Does anyone have any feedback or information on the Umich SMTD’s MPulse Vocal Arts Institute (especially the solo track) and/or Northwestern’s Intensive Vocal Performance Seminar? Thanks!
Thank you for posting this inquiry. I have no information about either program, but am very interested to learn more. Hopefully some folks with knowledge about these offerings will respond.
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I do! My son did it last summer and enjoyed it very much. He really liked the faculty, they were kind and gracious but also very instructive. He was challenged but didn’t feel out of his depth.
The solo track didn’t seem to take place, as far as I could tell, though. He did audition for it, but once they had to pivot to online it seemed to go by the wayside and was never mentioned. So, that may be a different story this summer with having had some time to plan the curriculum.
He also did ArtsBridge Art Song last summer and really liked that program- the faculty are from a variety of schools so that gets even more exposure.
This summer he is doing CMU pre college voice, as that is online as well (most of them seem to be). We never looked into the Northwestern program.
Best of luck to yours!
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Sorry- follow up- my son did U of M SMTD last summer (I realized you asked about two programs).
I can’t find anything at Northwestern that is a vocal intensive- only theater arts and musical theater. I may be missing it, but those wouldn’t be of interest here.
Just wanted to clarify! Let me know if you’d like any more specific info!
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Unless there is a new program this year, the Bienen/northwestern program is not for high school or undergraduate students. They focus on masters students in voice and pedagogy.
Mpulse was fine but as mentioned, it was predominantly choral which was a disappointment to my daughter, though this was 5+ years ago. In comparison to Ithaca, Mpulse was not as engaging.
Re: Mpulse, the version that was done last summer may have been a real makeover- there was no choral emphasis at all. It all focused on solo work and the students had to come prepared with solo pieces to work on with faculty in private sessions.
Re: Northwestern- yeah, it looks like a general seminar for anyone, not specifically HS students and it’s non audition, so it doesn’t compare. CORRECTION- as pointed out, there is an audition element! Apologies.
I see Oberlin brought theirs back as an online program this year. My son really wanted to do that one last year but they canceled it altogether. He did get to work with an Oberlin faculty member during ArtsBridge, however, and greatly enjoyed that.
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Maybe the Mpulse my son did was the solo track and they just never said it? Weird!
Northwestern’s program does require a 3 song audition.
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Ah. You are referring the the NU vocal performance seminar. That is an opera based program and different from the summer program run for pedagogues with the MM voice students. That was typically students of the professor’s studio and soon to be freshmen but it looks like they expanded it for hs students. PM if you want details.
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Thank you for the information!
Thank you for the information! How is the Northwestern seminar typically structured?
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