<p>I think we are paying an extra grand for the additional voice lesson…the teacher is doing great things for my D’s voice and we feel it is a worthwhile investment. Another unexpected expense, but worth paying for, is occasional extra dance classes at a drop-in kind of studio ($25 per). She needs a little buffing up on her ballet. We weren’t expecting the gym membership, which is $350 a year. Oh, and now she says she needs LaDuca dance shoes! Oy oy oy…</p>
<p>At OCU 2 voice lessons a week are part of the program with a master class once a week. 4 semesters of piano are also part of the program unless you test out of it. There are other fees though, an accompanist fee, music facility fee and an applied music fee, these are figured and charged per sememester. I think what you will find is that when you go through the list of fees for any school there are many that do not show up when you are looking at the initial cost information. There are always “hidden” fees as in library fees, facility fees, student services fees, etc. I was surprised when I first discovered all of these fees. I now know to look for an include them when I am “budgeting” for the upcoming year.</p>
<p>I guess this varies from school to school then. When my D was in CAP, she had six dance classes per week (included). Never took dance outside of school. Voice was included. The NYU gyms are free and included in tuition. </p>
<p>Yes, she got LaDuca shoes…but I see her sheet music and dance shoes in the same light as books and school supplies and none are included in tuition. Don’t get me started on the cost of art supplies each week for my D who is in architecture school…WAY more than books/sheetmusic/dance shoes cost.</p>
<p>Skwidj…we’ve had the same LaDuca conversation for quite some time. When I saw this thread I was thinking about all the things like that not included in tuition. I have no idea what has been spent this year on sheet music. But I know she has spent the most amount of money on food just because dorm food sucks.</p>
<p>At PSU voice lessons for MT kids are included in tuition. Freshman year they have a class and a rivate lesson each week and I believe the private may be a half hour, not sure. Sophomore year and up the lessons are privates once a week and the cost is , was, $250 a semester, added to the tuition. There is NO cost for the accompianist. At B-W I know there is a cost for accompianist, cannot remember about the lessons. I figured $250 a semester was a measly 15-18 Dollars a lesson, WAY less than her home or NYC privates!</p>
<p>I knew the La Ducas were coming, I was just hoping to delay them another year…hopefully until she learns to take better care of her possessions. Gym was optional but after a few months she said she wanted it. And she has dance classes at school 6 times a week (and often repeats a modern class because she likes it so much) but she wants to do more with ballet.</p>
<p>At IWU, a weekly one hour voice lesson every year is included as part of tuition. Also included is a one hour weekly vocal practice with an assigned accompanist. S has also taken three semesters of piano and has 4 - 6 dance classes each week for no additional charges.</p>
<p>Skwidgymom…if it gives you any hope…my D is not good taking care of things either (in my opinion) but when she got La Ducas…she really has taken good care of those.</p>
<p>Syracuse MT: piano, unlimited dance classes, and 1/2 hour private voice lessons are part of the curriculum and included in the cost. My D has chosen to take an extra voice lesson each week, and for that we pay about $350 per semester – I think that works out to about $35 per lesson.</p>
<p>At Muhlenberg, it’s $400 per instrument per semester. You get 13 45-minute lessons. Since I’m paying for the lessons myself I’ve been trying to learn piano on my own… haha. That’s going /really/ well. But I think the voice lessons are definitely worth it. I can completely hear a difference in my voice when I compare it to this time last year.</p>
<p>ETA: lessons also count for credits!</p>
<p>I know many very good voice teachers who can accompany for lessons wh0 will also have an accompanist in the lessons where a student is working on repertory for performance or a recital. Also – in the case of a voice jury at the end of the semester the teacher cannot play and evaluate the jury, so a student would need an accompanist to play for the jury. This accompanist will also often come into a few lessons before hand. This would also be the case in a program where MT students do a junior or senior recital or a cabaret performance. The teacher would not play for those events.</p>
<p>Each school will handle the fees for lessons and accompanists differently. I cannot exactly remember how it was at Syracuse where I did my undergrad in MT, but I think we did pay an accompanist fee, possibly also a performance studies fee… onstage??? any feedback on the current policy? I have taught at other schools where students in private lessons pay a performance studies fee for private lessons on top of tuition… usually this may be about $200 - $250 per semester. Other schools do not charge a fee, but a student may be required to secure an accompanist for their lessons, juries, and recital, and pay a fee drectly to that accompanist. </p>
<p>There are additional fees to many degrees… accompanist fees, dance shoes, music, pitch pipe, etc… are the equivalent of text books. Some classes for the MT major require no text books but additional supplies. Art students will need to buy many of their own art supplies, etc… It is definately important to find out as much about additional fees as possible when calculating the cost of attendance.</p>
