Is Music School Worth The Money? Musicians Institute

I sent my kid to Music Institute in LA back in 2011 and in 2018 he bought me a car.

The brief period of time that I spent at MI (at the same time as you) was one of my favorite times of my life. It was amazing to be fully immersed in music theory and surrounded by like minded people. When I first signed up, I was worried that everyone would be self-involved and competitive, but it was the exact opposite - everyone was friendly and eager to help one another. In fact, it is one of the few bright spots to me in this current music nadir. I wish I could have done the whole program (I was older, married with a child and self-employed). I've never made greater progress or felt better about my playing than I did during that period. I got out of bed every day ready to go and took every opportunity I could to sit in with teachers and learn. Great video Nicky! It's been wonderful to follow your musical success / journey. Keep it up! :)

Great insights. I am the father of a 17 year old high functioning autistic kid who apires to be a working musician. He puts in the time, literally spents 8 to 12 hours a day playing , we have recorded with friends and studio guys at a few different studios. Sweetwater was a nice one. We write songs and stuff , try to give as much experience as I can, anyway I digress. He is a senior in high school next year and we are discussing where he should go from here. Videos like this are great for people like us , we appreciate it.

Great insight! Thanks!

Great advise! Thank you for your insight!

Another Great Video Nicky! I couldn't agree more about playing different genres, the fundamentals you gain are priceless... Oh and I'm self taught 🎸🎸🎸🤘🤘🤘

Awesome! Love these

Luv the vids Nicky, right on point!! Keep em comin!! 🎸

I love these videos Nicky, keep them coming! Before I moved to Nashville, I had been playing music “by ear “ for 17 years. Right before making the plunge I thought I better learn some music theory. With the guidance of my Aunt (a College Music Professor) I studied and was tested on two semesters worth of music theory in the span of three months 😅. It completely opened my mind to “The language of music” and broke the barrier to completely understanding the Fretboard!!! Regardless of the path you choose, formal training is a must if you want to quickly become a professional musician!

Great way to break it down.

Well, I might as well throw this out there. At almost 70 years of age, I'm way past my prime learning years, and looking back I can clearly see that most of those were wasted years so far as my guitar playing. I had exactly one lesson. One. I was married with children and simply couldn't afford more, so I did the next best thing (for me) which was to pull a chair beside experienced players and learn from watching them. Honestly, I've never advanced beyond knowing a lot of chords in several positions, but I did develop into a pretty good rhythm player. I've used what little I know to write a few songs and entertain my family, which makes me happy. I really enjoy your videos and am happy for you that you are able to make a good living doing what you love! Never stop!

another excellent video ----

Great breakdown. Very good info for how you translated that experience into actual work. For what its worth I'd add community to the list of why it's worthwhile to go. I went to MI in the 90s when it was cheaper and the program was a 12 month course. 90% of students took that and few did the 2 or 4 year thing. I came into it a barely competent bass player and I left pretty damn good. Sure the curriculum was helpful but being around all the other musicians for a year, all the labs and playing with instructors that were far better than me is what made me good. It was performance based, not book based and that spoke to me. So if you want to get good quickly then......yeah its worth it.

Ive been playing and have been self taught for 7 years now but I've recently started a band with a couple of friends of mine and its been fun seeing them learn as they go and one friend of mine already knows more music theory than me, lol. But I do feel you in school giving that structure, I lost mine after i started working full time but Im deciding on going to school here in my community college. Dont have any expectations, just really happy to be able to be part o the musical ride!

100%. School can be a tactical advantage for some, because it can allow someone to make a living asymmetrically teaching, while they’re building a career touring/sessions. School helps players compartmentalize concepts to share with others, which equals $. And well, $ is good….lol. I had a student move to Nashville who now tours consistently. After moving, he look lessons with an A-list Nashville cat who we all know and love. The one critique he had was the players inability to teach concepts. So, there is value in having a certain amount of academia, but it has to be viewed in prospective. It’s not a substitute for hard work, and feel, etc.

"you go to college to study musicians that never went to college" haha! My experience with big american colleges was a couple of years in the late 90's. Amazing experience, I was already gigging and playing tough. It did help me out in a few situations through life, expecially with teaching as you say. Now I think the same big name college is manily a pop singer school. with the wealth of knowledge available online, I'd spend time looking for work now, if playing is all you want to do and not teaching (or anything where you need a piece of paper).

Great video! I was at MI in 08 and agree with everything you said. I felt the live playing workshops (LPW) are what helped me the most. I used to try and do at least 3-4/week. It gave me the confidence to play shows/gigs in the real world with little or no rehearsals and really set me apart from other musicians.

Great info!!! 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 Now, back to da woodshed!!

I liked what you said about being required to learn different genres. I think that if you teach yourself you will shy away from styles you don't like. At a school you will be exposed (by curriculum) to those styles. You may learn a lot from those and incorporate them into your daily playing. .

Shout out to the University of North Texas. I went there in the '90s and just was surrounded by amazing musicians. Some who are making it big right now and just being around that energy and watching people who are so much better than I was was just a great experience. Plus the accountability that you mentioned is very important. At least it was for me. Great video