<p>Before I say anything else, this is my first time using this forum... so please forgive me if I make any silly mistakes in etiquette or anything like that.</p>
<p>Anyway, I'm a high school junior, and I want to be a musical theater performer; however, in case that doesn't work out, I'd like to have a back-up career. I've always been in choirs, so I'd love to be a choir teacher... but I don't know how feasible it would be to get both a B.F.A in Musical Theater and B.M. in Music Education (assuming that's what it would take for me to be a choir teacher; I'm also not all that informed about how double majors work).</p>
<p>I've been looking at Ithaca, Otterbein, Northwestern, University of Michigan, and Carnegie Mellon... is this a good plan, or should I do some rethinking?</p>
<p>NYU Steinhardt is offering a new 5 year program: BM in VP (MT or Classical) after 4 years and then a MA Music Ed earned after the fifth year.</p>
<p>Also, I heard from my friend that Ithaca offers a double major in Vocal Performance and Music Education, you should check their website out. [Ithaca</a> College, Ithaca, NY](<a href=“http://www.ithaca.edu%5DIthaca”>http://www.ithaca.edu)</p>
<p>Welcome neopolitanation. There are a lot of things to consider when you start thinking about college. However, please do not consider music education a “back up”. Please only go into music education if you really like children and love music and really want to teach children music. Music education will focus on teaching K-12. It should not be pursued because it is a backup or safety choice. Students deserve teachers whose first love is to teach.</p>
<p>I am not really knowledgeable in the MFA route, but the BM is an intensive program in most schools and the BM Music Education is fairly highly structured to get all of those requirements plus education, too. . Many people recommend taking a plan similar to the route offered by NYU.</p>
<p>Oh, I’m totally aware that teaching needs to be a passion. Both of my parents are teachers, so I’ve helped out in their classrooms countless times, and I love working with kids. But performing is my DREAM, so I want to pursue that until real life finally slaps me in the face. If I hadn’t discovered the theater, teaching music would have been my first choice as a career.</p>
<p>andrewm, I took a look at NYU’s website, and I’m interested. From what I was able to gather, the musical theater education there fits under the category of vocal performance (while still focusing on dance and acting), so from then on it is possible to go on to get certified to teach music K-12. Is that right? Or am I misunderstanding you/the website?</p>
<p>Honestly I don’t know too much about the program because i found out that information out in another thread on the website. I would call an admissions counselor at the school so i don’t give you the wrong info!</p>
<p>You might want to look at Oklahoma City University at the Bass School of Music. They have a Bachelor of Music in Performance, including a musical theatre track, and a Bachelor of Music in Education.
[Oklahoma</a> City University : Bass School of Music](<a href=“http://www.okcu.edu/music/degrees.aspx]Oklahoma”>http://www.okcu.edu/music/degrees.aspx)</p>
<p>The School of Music at James Madison University offers a BM with an emphasis in Music Theatre through the School of Music. There is currently a student in the program doing a double emphasis in Music Theatre and Music Education… pretty intense. However, because the BM degree in Music Theatre is very music heavy, there are students who in thepast have completed the BM with an emphasis in Music Theatre and then applied for graduate school in Music Education to pick up the methods courses and the student teaching.</p>
<p>PS. Because James Madison has both a BA in Musical Theatre through the School of Theatre & Dance AND a BM with an emphasis in Music Theatre through the School of Music, I want to clarify that my above examples are about students in the BM program through the School of Music. </p>
<p>D is a VP major at NYU with a concentration in MT. D was notified this week that the 5 year BM (VP) /MA (Music Ed) program was approved.</p>
<p>There may not be any info about it on the website since it is brand new. D was e-mailed by the program head to ask people currently in the VP program if they are interested. A meeting giving more info for current students is going to take place soon.</p>
<p>Prior to this program, NYU offered a BM in Music Ed. People between insturments or voice as their speciality. A separate MA in music ed was also offered.</p>
<p>Neopolitanation, at Northwestern, students from both the School of Communication (Theatre majors) and Bienen School of Music can audition for the Musical Theatre Certificate program at the end of their freshman and/or sophomore years. It’s my understanding, however, that you’d need to be a Voice major in the Music School in order to do this. If you’re interested, you should probably contact the school to see how you would incorporate Music Education into your plans. As well, you should note that the theatre degree from Northwestern would be a BA not a BFA, which I only point out because you stipulated BFA in your original post, and it would actually be a BA in Communication plus the MT Certificate.</p>
Thanks!</p>