In this episode of Inside Berklee, Melissa Ferrick, an associate professor in Berklee's Songwriting Department, talks about honesty in songwriting, getting students to open up, touring while teaching, and more. 

Inside Berklee: Melissa Ferrick

Berklee Ensemble Department and City Music faculty members Chantel Hampton and Alonzo Harris both have a long and multifaceted list of music industry accomplishments. In this interview Hampton and Harris talk about how a Berklee education can help better prepare students for a career in the music industry; the value of being open to be "forever learning;" and how their own professional experiences are testimony to the value of diversifying one's skill set.

Inside Berklee: Chantel Hampton and Alonzo Harris

Graduated in 2010 with a major in Music Production and Engineering (MP&E).  Principal instrument:  Voice.

Position:  Customer Success Manager at Pitchbook Data.  Matt finds, trains, and maintains clients for a “Google for venture capital” business.  He earns mostly salary, with opportunities for commissions on top of that.

http://pitchbook.com/

Overview:  Upon graduation, Matt got an mostly-unpaid internship with a producer in Seattle, while bartending and waiting tables for money.  Eventually the producer moved away, and a bar client mentioned that his place, a contractor the National Cancer Institute, was hiring “cancer specialists” (basically working at a cancer information hotline.)  He put in the good word, and Matt got the job.  He stayed there over 2 years, it was an OK job, but dead-end, so he looked for something better.  He was helping a friend, who worked at Pitchbook Data, quit smoking.  When her company was hiring, she knew he wanted a new job and recommended him for the job and coached him on what to say during interviews.

You can see his LinkedIn profile here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-clear-3606bb11

Choice quotes:  “I’m always open to opportunity and to learning something new.”

“Being an MP&E student taught me about collaboration, to be a good listener first.  To be a cancer specialist is to listen to people, meet them where they are, and give them info to take it a step further.    That’s exactly what being an engineer or producer is all about.”

“I wish Berklee taught us more more about professional networking and how to present yourself as a professional and demand that kind of respect. Also how to handle our student loans (and our last day of school isn’t the time to do that.)”

Matt Clear | Customer Success Manager

Recorded live at the Riverwalk Cafe and Music Bar, Nashua, NH 6.23.2016 
Nadjim Kebir: Drums
Lennie Peterson: Trombone
Mark Campbell: Guitar
Graham English: Keyboard
Tim Paul Weiner: Bass

Evoke Ensemble Live! Miles Davis' "One Phone Call/Jean Pierre"

The Berklee CDC provides expert guidance, leading-edge resources, and professional development to Berklee College of Music's diverse student and alumni body.

Matt Clear | Customer Success Manager

Berklee CDC

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