First semester finished! Reports??

College Majors Musical Theater Major
1

<p>Hi everyone-- those of us who went through this process last year now have freshmen MT majors returning home from their first semester of study. We had a great variety of school choices all across the country (and in Europe!). I thought it might be fun to report in about how our MTs navigated their first semester?</p>

<p>My S had a great first term at Point Park COPA - learned that it is definitely where he wants to be, that the faculty and staff of the conservatory are supportive and nurturing, but he also learned that he's going to need a little more discipline for those 8:00 a.m. dance classes LOL. He has always wished for a tenor voice (he's a bass-baritone) but his voice teacher has him now embracing the rare voice type he has and we've witnessed a real transformation in confidence there. He finished the semester with a great GPA and we really couldn't be more proud. He had some great opportunities to participate in various Master Classes taught by industry professionals, and really feels as if he will grow exponentially. He's found it to be challenging hard work but I don't think I've ever seen him so content. </p>

<p>How's everyone else from the MT Class of 2017?</p>

2

<p>Our D just finished her first semester at OCU and loves her program. The days are long and the courses challenging. she too starts at 8 am, but with music theory - Yuck! She was also pleased to be in both a tap and a jazz class last semester (she had heard it could be tough to get in some dance classes at OCU. so far she has not had an issue with that. ). Regarding shows: all MTs and VPs auditioned for all musicals and operas (required) and most auditioned for straight shows as well. A few freshman have been cast in every show. But competition for parts is tough which can be eye opening since most are used to getting plum roles at home. Acting and dance majors were cast in shows as well. Our D was in a choreography show Fall semester and has been cast in a mainstage show next semester. The atmosphere is incredibly supportive which she loves. One other surprise is how much voice she gets - 2 lessons per week with her studio teacher, a studio group class, a session with a vocal coach once per week (different from her teacher) and musical theater workshop with the head of the program. She also has an acting class as well. We can already see a difference in the strength of her voice. She is learning a healthy belt which is sounding great as well. She still has had time to be part of a leadership program and join a sorority and has enjoyed them all. Like other schools, OCU brings a lot of great industry pros to campus - in just the last few weeks they had master classes with Michael Cassara, the casting agent and Kelli O’Hara, an OCU grad. Next semester we are excited she will be participating in OCUNYC over spring break. And she has another full schedule. i think figuring out when and what to eat has been her biggest hurdle. So college life is good! Love to hear how everyone else is doing!</p>

3

<p>My D posted earlier today (in my account) under Wright State answering some questions but good info from a 1st semester MT freshman perspective. She absolutely loves it. We did exactly what all of you are doing now & when she decided WSU was where she wanted to be I was worried about her being in Dayton, Ohio - we are almost 8 hours away. I worried needlessly because she is so happy. She’s been in a straight play in the “D-lab” and will be in another show there 2nd semester as well as being cast in “Les Mis” the mainstage musical next semester. She loves the faculty and her fellow MT classmates. I do need to tell her how lucky she is that their dance classes don’t start until 8:30 (every morning)!!! They have long busy days filled with dance and voice and speech and acting, etc. Happy to answer any questions or have her answer any. Read her 2 posts under Wright State too. Good luck to all of you. It was a nerve-wracking fun year and I wouldn’t trade it for anything but I also don’t think I could go through it again! Hoping the 13 year old doesn’t decide to do this!</p>

4

<p>Ballet boot camp at 7:00 a.m. four days a week for S. English, Stagecraft, Tap, another dance studio, music theatre workshop, keyboard, music tech and notation, solfege and eurhythmics, tonal harmony, private voice and choir. Was swing for Carousel and when someone in the ensemble dropped out, S was cast. He was busy every minute. Getting enough calories was/is a problem. He’s used to much hard work, so that was fine, but is happy to spend time with his friends and veg out for a month. I’m happy to hear loud show tunes literally vibrate the walls of the house morning (not too early) to night again.</p>

5

<p>My D just finished her first semester at Ball State. Her schedule was pretty crazy. She had a mandatory physical fitness class at 8 AM two times a week, both ballet and jazz classes, and she started doing a lot of individual workouts in the gym. So one thing I’ve seen is that she’s in a lot better physical condition than she was when she left -definitely no freshman 15 with her or her classmates! Each student is also assigned a voice professor, and she gets private voice with her professor twice a week, plus they have a Master Class with the professor and all his students once a week. I can already see a difference in her voice, and after being advised in high school to not belt she is learning this skill now. Acting classes are also very good and she loves her acting professor. At BSU they do a single audition a semester for all shows the following semester, so she wasn’t in any shows as a first semester freshman. But she did make the pit chorus for Music Man next semester. And she auditioned for and was accepted into a music theater intensive training program this summer in Germany. </p>

