Degrees Required to become a Voice Professor?

<p>I will be a freshman music major this upcoming fall, and I will be majoring in voice performance. My question is, what degrees are required to be a voice professor? Could one be qualified by having a bachelor in voice and a master's in voice (nevermind Doctor for now), or is a special emphasis on teaching required (or possibly even a degree?) since it is a sort of "educational position?</p>

<p>Typically, an MM in the discipline is the absolute minimum even for a pt lecturer position. Assistant, associate tenure track positions will require a doctorate, and some positions may allow the Artists Diploma or Graduate Professional degree as “equivalent”.</p>

<p>Take a look through some of the job listings here [Music</a> - Faculty Positions - HigherEdJobs.com](<a href=“Pardon Our Interruption”>Pardon Our Interruption) for qualifications. There is also a requirement for a history of active performance and “demonstrated excellence” as boilerplate in most of these. (You may need to redo the search criteria when the link loads; follow the sidebar links under Fine/Performing Arts/Music.)</p>

<p>A couple of prior threads where the subject is touched upon</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/229683-nervous-about-music-major.html?highlight=college+teaching[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/229683-nervous-about-music-major.html?highlight=college+teaching&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/586081-need-music-related-grad-school-career-suggestions.html?highlight=college+teaching[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/586081-need-music-related-grad-school-career-suggestions.html?highlight=college+teaching&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/463946-any-grad-schools-older-students.html?highlight=college+teaching[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/463946-any-grad-schools-older-students.html?highlight=college+teaching&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>You should sit down with your advisor (and other faculty, doctoral candidates) once you get settled, and begin to explore this both from the standpoint of their experiences, as well as the degree path options that may help you achieve your goal.</p>

<p>While some background in “education” will serve you well, do not confuse music education with pedagogy. Music ed is designed to prepare a student to achieve certification and teach within a k-12 public setting. Pedagogy is geared to teaching techniques and methodologies more often employed in one on one/studio/small group instruction rather than large classroom settings.</p>

<p>There is benefit to having background in some of the general education and specific discipline applied teaching theories and practice, but a music ed path may not necesarrily be the right one.</p>

<p>This is a simplistic summary to get you thinking and asking the kinds of questions you will need to have answered.</p>

<p>There are a couple of professional educators/applied faculty that frequent the board. Perhaps they’ll chime in with more specific advice.</p>

<p>It depends on the kind of school which is hiring. Many state schools, especially regional kinds of universities, absolutely require the DMA for tenure track status. OTOH, at conservatories, degrees are almost meaningless, but rather extensive performance experience and reputation is required. Not all professors have ANY degrees if their credentials as a professional musician are strong enough. Some major universities have a mix of performance faculty, i.e. Artist-Teacher of Voice (or an instrument), and other faculty members with doctoral degrees…so that someone is on hand who has gone through graduate processes, the documents, the exams, etc. </p>

<p>First and foremost will be proof positive of outstanding performance ability and credentials of experience, reviews, reputation. Teaching experience will be required most places, too, however it is accomplisted, GTA, part-time work, private studio, etc.</p>

<p>Thanks, both of you. Very helpful information, I especially liked the site with job listings, violadad, it really put things into perspective.</p>