Colleges for Musical Theater - PART 39 !

College Majors Musical Theater Major
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<p>Allthatjazz-
In response to your questions about Tisch/CAP. My d1 is a junior at Tisch currently studying abroad (by the way, a huge variety of options here for Tisch kids). She spent her last 2 years in CAP and yes, they were a very close supportive group, worked well together on projects in class as well as out of class. Because of the larger numbers, the classes get divided into groups of 3 and 4, so you may not have the opportunity to work with all your fellow students like you would in smaller programs.</p>

<p>To my knowledge there are NO graduate students teaching in the studios. There are graduate students that teach some of the Tisch academic courses - but no students teach the acting & music components, including private voice (which is not always the case with other schools/programs).</p>

<p>Regarding tensions among departments - I would say there is some, but it is focused more on administration and economics. similar to what you would find at many schools. Most of the issues come down to money and space. The film department has an international reputation and many feel a lot of the Tisch money goes to this department. And with so many studio's and 2 MT programs there is a lot of bargaining for desirable performance space. I see
this more as a healthy tension with each department chair wanting the best for their program.</p>

<p>Did you visit Elon and Miami? We did with d2 and spent a lot of time evaluating these schools. She did not go to these schools, but I feel I learned a lot about their programs. If you have any other questions regarding any of these schools, just pm me.
Congratulations and good luck to you!</p>

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<p>A couple of weeks ago I posted a link to a NY Times article by Ben Brantley about Broadway and American Idol. The ensuing discussion was terrific. Today's Times has a review by Stephen Holden of a performance by the inimitable 77-year-old Barbara Cook at the Cafe Carlyle (longtime home of the equally inimitable Bobby Short, who died recently). The last few paragraphs, which I'm copying here, make some of the same points that Brantley did; the final two paragraphs pack a particular punch. I give them all these points a standing ovation, even though I'm a confessed Idol addict:</p>

<p>"While watching "Tribute," I thought back to the Broadway anthology unleashed on the April 5 edition of "American Idol," whose nine contestants struggled to articulate fragments of songs like "The Impossible Dream," "People," "My Funny Valentine" and "Hello, Young Lovers." The paradox of this toxic singing contest, which is the rough equivalent of the old "Ed Sullivan Show" in suggesting the median level of mass musical taste, is that it has the power to canonize songs, which its clueless judges then go on to treat as stunts in a gymnastic competition that rewards crude physical prowess.</p>

<p>"To listen to Simon Cowell dismiss the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic "Hello, Young Lovers" as a "mind-numbingly boring" song that belongs on "a washing powder commercial in 1965" was to hear an ill-willed philistine sneering through a cloud of his own noxious vapors. </p>

<p>"The contestants are urged not to be "pitchy" (the program's favorite pseudo-technical word for off-pitch, which they usually are), and are congratulated for their high notes and telegenic appeal. ("I admit I'm falling in love with you," Paula Abdul gushed to one. "When you smile you melt America's heart," she blubbered to another.) The third judge, Randy Jackson, doesn't know the difference between a dude and a "dogg" (his two favorite words).</p>

<p>"Let's not kid ourselves: the ascendance of "American Idol," and its turning of music into sports, signals the end of American popular song as we know it. Its ritual slaughter of songs allows no message to be carried, no wisdom to be communicated, other than the screamed and belted song of the self. </p>

<p>"Ms. Cook, who gives master classes in how to sing and tell the truth, could talk herself blue in the face to these people and never be understood. What a stunning loss we face." </p>

<p>If you want to read the whole review -- some beautiful stuff, including Holden saying that Cook's "magnificent voice has the emotional viscosity of time in a bottle" -- here's the link:
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/14/arts/music/14cook.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/14/arts/music/14cook.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>Whoops. Sorry about the extra "them" in my first paragraph above. Usually I'm a much more careful copy editor.</p>

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<p>yay for constantine that trained at boston conservatory! i wonder what the faculty there thinks about all this. :D</p>

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<p>yes, high praise to constantine indeed:) I have a question for everyone..does anyone have any info about Belmont University in Nashville, TN?</p>

<p>thanks so much- amy:)</p>

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<p>Amy - Belmont -We know a current student who is happy at Belmont majoring in instrumental music (which required audition) and English with plans to go to law school to focus on music industry law. We know another (HS) student who just visited there about music business and was impressed. I believe the MT program is new, but it might be worth a look.</p>

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<p>Amy - I definitely think Belmont is worth taking a look into. My brother just wrote a letter of recommendation for an actress he worked with who was vocally trained at Belmont. She, also, said the Musical Theatre program is pretty new, but the training you receive at Belmont is great, she loved the school and would definitely recommend it. (By the way, the letter of rec. my brother wrote for her was to get into the Masters program at NYU - which she did - so Belmont training must be good!)</p>