<p>One thing I found interesting was the level of academic rigor in the program. Their toughest course is Aesthetics, where they have to read a lot of plays, do a lot of analysis, many group projects , and the like. They also take Music Theory (which for my D was straightforward as she had taken it in high school), required piano lessons, sight reading classes, and she is in the Honors College so she had a Honor’s elective class on top of her other classes. And I’m probably missing a class or two somewhere in there. Plus each student has to sign up for a Practicum, where you have to work lights, costumes, ushering, box office, etc. My D did ushering, so many nights she was tied up with those duties. So basically her days began at 8 for the most part, and ended usually at midnight or later because with the crazy schedules each student had, the only time kids could get together to work on group projects were after 11 PM. When she came home last week she told us she had not gotten to bed before 2:30 AM any day the last two weeks of the semester. But just got her grades, straight A’s, so maybe she doesn’t need sleep! </p>

<p>She really loved the visiting artists who came in. Sutton Foster is an adjunct faculty member at Ball State and she comes in every semester. So my D got to sing for Sutton Foster during her master class. One of the highlights of her semester, and she got great feedback. They also had Kathleen Turner and Betty Buckley in this semester to talk with all the Theater and MT students. </p>

<p>And somehow in the midst of all this she has done fun things around campus, made some wonderful friends in her dorm and in the MT program, and actually remembers to call or text her mom and dad every once in a while! Not enough for mom, but there will never be enough tests for Mom! All in all, this first semester has solidified in her mind, and in her parents’, that she made the right choice, both in terms of a career path and the school she picked. Ball State has been perfect for her, and I would encourage anyone out there to make sure you audition there. Great people, great program.</p>

6

<p>I forgot to point out that at Point Park, freshmen are not allowed to audition for anything other than the summer Playhouse Junior (equity). At the beginning of this process, we weren’t sure we like that about PP (there is a good bit of disparity among schools regarding their policies: some require freshmen to audition; others forbid it!) I have to say that at least for my MT S, the not-being-able-to-audition was a GOOD thing. I’m sure there is an argument to be made either way, but he worked production/tech on shows (including All My Sons with Robert Miller, the son of playwright Arthur Miller!) and used this time to get acclimated to the rigors of a conservatory program. He also loved being able to participate in the master classes with Patrick Cassidy (who directed their production of Oklahoma) and with his mom, Shirley Jones - recent master classes with Christopher Durang and Ann Hampton Callaway. Like many of these programs, faculty are all working professionals too.</p>

<p>Also what jeffandann said – the schedules are so intense that it is late night before students are able to get together to work scenes due for acting class, or to work on group projects for technique classes. The stamina and commitment of these young people simply amazes me. It has been a wonderful validation of all that stress last year at this time = both during the audition process AND deciding which school he would attend. I would not want to go through this again, but it definitely is worth this journey with your kid!</p>

7

<p>I forgot to mention that since OCUs MT degree is a Bachelor of Music, they take music theory, aural skills, and piano in addition to their voice lessons (technique), vocal coaching (performance) and MT workshop classes. They are also required to be in an ensemble every semester. For most, this means being in a choir. The choirs got to perform Carmina Burana with the Oklahoma City Symphony at Symphony Hall this semester. They also did a Christmas Vespers program. Unfortunately since we are 14 hours away, we didn’t get to see those performances. D has stagecraft, acting and ballet in addition to all her music classes next semester I believe.most semesters she will have one academic gen Ed outside of theater, dance and music classes. (English, history, etc …)
I love reading these reports! Sounds like all of these schools are offering challenging, exciting classes for our kids and are bringing in outstanding industry pros to inspire and work with them as well. Hopefully for those in the midst of auditions it makes it clear there are many different ways to pursue the MT dream and lots of wonderful programs out there!
Congrats to all those who finished their first semester and good luck to all those in the midst of auditions. Just let us know if we can help in any way!</p>

8

<p>Our Son is a freshman at BoCo, and he had a great 1st semester. He’s in class 29.5 hours per week (not including his Sunday tap clinic / tutorial - he’s never tapped before), so his schedule is jam-packed. BoCo breaks their freshman MT class into 5 core groups, and he has many Facebook postings where the students in his core profess their support and friendship with each other. His classes include the following:</p>

