How do I know if a school is a cons averting program of just liberal arts program? I mean obviously I know some schools are conservatories by their name and like a public school wouldn’t be but what about somewhere like Marymount Manhattan for example. Seems like most are listed as liberal arts
Conservatory I mean! Dumb auto correct!
I would recommend investigating the “non theater” classes you have to take. For myself (I don’t know if there is an “accepted” definition- this is just my own) a school is a “conservatory” if you take all arts classes- or perhaps only one “academic” class a semester. More would be “liberal arts”. As with all things - you have to check school by school!
There’s also conservatory style within a lib arts university. Otterbein is one such school as is Shenandoah. Very few gen eds.
I think there are lots of BFAs like that (conservatory training at a liberal arts university) in fact- it might be the majority. If memory serves CMU was one academic a semester, so were Syracuse, the Guthrie program at U Minn and CCM.
The term “conservatory” seems to be used fairly loosely.
There are dedicated conservatories or schools of the arts:
- Boston Conservatory
- University of North Carolina School of the Arts
- University of the Arts
There are conservatories at various universities:
- Webster Conservatory of Theatre Arts
- Point Park Conservatory of Performing Arts
- The Theatre Conservatory at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University
- Shenandoah University Conservatory
- University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music
- The Hartt School - the performing arts conservatory of the University of Hartford
- Baldwin-Wallace University Conservatory of Music
And then there is “conservatory-style training” - pretty much every BFA and BM program will make this claim, especially if they are within a dedicated “School of Fine Arts/Music/Performing Arts” at a college or university.
"Conservatory programs" and “conservatory-style training” for MT seem to share many of these attributes:
- A BFA or BM degree with "a pre-professional training focus"
- 90 hours or more in the major
- 30 hours or less of General Education requirements
- Private lessons every semester (e.g., voice)
- Studio/workshop performance-based coursework in MT every semester (or almost every semester)
- Studio/workshop performance-based coursework in Acting for several semesters
- Jury sessions each year or at least the first two years
- More than one dance course per semester with a total of 8-10 (or more) dance courses required (Ballet I-IV, Jazz I-III, Tap I-II, etc.)
- Several courses in Music Theory, Aural Skills, and Keyboard Skills
- A substantial production season with at least 2-3 musicals
- A Senior Capstone project
- A Showcase at the end of the curriculum
And THIS is why you can never leave this forum, @EmsDad!!!
CCM is a public school. It was once private, but merged with the University of Cincinnati in the 60s.
Same scenario for the conservatory at Shenandoah. Both conservatories had long histories of musical training excellence (like many conservatories, CCM grew out of a school for “genteel young ladies” in the mid 1800s), but found it advantageous to combine with the “local college”, ultimately forming a “university”. The conservatories maintained the rigorous music-related training in an “isolated” setting (with dance and theater thrown in at some point), but also reaped the benefits of being part of a larger campus with additional offerings in non-music related areas.
Most conservatories remain within some sort of “school of music (and theater/dance)”, whereas many “conservatory-like” programs are just one of the programs within the “liberal arts” college of a school. At Wright State for example, the Acting/MT/Dance program is in the “Theater and Motion Pictures Department” of the College of Liberal Arts - separate from the “Music Department”, “Art Department”, “History Department”, “Biology Department”, etc. At CCM, Music, Dance, MT, Drama, Technical Theater, Commercial Sound Production, etc., are all in the “conservatory”, while History, Biology, etc. are in the Liberal Arts college. For many MT programs in true conservatories, being accepted into the conservatory takes precedence over the acceptance to the university at large - although you may be offered admission to the university AFTER you have been rejected from the conservatory program - if you meet school requirements. This is a generalization, and not true for every conservatory program.
OCUs musical theatre degree, like Baldwin Wallace, is housed in the School of Music and is a Bachelor of Music degree. Out of the 128 hours required for the degree - 40 are gen ed hours, including one lab for science. Most semesters you may only take one gen ed. D also took an online class last summer and plans to take another one this year so she can keep most of her hours at school in voice, acting, dance, etc… That is a very common practice among the MTs. There is also a Maymester where you could take a gen ed if you wished. And if you come in with AP credits, have taken 4 years of a language in high school, or CLEP out of some subjects, you can easily reduce the number of needed gen eds further. But at its core, for the BM in MT at OCU - more than 75% of your hours are in MT related classes.
Montclair is similar, though it is a BFA MT. Very few gen-eds, no math or science, and some of the gen-eds can be performance-related (like for a required world cultures class you can take African Dance). Two semesters of a language are required, but my daughter is taking sign language next year and is really excited about it! And she loved her lit class this year (very small class and lots of discussion). Also took a class on gender issues that she loved. A computer skills class is required. Juries for acting, singing, and piano, NY Showcase senior year. A full year of theory and a full year of aural skills. The hardest part is fitting everything in since the classes required for the MT major (90+ credits) are so time-intensive.
Yes - I guess I should have said that at OCU you do have juries every semester. You also are required to do both a junior and senior recital. And you have 4 semesters each of piano, theory and aural skills along with some other music classes like conducting
As you can see, every program is different - so really look at the curriculum of each school to make sure you will be taking the classes you want to take
.
Here here!! Yes, look at curriculums!! Don’t assume that all BFA’s are alike, or that a BFA and a BM or even a BA are NOT alike. They could be very similar! I have no clue what the “rules” are for calling yourself a Conservatory or a BFA or a BM or a BA, but whatever they are, they are not clear.
You might also want to check out how much “cross-over” goes on between whatever department the MT/Acting program is in and it’s connection to the music/vocal and dance programs if they are in “separate” colleges. For example, the MT/Acting at Indiana (BFA and BA options) is in the Theater department, but vocal performance and classical dance are in Jacobs School of Music. At IU, the Contemporary Dance WAS housed in the Health Sciences college (I believe) - due to its historical “roots” in early health and fitness education, but recently moved into the Theater department for a better connection to MT/jazz. At UMich, classical/contemporary dance is separate from the MT department, with little chance for interconnection. Sometimes this makes no difference in the accessibility of classes/private teachers/performance opportunities between departments, and sometimes it is next to impossible to access those things outside your department because of logistics, scheduling issues, or requirement differences between majors/schools. For some students who want options for higher level voice/dance/instrument/music theory training, this can be a deal killer. For others, it’s no big deal. By their very nature, conservatories tend to be very insular in who they allow into their classes/private coaching. But as others have stated, every program is different and will need to be researched on case-by-case - and even year-to-year - basis.
In addition to looking at the required curriculum, make sure to also look at, and ask about electives. Some schools (BFA, BM, BA) have room for electives that can either add more classes in the major, or add more classes (leave room for a double major, minor, etc…). Other schools may not have the same possibilities for electives inside or outside of the major.
For example, I teach in a BA program where the required course work breaks down about 50/50 between required major classes, and required general education classes. However most students come in with some IB, AP, dual enrollment credit, and continue with their foreign language from HS (diminishing the amount of language they need to take at JMU), and most students graduate with far more than the required number of credits in the major, so the breakdown of classes within the major/ outside of the major ends up being more in the 75/25 to 60/40 range.
Every school is different, not all BFAs, BMs, or BAs are the same, so it takes a bit of leg work to figure out which schools will offer the kind of educational environment a student may be looking for.