Emphasis of Training at Northern Colorado

<p>(Helping spread the questions by tracyvp)</p>

<p>We are starting to understand that most BFA Musical Theatre programs try very hard to train “triple threat” performers, but in the end, one of the three disciplines tends to emerge as slightly more prominent or emphasized than the others, and there is usually a second, then third.</p>

<p>For current NoCo students (or parents, if you know), what would you say is the primary emphasis of your training at NoCo?</p>

<p>Also, can you describe the type of training you get in each of the three disciplines? For example, in music, how much time and what sort of training in voice, theory, repertoire, piano, etc. Do you learn both “classical” MT styles as well as contemporary pop styles? When and how?</p>

<p>For acting, do you explore the different approaches, and in what depth? Do you train with the acting BFA’s or separately? Do you get a lot of straight acting training, or is most of the acting training in the context of “acting the song?”</p>

<p>In dance, can more advanced dancers take classes with the Dance majors? How much time is devoted to “specialty” dance like tap, partnering, hip hop, etc?</p>

<p>Sometimes different students have different experiences, so it would be awesome to hear from several!!</p>

<p>Hello kksmom5,</p>

<pre><code> I am a current freshman MT major at UNC. From my experience so far and even the vibe I got when I visited the school before. UNC is very much about training you as an individual performer. Individuality is key here. Of course we are encouraged to work on being great at acting, dancing, and singing all together. However, the truth is that all students will have their own great strengths and weaknesses. UNC is a school where you are encouraged to really work on presenting the best ‘you’ as a performer wether that’s an actor who can sing, or a singer who can dance etc. While working towards becoming a well l rounded performer. There is nothing about UNC that makes me feel that I am trying to be formed into a robot exactly like all my other classmates. We are all so different and UNC really nourishes and develops that aspect of performing, which I really love.
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<p>Training</p>

<pre><code> For singing we have a group voice class each semester for our first 3 years. We also have private voice lessons offered every other week for our first two years which payment is included in the tuition. The downside is that if you wish to take lessons your junior year, you have to pay for them out of pocket. Fist semester of freshman year is focused on legit, then second semester mix/belt. Sophomore and Junior year are much more about creating a strong rep book and working on all sorts of music from all types of genres (even non-musical theatre songs). We are also required to take a piano/theory and a sight singing class our freshman year.

For acting we have an acting class (sometimes everyday of the week and sometimes even 2 classes) ever semester. We are also often mixed in among the acting majors so we are essentially getting the same training form the same teachers. We are taught all sorts of different theories by people such as Uta Hagen, Viola Spolin, Sanford Meisner, and Constantin Stanislavski. I was told by a teacher here that actors will always win above those who are singers. I believe our acting trainging here is phenomenal, very in depth but still varies so we’ll all have different tools to use when we go out into the real world.

I believe that our dance program is the weakest out of the three. Although we take a dance course almost every semester for our 4 years and have many dance electives available since we have a dance major. Poeple who are more experienced are often allowed to test out of lower level classes (we recently just added level 3’ to all of our main dance classes). I feel like many of us MT’s could really benefit from taking a dance class (especially ballet) every day of the weak. Although I don’t believe our program is bad, we have many opportunities to dance and 2 amazingly wonderful teachers, a little more funding could definitely help.
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<p>I hope this is helpful!</p>

<p>Aroad makes really good points! I think one needs to understand that NC’s program is a BA at a state school - it quite good - not the top tier in producing triple threats (especially in dance) - but a dedicated student can get everything they need at NC.</p>