<ul>
<li>2 jazz, 2 ballet, and a tap class each week</li>
<li>private vocal coaching (30 minutes per week is included in tuition; he opted for an hour), and he says he has really strengthened his technique. He did very well on his 1st semester vocal juries. </li>
<li>musical theater class, where they focus on harmonies and chorus work with their core</li>
<li>other courses include acting, speech, movement, history of musical theater, writing, music theory, and piano (and one of these classes includes sight reading, but I’m not sure which one). </li>
</ul>

<p>He was just cast as a lead in a spring production, which he is really excited about. First semester he received callbacks for some leads in non-mainstage productions, but the roles went to upperclassmen. He knows a few freshman who were cast in the 1st semester mainstage production of Oklahoma, but they were all extremely strong dancers - one was even accepted into Juillard for dance. We saw Oklahoma during Parent’s weekend, and the Ensemble were amazing dancers. </p>

<p>He is working hard and having a great time in the Back Bay of Boston.</p>

9

<p>Thank you so much!! Love this information. It is so very helpful and truly appreciated. Keep it coming!!</p>

10

<p>jeffandann - I understand that Ball State has a wonderful program - could you tell me, however, what the winters are like and the amount of ice, snow and cold they get? My daughter doesn 't mind the snow, but is not a big fan of extremely cold weather. Thanks!</p>

11

<p>Beth, seeing that I am a native of Buffalo I would tell you Ball State is nothing weather wise! But we do now live just north of Indy about an hour from BSU. Indiana weather winter is usually not really cold. You can have the occasional times where with wind chill you can get down around zero but it’s rare. We usually get around 1-2 significant snow storms a year where you’d get around 6-8 inches or so. And it’s only for about 2-3 months Dec-Feb where that kind of weather is possible. The other factor is that BSU is a fairly compact campus so she wouldn’t have long walks between classes. </p>

<p>So don’t let concerns about Muncie weather stop her from applying. My D is helping with on campus auditions; let me know if and when she is coming in. And my wife and I are always available to help with anything should she wind up there.</p>

12

<p>Thanks so much, jeffandann. We’ve heard amazing things about the school. I’ll be in touch.</p>

