<p>I'll report to you on D's experience at JMU as a voice major - she leaves in about 3 weeks and is very excited. If your D visits again, let me know and perhaps they can meet. She looked at several schools on your D's list. She loved Westminster Choir and decided against it only because she decided she wanted a more "classic" undergrad experience. It seems to offer excellent training for the young voice. My D very much enjoyed her sample lesson there and there were several teachers she would have been happy with. We also visited Susquehanna and only ruled it out in favor of West Chester because of the early audition date there.The early audition date is great and doesn't interfere with other auditions. She was very glad she got one under her belt in November - really helped with audition jitters and the day was very well organized. You have to pass the theory test to be admitted so it was a confidence booster in theory too. She took Hartt off the list for reasons similar to Shenandoah - they seem to be really focusing more and more on MT.</p>
<p>Hartt Vocal Performance Major</p>
<p>Please note that Hartt does not focus more on our Musical Theatre major than the Vocal Performance major. The two majors are in completely different divisions of our school and the students only have a few similar courses including music theory, piano keyboarding, and ear training. Our vocal performance major offers performing opportunities in recital singing, choral singing, and opera singing throughout the four years and the musical theatre students participate in musicals. Few programs can boast about the fact the undergraduate students have all of these opportunities in each of the four years. Our undergraduates participate in opera scenes every fall and a full opera production each spring. They also will perform in at least one recital in the freshman year and multiple recitals in the sophomore through senior year. In addition, our vocal performance majors will perform in at least five choral concerts a year, which always include undergraduate soloists. Our program is undergraduate focused meaning that the graduate students are offered their own opera and recital performances.</p>