<p>My D has never mentioned an accompanist fee at Syracuse – and believe me, I hear from her every time she needs money!</p>
<p>^^^^LOL…don’t I know it! :D</p>
<p>My D has never had an accompanist fee during four years of college either. </p>
<p>In terms of practice (not performance), she can accompany herself. She has been paid by other students to accompany them to create practice tapes or to help them prepare for an audition.</p>
<p>There can be a lot of unexpected expenses for college in any discipline. However, if you have a performance major, auditions, preparations for auditions, fees for shows, and clothing can add up. My son has terribly wide feet and had to have custom shoes for tap and ballet. $$$$s. He went on some auditions that also cost. He requested a private coach that he felt he needed one semester. He took private instrument lessons another semester for a part. </p>
<p>However, the cost for private voice is included in his MT program. Semi private voice is required. Also, he could take instruction in instruments as one of his electives. The same with additional voice, dance and drama classes. I guess that is something to examine when looking at schools; what the selection of courses are, as some of these things can be taken for no extra charge as part of the curriculum.</p>
<p>My son also wanted lessons from a particular instructor one term that had to be on a private basis. Yes, these expenses to crop up.</p>
<p>Then, there are head shots again…my D got them mid soph year and mid senior year of college. Ka ching…(she did pay for them herself though).</p>
<p>Elon students have an accompanist at each voice lesson, not just their voice teacher. They do not pay extra for the accompanist. These accompanists are also available to the students for additional practice before recitals, juries, etc. as well as for recording music that the students may be working on. For example, D is taking Performance in MT Class with Cathy McNeela this semester. Cathy assigns songs, chosen specifically for D, to be presented in class. D can arrange time with an accompanist to record the songs into her IPOD so that she is able to practice them. There is no charge for this and the accompanists are all wonderfully supportive of their students.</p>
<p>As to dance classes. Elon students can take as many as they can fit into their schedule, from those offered, at whatever level they are approved by the faculty. Since there is a BFA Dance program also, the MT kids dance with dance majors if they are proficient dancers. Each MT student is allowed 20 credit hours per semester without having to pay an overload fee (which is $799 per credit) or an audit fee (which is $250 per course). D has taken four dance classes every semester and is almost always over her allotted 20 credit hours, but has been able to make use of auditing rather than taking extra credits, for the most part. This is a personal choice we have made as a family, since she is an advanced dancer and we all feel she needs to continue to develop those skills in addition to her other MT skills. Elon’s program is quite well balanced in all three areas, singing, acting and dancing, but certainly the student can choose to take electives in any area within their 20 credit hours, in the areas which interest them, particularly after freshman year when there are fewer required MT classes. There are so many wonderful choices, D always has many more courses that she would like to take than it is possible to fit in each semester.</p>
<p>As to books, supplies, etc. we have found that D requires far fewer texts than freshman D who attends University at Buffalo (not for MT),even though Elon does have many more gen. ed requirements compared to many other BFA programs. But of course there are those music books, sheet music downloads, ITunes downloads, dance shoes, etc. And travel expenses for auditoning adds up too. And yes, those headshots!</p>
<p>As to LaDucas, we bought D her first pair last year when she got her callback for PCLO. We found a dance store in Pittsburgh and bought them the night before the callback. A celebration and a “necessity” she felt would help her dancing at the callback. She loves them! And she was cast, so maybe she was right. LOL.</p>
<p>My son chose to go to Montclair instead of MMM because of the extra $2500 fee for the MT minor, plus you have the concider the time and expense getting to these various lessons (ie subways, taxis, food…lol).</p>
<p>Ps I like the whole college experience he gets like the football games and stuff and still be so close to NYC</p>
<p>Just my opinion, he did like MMM it was one of his top choices.</p>
<p>I noticed an earlier post about the BFA MT students at IU having to pay an additional fee for their private voice lessons. I didn’t have time to check at the time, but today when I checked the list of classes my D will be taking next year, I noticed that there is no additional fee listed. In addition to one hour of private voice lessons each semester, the BFAs have a master class each week with all other BFAs in the program (freshman through seniors). There is no additional fee for that class either. They are also able to take all the dance classes they can fit in their schedule. The only additional fees I’ve come across so far are for a theatre production class that requires they buy tools for building sets and for the Jacobs School of Music ballet class reserved for the Jacobs ballet students and a select number of BFA MT students.</p>