<p>Gadad,</p>
<p>I'm going to use my own college experience as an example of how BM and BA compare. I attended a large state university. I began as a BM piano performance major with a minor in violin. I took piano lessons for 3 hours credit per semester and violin for 2 hours credit. By the time I finished my sophomore year, I had decided that I really wanted to pursue music theory in graduate school rather than performance. I switched to the BA program at the beginning of my junior year. There were very few BA students in the School of Music. Most music majors were either BM performance majors or BMusEd majors. The only thing that changed when I switched to the BA program was that I dropped from 3 hours of piano lessons to 2 hours per semester. That meant I had less practicing to do. I remained with the same private teacher. At my particular university, students were not assigned to teachers on the basis of who was a BM, BA, or BME. I took a large number of graduate level music courses while I was an undergraduate and a fair number of graduate level courses outside of my major. I graduated Phi Beta Kappa. The BA program was not considered to be a lesser degree than the BM at my school. In fact, the BA was sometimes suggested to students who planned to go to graduate school to study either musicology or music theory and composition. I took as many or more academic music courses than the performance majors. After switching to the BA, I continued to play 1st violin in the school's major symphony and I continued accompanying. </p>
<p>I would think that it would be very possible for your D to take 4 years of private voice lessons for credit and to participate in ensembles at many, many universities. All music degree programs require a certain number of credit hours in private lessons. I'd venture to say that most of them require 4 years of lessons. The issue of not being able to study with the best private voice teacher would be a concern primarily at a major conservatory. However, I would think that if your D wants to go the BA route and study many courses outside of music, the university route would be a far better option anyway. You should know that at many universities, BA students must audition, just like BM and BME students, in order to be accepted into the music program.</p>
<p>You are correct that your D cannot sing for 6 or 7 hours a day. Vocalists cannot practice the same number of hours as instrumentalists. You are also correct that singers' instruments do not fully mature until the late 20's or the early 30's. That being the case, if your D goes to a school that has a graduate music program, the plum roles in operas and oratorios will go to the grad students. In an undergraduate only program, the solos in choral works and major roles in operas will go to the strongest singers. There are many programs that will not discriminate on the basis of what degree a student is pursuing. The parts will go to the best singers. Again, using my own university as an example, some of the most talented musicians were working on BME degrees. They, like the BA students, took private lessons for 2 hours per semester. These students elected not to work on a BM because they could see that there were far more jobs available teaching K-12 than performance positions or college teaching positions. </p>
<p>IMHO, your D needs to find a BA program that will allow her to take 4 years of private lessons. Just as for any music student, her relationship with the private teacher should be a primary consideration. She needs to find a teacher with whom she has a rapport. You may want to visit programs you are considering and try to set up sample lessons.</p>