Choir and Theatre

Student Lounge College Life
1

Hello CCers! This upcoming fall, I will be a new freshman student, and I have a question about two extracurricular activities I would like to participate in. I have been singing and acting basically all of my life (AKA musical theatre), and I very much intend to continue pursuing these passions in college. However, I worry about putting too much on my plate, especially since I also intend to dedicate my time towards doing well academically, writing for the college newspaper (journalism is another huge passion of mine), and getting involved with a bunch of other clubs/activities that I have an interest in. At the college I am attending, one must be a part of the choir to sing in any of the main vocal performances, and it is a big time commitment. Rehearsals are twice a week, but I am sure that there are many more in the weeks leading up to performances. The theatre program, on the other hand, is much more manageable, as participation is on a show-by-show basis, but there is only one musical produced per year. Ideally, I would love to do both, but based on feedback I have received from current students, doing both the choir and theatre at the same time is possible, but extremely difficult. Although I would miss being a part of the main singing group, I think it might be better and easier for me to concentrate on the theatre program and do free private voice lessons offered by the college on the side. Any thoughts or comments are truly appreciated, thank you!

TL;DR Is doing choir rehearsals/performances and theatre rehearsals/performances at the same time in college manageable?

2

Obviously it will vary from school to school. My D’19 was required to audition for every theatre production to keep her scholarship freshman year. So she was in 3 or 4 things? At her school, it was a LOT throughout the year. One play practiced 6 nights a week.

Sophomore year she wanted a break from that and missed singing, so she did choir which was a fairly small commitment of 2 hours a week. Next year, she is not planning on choir and will audition for theatre only if something catches her fancy. (She has also moved from theatre major, to minor, to just taking the theatre classes she wants. College is for figuring out what you really want…)

So, yes, I would agree with your idea of picking one, for now and see how it goes- especially as a freshman. You can always switch it up other years. I will say she met most of her friend group through theatre so it was worth it.

3

@bjscheel thank you for your reply! I think that’s a good idea–I’ll probably just start with being a part of the theatre club and taking private voice, both of which are not fairly large commitments at my school and both of which will allow me to focus on my studies/the college transition and meeting new friends.

2 Likes