LACM (Los Angeles College of Music) - Pasadena, California

Ben M.

If I'd written this review after leaving the school, I'd likely have only given a one star rating. Since it looks like some of their faculty have changed or moved on, I want to give the benefit of the doubt that things have improved. I attended LACM in 2010 and couldn't complete the program after the unprofessional behavior by two of my instructors. I was verbally abused by an instructor in front of about 10 students and a few guest musicians only a few weeks into school for not understanding how to sight read and play a drum chart. I was accepted into the school with an understanding I'd be offered the time and space to grow in my abilities of reading music among other skills, but the expectations made that impossible. One instructor, who still works at LACM, would make comments regularly that were insulting towards students in general. They weren't anything I'd call abusive so much as a brash or obnoxious personality. Make sure to visit before applying, as I think you should with any school, and try to develop familiarity with the faculty. I want to believe things have changed for the better, but I wouldn't recommend this school after my experiences.

Jeff N.

A lot of top notch players in the industry teach here. Many of them teach at other schools in the area. I attended for the jazz program; one of LACM's newer degrees.

If you are considering attending here, the best advice I could give you is to drop by the school and learn more about the program(s) you are interested in, if you can. That way you will know what you're signing up for before you sign up to attend.

The school, at this point, is slightly pressed for space and some classes are forced to meet at 9pm or 10pm.
The school only has a small number of practice rooms. About 8 rooms, total. That's slightly problematic when you're sharing with multiple ensembles. A big band can have, on average, about 20 players. If many of them are practicing at the same time, you may not be able to find a practice room. A lot of students have to have their private lessons in practice rooms because of the lack of facilities. That makes finding a practice room harder.

I had a couple of classes in the “Garage”, or the north building. It was frustrating to me because that building is also full of administration offices and has the school's visitor center. I had an ensemble class in there, and it was distracting to hear teachers talking and walking through to other rooms, administrators making business calls, etc.

Definitely come by and see if the school would be a good fit before you attend.

Y S.

Composing for visual media major of this school is incredibly terrible. Curriculum is cheap. No one teaches how to compose, analyze and study music. No one teaches style of each composer deeply. Every lecture of only this faculty is superficial. It’s not enough to be a composer, but unfortunately they think it’s enough. And teachers of this faculty don’t teach seriously(Davich and Tom Hiel are terrible, especially Hiel is the worst teacher I’ve ever met because of his laziness). Of course there are good teachers, but you have few chance to meet them because they are busy. We must know that good player isn’t always a good coach. Actually they work at real music industry, but it doesn’t mean they can teach well. After all, names of these famous people are used to tempt people who don’t know anything and think by themselves at all. I was a person like this, and I regret that It took so long time to notice this thing. I hope no one who has motivation to study hard is betrayed by bad teachers. Only people who understand my frustration are guys of front desk.
By the way, performance faculty of this school is very nice, I think.

Till R.

Great drum program, teachers, staff and interesting and talented students from all over the world..fantastic masterclasses with the best of the best and overall a top school for music. Graduated in 2014 and couldn't be happier I decided to go there.

Eve L.

I attended the Drummer's Reality Camp last summer and it was AWESOME .
We toured the DW facility and the teachers were amongst some of the best drummers in the land.

Hyunjun J.

world's best music school!
I miss everybody @ lacm
from 2007-2008

Annabelle B.

Best college ever! Best teachers and students. Everyone cares about your progress!

Erica B.

This is the college I want to go to, but I might have some more singing colleges that I want to go to