorship matters at small or selective programs. Curtis has a very small student body and is tied to personalized instruction and elite faculty.
Faculty research should go past rankings. A famous school may not be right if the studio teacher does not match the student’s needs.
Good mentors also help students handle rejection, reset after setbacks, and keep improving.
Auditions are often the most important part of a music-school application. Grades, essays, recommendations, and resumes matter, but the audition shows the school how the student performs.
Preparation should start early. Students need time to choose pieces, polish details, memorize when required, play under pressure, and fix weak spots.
Strong audition preparation should include:
Juilliard requires a live audition, making performance readiness essential. Live auditions test concentration, stage presence, tone control, confidence, and pressure response.
Classical applicants to Juilliard, Curtis, NEC, and Eastman should prepare repertoire that shows tone, technique, interpretation, musical maturity, and stylistic control.
Contemporary applicants to Berklee-style programs should show range. Improvisation, rhythm, groove, originality, stylistic awareness, and commercial-music readiness can matter.
A mistake does not have to ruin an audition if the student keeps musical focus.
Roads to Berklee, Juilliard, Curtis, Eastman, NEC, USC Thornton, and other dream schools require more than talent.
Students need preparation, self-awareness, mentorship, focused practice, polished auditions, and resilience.
Acceptance can change a student’s path, but growth starts before any decision letter arrives.
Real goal is not only admission to a famous program.
Real goal is becoming a musician ready to learn, collaborate, perform, create, and build a lasting career.
Well on the way to recovery from the colon cancer that forced cancellations last year, frontman Biff Byford checks in as the Big Teasers From Barnsley continue their summer of festival dates.
How is your health now?
I take things day by day, really, but I’m doing okay.
Saxon have an impressive summer festival season, including Wacken in Germany, Sweden Rock, Denmark’s Copenhell, Rock For People in the Czech Republic, Poland’s Mystic and Maid Of Stone at Bloodstock in the UK. At these big overseas events do you feel conscious of carrying the flag of Saint George?
[Laughs] Not really. The Saint George’s flag has been stolen a little bit by various people, hasn’t it? We used to, back in the day, but in a way that has changed.
Apologies if that sounded a bit of a loaded question. But is Saxon’s Englishness in doubt?
Not at all. We fly the flag for British metal, definitely. We’ve just done one of the big festivals in Germany, Rock Hard. Our popularity has gone up massively over the last six or seven years. We now get a lot of headline spots at festivals.
To what do you attribute that resurgence?
Well, we’ve put out some good albums. I think they’ve been quite excellent, really. Social media has also made a big difference. A lot of younger people have got into the band. Younger bands are coming out and saying that Saxon influenced them. Add those two things together and it makes a big difference. Priest and Maiden are doing really great as well, and so would Motörhead if they were still around.
As a staple of Bloodstock since it was a far smaller, indoor event, Saxon’s association with that festival is well documented. How strong is your connection to Maid Of Stone?
We did Maid Of Stone before [in 2017] when it was known as Ramblin’ Man Fair. It’s a good little festival with a lot of character. We like it.
Do you perform pretty much identical setlists at each event?
No. Certain countries have their favourite songs, don’t ask me why. Crusader is massively popular in Spain and Italy. Also in Spain we have to play our version of Ride Like The Wind [the Christopher Cross song reworked for 1988 album Destiny]. They chant for that one before we go on stage. Poland goes mad for Broken Heroes. Three or four songs will change in the average set.
We ask because when Saxon played at Ramblin’ Man Fair you walked out on stage and proceeded to eat the setlist.
I sometimes do that. It depends upon how I’m feeling. I can be very spontaneous.
You told the crowd: ‘Setlists are tasty.’
Well they are if made of the right paper.
Saxon’s twenty-fifth studio album is due in January 2027. What can you tell us about it?
I got into trouble for giving away the release date, so I must be very careful what I say. I can tell you that it’s finished, and that we have shot two videos. The pre-order date is in September, but I’m not supposed to have told you that.
How much would we have to pay you to reveal the title?
I wouldn’t take any money, but you will find out soon. And we will soon be releasing the dates for the next UK tour, which takes place in February.
Drummer Nigel Glockler has said it’s “a lot more groove-oriented”.
I don’t think of it that way. But for him [as a drummer] I can see why he might say that. It’s heavier, more than anything. Maybe that’s what Nigel means.
New guy Brian Tatler always has a bag of riffs. Presumably he was heavily involved once again?
Yeah. But it’s about equal between what we call the ‘stringers’ – Brian and Doug [Scarratt]. Brian brings a lot to the band. Which isn’t to say that Paul [Quinn] didn’t, but the fans love him and he’s a well-respected guy.
Paul Quinn retired from the group a couple of years back but has played occasional Saxon-themed shows with former guitarist Graham Oliver. Do you have any thoughts on that?
Why shouldn’t they do it?
Well, there was bad blood towards Graham since he was sacked in 1996.
I don’t really have any problem with Graham any more. He used to do stupid things that smashed the reputation of the band [along with ex-bassist Steve ‘Dobby’ Dawson, Oliver ran ‘rival’ band Oliver-Dawson Saxon]. That’s all over now. I met Graham not too long ago in an airport and we had a chat. I don’t think Paul wanted to retire from music, just the bigger gigs.
At a show in Hastings it was heartwarming to watch the two old friends blasting out those riffs to a room full of appreciative middle-aged fans. It’s nice to know you don’t condemn it.
Really, it’s fine. As long as we’re sensible and don’t start using logos, there’s room for everybody.
Saxon are currently playing festivals in Europe, and will appear at Maid Of Stone on July 18 and Bloodstock on August 6. The UK and Ireland Gods Of Thunder tour will take place in February 2027. For full dates and tickets, visit the Saxon website.
Swiss metalcore band Expellow have just released a new sigle with video titled “Ten Of Swords“. The song is about being trapped in a seemingly endless loop of negativity and therefore failing again and again in life. Ultimately, breaking out of the spiral succeeds by becoming aware of one’s own (controllable) part in the situation and taking back control.
Lead singer Mik Dean stated:
The fundamental theme of the lyrics is agency, meaning having decision-making power / control over your own life, or rather over your own fate. I deliberately built an arc (a developmental arc) into the lyrics, which we also brought to life in the music video; for the spoken part “I refuse to accept my fate”, which comes once after the first verse and once right at the end, we wanted to convey two different moods; the first time, the part is more aggressive, it is a refusal, a rejection of one’s own fate, based on a certain ignorance of the “full picture”, which includes one’s own misconduct. The second rendition was meant to be deliberately calmer, more self-assured, in order to capture the development and the insight that preceded it.
From my own experience, I know that in negative phases of life one is often tempted to look for blame everywhere except in oneself; yet we often don’t realise how much this behaviour ultimately prevents us from growing and getting out of the bad situations. There is always something, even if it’s only our mindset, over which we retain control, where we can influence how things go on, and it is absolutely crucial that we don’t lose sight of that, no matter where we currently stand in our lives.
Ultimately, the song / the clip shows two ways of not accepting your fate: on the one hand, rejection through pure ignorance without the will to actually change something actively, and on the other hand, rejection combined with the will to put in the necessary work to effectively change something and move from passivity back into action.
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As is their new self-titled album (aka “The Volume Series”.)
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An effervescent outing, laden with crunchy guitars and creamy melodies, today beloved Australian singer and songwriter Phil Jamieson unveils his new single Reading Keats In Byron Bay, a third cut taken from his forthcoming sophomore full-length album 10CHARLIE officially set for release on August 14, and continues to be celebrated throughout 2026 while Phil takes his extensive PJ […]