Having read a lot of well informed posts on this site, it seems pretty important to have a sample lesson when doing college visits. Apparently the student should email the professor directly. With voice, is there a method to finding the best teacher to meet? Initially I was looking for teachers with his voice type since our private teacher locally is a beautiful mezzo soprano but doesn’t always know the best practices for a true bass singer. But then I noticed some of the bass/baritone teachers were known for training sopranos. How do you guys pick a teacher to meet with at these visits?
We showed the faculty list to S18’s private voice teacher first, to solicit his opinion. If he did not know them well, we relied on info in their bio listed on the music department web site and picked one who appeared to teach his voice type. We also got opinions from current music students at that school, whom we met on an initial tour or were introduced to. Finally, we spoke to music admissions and voice coordinators. One of the music faculty will coordinate placement for voice, and can be quite helpful.
Awesome. And I thought I was thorough. I got nothing on you guys. Thanks for the tips
Also, if your S attends a summer program (or has done so in the past) he should definitely ask professionals he worked with (vocal teachers, directors, etc.) for teacher recommendations at specific schools; email is a great way to do this. Sometimes this can even lead to a “tell Professor X I said hi”, as in our D’s case…
@DVmom18 , I forgot to add…I also private messaged parents on this web site, whom I knew had kids studying music at that school or were otherwise familiar with the faculty there. Got some surprising, and candid, intel that way!