Advice for young singer

College Majors Music Major
1

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>I am a current undergraduate voice performance major who is looking for some advice. I am from Kansas and currently attending KU. I am a transfer student from a community college. </p>

<p>When I began at community college I had not decided what I wanted to do yet. I was always the best singer in my small town, but never thought I would be good enough to do it professionally, until one of my teachers convinced me otherwise. I auditioned last minute for Boston Conservatory and Northwestern, but of course did not get in (my videos were awful, I'm not going to lie). A doctoral piano student friend of mine told me that KU had a new music school and that the program was good, so I went ahead and gave it one last shot and auditioned, and got a call a week later from one of the voice staff saying I was in the top auditions and he asked me to join his studio, which I did. </p>

<p>So of course now I am super behind and practically a freshman, everyone else is way better than me, I can't do anything with a Voice BM except go to grad school, and I continue to rack up student loan debt.</p>

<p>I am a straight A student and a hard worker, and I am smart enough to know when to say when. I talked to my voice instructor about switching majors, but he said I should wait until the end of the year, because I've only gone one semester. One excruciatingly eye opening, self esteem hurting, expensive semester (expensive by my standards, anyway).</p>

<p>I believe that my voice teacher is a fantastic teacher, and really knows what he is talking about. I have made remarkable progress and improvement this semester, and really feel like I am starting to know my voice and improve as a singer and performer. I would love nothing more than to continue and sing for the rest of my life. I just dont know that I'm good enough, and I'm so far behind already. I don't even really like singing classical/opera, I prefer jazz, but I feel like the classical training improves my voice over all, and I find that I get a better hold over musical theater and jazz styles by studying classically.</p>

<p>So the big question - finish this degree and just work my ass off and go to grad school, switch majors at the end of the year, or switch now, before second semester begins? Maybe switch to something like theater-voice bfa?</p>

<p>I still really want to sing and take voice lessons, surely there are opportunities freelancing outside of the classical field? I just don't know what to do, I followed my dream and I feel like I fell in a hole.</p>

<p>Thanks for any advice.</p>

2

<p>There are plenty of jazz and musical theater performers who have an undergrad in classical VP. You are right, it does give you a fantastic base. It sounds as if you are very self aware and kudos to you for recognizing that you really are not passionate about classical music.
As a transfer student, how many more semesters do you have to go? Are you interested in teaching? Could you re focus on a degree in Music Education? Could you switch to Jazz Vocal performance?</p>

3

<p>Don’t feel bad about following your dream. Otherwise, you’d never know what being VP was all about.</p>

<p>Every time you make a switch (school or major) you have to be prepared to make up credits. It will be more expensive and you may fall further behind. So it’s better if you don’t make any more changes until you really know what you want to do. At this point, it is better to stick with VP for the rest of this year and work on your voice and musicianship.</p>

<p>It’s hard to tell from your posting whether you are leaning toward jazz or musical theater.</p>

<p>If jazz is a possibility you can “test the waters” by immediately start working on jazz standards. There are some books that can help such as Jay Clayton’s “Sing Your Song”. </p>

<p>When you get back to school go speak to the director of your Jazz department, even though it looks like KU does not offer voice as an instrument for jazz. He could likely suggest a jazz voice teacher with whom you could study privately even if that instructor is not strictly voice. Maybe he could even do more for you if the department or an ensemble needs a vocalist for gig – you never know. That’s why it’s a good idea to have some jazz standards prepared. </p>

<p>If you are still enjoying jazz over the next few months and are getting serious, you could attend summer jazz voice program like Janice Borla. There are also ways to take online jazz voice lessons which could be less expensive. </p>

<p>Hope this helps.</p>