young musician dreaming of nashville (to rent, neighborhood, high school)

[musician1021]

Hi everyone. i could really use some help...im just out of high school looking to go to Nashville to pursue a career in music. i am a singer songwriter and play guitar and piano. Im into bluesy folk kind of stuff and I've herd great things about Belmont University and was wondering if anyone had any advice on a young girl moving out to Nashville by herself? or know anything about Belmont? Is it safe? because ive heard various things. Anything would help me out tremendously.

[BirdieBelle]

Belmont would be an excellent choice. It is a small Christian university near Vanderbilt. Since it broke from the Baptist convention, it welcomes students of different backgrounds. It's also a small, safe campus, though it is over the hill from a lower-income neighborhood that may look scary to some who are just driving through.
The thing about going to Belmont is that you would make lots of music connections and get access to opportunities that you wouldn't get just moving here and trying it on your own. They regularly have students showcases on campus. Their music business program is highly ranked too.
At any rate, I would recommend it, if you can afford it. Being near Vanderbilt and Hillsboro Village, you'd be very close to lots of fun hangouts and possible performance venues.

[DonCorleone]

^ I couldn't agree more. Belmont is a great place to be for music. It's right off of Music Row, literally, and one of the university's biggest donors is the head of a major record company. There are some seedy areas 5-6 blocks away on one side, but there is also one of the trendiest/hippest areas of town even closer (Hillsboro Village).

I think as long as you use common sense you will be fine as a single young woman in that area.

[vespula]

Originally Posted by musician1021

Hi everyone. i could really use some help...im just out of high school looking to go to Nashville to pursue a career in music. i am a singer songwriter and play guitar and piano. Im into bluesy folk kind of stuff and I've herd great things about Belmont University and was wondering if anyone had any advice on a young girl moving out to Nashville by herself? or know anything about Belmont? Is it safe? because ive heard various things. Anything would help me out tremendously.

Any musician would be very fortunate to go to Belmont.
Great area, Great school. Nashville is a great city. Since you are planning to be a music major, I dont think you will get any better experience in Nashville than at Belmont. Plenty of places to rent around the school. Plenty to do. You really wont even need a car if you plan on really focusing on career and college life. A bicycle and some nice weather should get you where you want to go.

[mcredux]

At the end of the day, you'll ultimately do what you want to do, but...

Avoid Belmont. The music department is the scam of the century. You pay 20k in tuition per year. If you're lucky, you get out to an internship that pays $10 an hour.

People will say you make contacts there, but you could just as easily network every night for four years and save $80k. Belmont could help marginally if you were looking
to be on the business side of things (btw, none of these biz jobs will even exist in 15 years), but for singer/songwriter stuff, it won't help.

Statistically, Nashville isn't too safe, but you'll figure out which places to avoid. It's really cheap to live as well.

Ultimately you should go where you think you can build a fanbase. Long story short, if you're an attractive blonde who wants to sing bubble-gum pop or country, then look at Nashville. If your music is a little more authentic and needs a smarter crowd--ala Janis Joplin--then you're better off going somewhere else b/c you'll get overlooked here. Most musicians I know here seek to get out of Nashville. You're best bet would be to build a fanbase then occasionally travel to Nashville for business. If I were starting out, I would look at the East Coast where there are a ton of college students in close proximity. It makes touring easy.

[Pimpy]

Originally Posted by mcredux

At the end of the day, you'll ultimately do what you want to do, but...

Avoid Belmont. The music department is the scam of the century. You pay 20k in tuition per year. If you're lucky, you get out to an internship that pays $10 an hour.

People will say you make contacts there, but you could just as easily network every night for four years and save $80k. Belmont could help marginally if you were looking
to be on the business side of things (btw, none of these biz jobs will even exist in 15 years), but for singer/songwriter stuff, it won't help.

Statistically, Nashville isn't too safe, but you'll figure out which places to avoid. It's really cheap to live as well.

Ultimately you should go where you think you can build a fanbase. Long story short, if you're an attractive blonde who wants to sing bubble-gum pop or country, then look at Nashville. If your music is a little more authentic and needs a smarter crowd--ala Janis Joplin--then you're better off going somewhere else b/c you'll get overlooked here. Most musicians I know here seek to get out of Nashville. You're best bet would be to build a fanbase then occasionally travel to Nashville for business. If I were starting out, I would look at the East Coast where there are a ton of college students in close proximity. It makes touring easy.

Hate to say it, but this is an accurate post. There are more musicians (a.k.a. waiters/bartenders) in Nashville than you could shake a stick at. To make things worse, most of the "real" talent gets overlooked in favor of those with a manufactured teenybopper image, i.e. Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood.

Nashville is a great city for young people, but don't expect Belmont to be your guaranteed ticket to success in the music business.