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<p>I went to showcase. They were wonderful. I have been watching those kids perform on stage for the last four years. You can see how they all mature. They all pretty much picked the right material. The women all looked very good. While there was really only one of those stand-out CCM belt voices that makes the audience want to stand up and applaud, the other mix-belt and soprano voices were great. You can see the training is above board. One student had as many as 20 agents rush her at the end. Another one was handed a scrip for Little Woman, right there on the spot.</p>

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<p>mommy3: Was it the big belter who had the rush of agents at the end? Just curious.</p>

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<p>yeah, i'm wondering that too. I'm going to a 5 day camp there this summer, so maybe I will find out what they go for.</p>

<p>-amy:)</p>

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<p>The big belter had about 22 calls, the soprano had 20. Two boys, the one funny one had 17, and another more leading-man type had 16. From what I understand, this showcase had the best turnout ever. Everyone had agent calls, the lowest being two to the highest being 22. Another guy was approached by LeRoy Eames (Sp??) to join him in Hello Dolly, I believe.</p>

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<p>I have been hearing that turnouts for most of the showcases have been on the high side this year. That's great news. Let's keep our fingers cross that the trend continues.</p>

<p>SUE aka 5pants</p>

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<p>Penn State recently had their showcase in NYC jointly with CCM acting, and Otterbein MT and acting and had a wonderful response and results for their students. Faculty reported that having other schools join their showcase allowed for greater numbers of agents and casting directors to be present and they felt this was their best one yet!</p>

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<p>Baldwin-Wallace also joins in the showcase with PSU, Otterbein, and CCM acting.</p>

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<p>Baldwin-Wallace and Webster:</p>

<p>Our friend visited 5 MT schools in 4 states over spring break in late March. She liked them all, but her favorite 2 were Webster and Baldwin-Wallace. She had glowing reports about the Webster, including 5pants' twins and their friends - thanks Nate! I'm assuming both of these schools have the nurturing environments that Sue was mentioning earlier.</p>

<p>Also, since I just posted about the Baldwin-Wallace showcase, she was there the night they performed the showcase on campus, and here were her comments from an e-mail:</p>

<p>We were very lucky to see the senior showcase- which was AMAZING. There were only 9 senior MT majors- 4 guys, 5 girls- and it could only last 30 minutes, so they each stood up and sang parts of two songs- working them all into sort of a plot. It was really fun to watch- they were incredibly talented. I think they were all fit for Broadway, but the thing I liked the most was watching how they looked at their classmates as they sang- they all seemed incredibly close and supportive of one another..... “one big happy family”.</p>

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<p>Amy OConnell,</p>

<p>You may be disappointed in regard to finding out what the MT faculty at CCM like by attending the summer workshop. In the past, the summer MT workshop has been run by Preparatory faculty, not the college faculty. The college faculty have had nothing to do with the summer workshop. They do not teach it and they do not attend the performance at the end of the session. If this has changed, I, and I'm sure many of the other readers, would be interested in finding out.</p>

<p>Mommy3,
It's LeRoy Reams. He was one of the very first CCM grads. He's been touring lately with "The Producers" along with Angie Schworer (Ulla)from Northern Kentucky. Northern Kentucky is a suberb of Cincinnati. Ms. Schworer did not attend CCM. I believe that she attended Northern Kentucky University for awhile, but left before graduating to move to NYC. she's been performing steadily ever since. See, it is possible to be successful without a degree from a big name school, or even any school at all!</p>

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<p>I have a question regarding Showcases. How important or crucial do you think it is to attend a program that has them? There are some MT programs that don't have a senior showcase. I know that most MT schools seem to have them but there are some that don't.</p>

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<p>Very crucial. I believe it is one of THE most important factors when looking at a performance program. Some schools don't have them, some schools require you to audition to get into them (ex. NYU), and some schools require all of their students to perform in them. If I was going into an acting or MT program, and I had the options, I would only choose a program where all students could perform in the showcase - it is EXTREMELY helpful to have an agent (which comes from the showcase) right out of school.</p>

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<p>Showcases - I also originally thought the showcase was a "must have" until our visits to OCU and Elon where they convinced me that their approach is just as good. OU has a similar arrangement. In all these cases, they are bringing agents and others from the industry to campus to watch performances, do workshops, etc. and to spend more time with their students than what is allowed at the showcases. Also, they were able to convince us of this because their graduates are out there working in summers and right after graduation, so they must be doing something right. I propose that you should at least hear the alternatives offered by schools before immediately writing off a school with no showcase.</p>

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<p>I have never really known what to think of showcases actually. I do know though that our Webster Seniors just got back from their NYC one and had the best results ever. A lot of students walked away with agents, shows, and even possible Soap gigs. I think another main thing about the showcase that isn't looked upon is that the agents also talk a ton. I know some of our seniors received phone calls from people who didn't even attend the showcase... word of mouth is wonderful : )</p>

<p>I would say that they are important... but not to pick your school on them. I say this because if you aren't trained to your highest potential, a showcase would be worthless for you. It is kinda like the cherry on the top of the ice cream... it isn't needed to make the ice cream good... but it sure helps.</p>

<p>NLB</p>