13

<p>samiamsmom, is there no acting their first semester???</p>

14

<p>So happy to see all the reports of happy kids! Mine is no different. She just finished her first semester at Montclair and whenever anyone asks her about school, her answer is always, “I LOVE IT.” Classes first semester were Ballet 4 mornings a week with Elisabeth McPherson and Nancy Lushington, Music Theory with Patrick Burns, Aural Skills with Greg Dabbon, Freshman Studio (which the kids called their “Glee” class) taught by Greg Dlugos (who was a Musical Director on Broadway most of his career, and who my D says is AWESOME), College Writing, Acting I taught by Joe Joyce who the kids call “Papa Joe” and totally love to pieces, Vocal Technique with Lori McCann who is a CCM classical voice grad and head of voice for the MT program, Tap, Jazz, New Student Seminar which is an interest-specific class required of all freshman (her class was all the BFA MT freshman, and sounds like they discussed MT-related topics, taught by Eric Diamond who my daughter described as “the nicest guy in the world”), and Production Operations (which means she did tech for one of the fall productions). My daughter came in a strong dancer, and all of her dance classes were leveled and happily challenging. Her ballet class was with the BFA Dance students, taught by a Julliard grad. Her tap and jazz teachers teach all over the place, including Steps on Broadway and Broadway Dance Center in NYC. She loved ALL of the faculty she worked with. REALLY was inspired by and respected them. Next semester she’ll be taking Acting II Theater Games and Improv, Jazz, Tap, and Ballet, Theory II, Aural Skills II, Acting for the Singer I, College Writing, and Voice. Montclair does not start individual voice lessons until semester 2 because they want to get to know the student and their voice well before hooking them up with a teacher (NOT a grad student). They really believe in this. But she will have a full hour (no extra cost) as well an an accompanist she’ll be able to practice with outside of lessons. She also has been cast in “42nd Street” which promises to be a big tap-dancing extravaganza in the beautiful Kasser Theatre, directed by Clay James, head of MT who is himself a singer and tapper. Almost all of the freshman were cast in SOMETHING freshman year. My daughter lives in The Heights which is one of the new luxurious dorms. She shares a (very large) bathroom with just one other person. Since the campus is so close to NYC (less than a half hour with easy public transportation) she goes there quite often. But there are also things to do on campus, like an unbelievably gorgeous new rec center/gym, an ice-skating rink, and bikes (and even cars) you can rent. Downtown Montclair is also really nice with great stores and restaurants. Montclair is NOT a big party school. Though 5-6 thousand live on campus, many go home on weekends. Certainly not all, and a good portion of the MT kids are from out of state who stick around. My daughter seems to use weekends for catching up on sleep, going into the City, getting homework done, doing laundry (which is free) and practicing. There are also a huge amount of productions and guest speakers that take place on campus, all free to students, even if it is a big name or famous person. The students just have to go to the box office and show their ID to get a ticket, but it’s free. My D’s MT class seems to be a very cohesive group, very supportive of each other, as are the upper-classpeople. She has a sophomore Big, a junior Grand Big, and a senior Great Grand Big. I have seen 2 shows there so far (“Take Flight” and “Falsettos”) and the talent in both utterly blew me away. I think one thing all our kids (who, face it, if they got this far were all big stars in high school) experience is being a bit humbled by all the amazing talent around them in these programs. My daughter is in awe of most of her peers, several of whom have done professional work, been on national tours, have family in the business, etc. It really feels like a professional atmosphere. It has turned out to be just the right program for her. One thing to note is that tap and jazz were not required this semester, but my daughter chose to take them. This did take her one credit above the max included with tuition, so I had to pay for an extra credit. Another thing is that, unlike some other schools, the BFA MT program is really separate from the BFA Acting program, the MT minor or any other BA theatre performance degree program. There are technical theatre degree programs and they do collaborate on the shows; there is also a full orchestra for each show in collaboration with the music department. But oddly, my daughter says she doesn’t even know anyone in the BFA Acting program. I’m not sure if they have completely different faculty or not. Maybe I’ll know more at the end of Year One. :)</p>

15

<p>Acting is with the heads of the department freshman year. He had Scott first semester and is excited too to have Vicki this coming semester.</p>

16

<p>My D just finished her first semester at Florida State and is absolutely in love with the program. She is also in love with the “FSU experience.” She feels she has the best of both worlds - she is in a very small, tight-knit program (only 7 in her class) and yet is also part of a large university setting (is able to be in a sorority, go to the football games - go noles - etc).
Her voice has improved leaps and bounds - as she has a strong belt but needed to develop her legit. She is so proud and excited about this growth. She was in the fall musical as an ensemble member. She is now in the Spring musical as an ensemble/dancer and understudy for the lead.</p>

<p>Needless to say she is getting both top tier training and phenomenal stage experience. We couldn’t be happier watching her thrive from a distance, as we are in the Midwest and she is two flights away. However, the program is so nurturing, we haven’t worried about her. Members drive her to the doctor when she needs it, etc. (She has no car). We have felt the true “southern hospitality” abounds at FSU.</p>

<p>So all in all, this experience is all she dreamed it would be. Now for 7 more semesters:)</p>

17

<p>D is home from Hartt/University of Hartford and absolutely radiates contentment and excitement. Back in September, she told me “I never knew I could be so happy at school.” Given that she is always thrilled at the start of a new year school year, I took it with a pound of salt. But she is <em>still</em> saying this! This completely untrained dancer even loves her 8:30 am ballet class! There were a couple of classes (Intro to Lit, MT chorus) that were less than enjoyable, but acting, voice and ballet more than made up for it, apparently. She loves the supportive nature of the program.</p>

18

<p>First semester is in the books! My D loves, loves loves her program and her profs. Her schedule is as hectic as any other MT student with classes beginning at 8 am (ballet) every day and wrapping up around 5 pm. Dinner and and cram in a little homework and then master classes, crew, required performance attendances and homework every night. My D has also managed to squeeze in an off campus tap lesson once a week. The students in MTP take private voice once a week, music theory, acting, script analysis (lots of reading and writing; quizzes every class), production class and dem lab. There are also master classes during the day; it just depends on who is coming in and for what class. They have had several master dance classes with true broadway peeps that teach them the sequences that are used for actual broadway auditions among other things. My daughter’s favorite master class teacher was Jennifer Barnhart (original cast Ave Q; Cleo, Between the Lions etc) who was on campus for an extended time to teach puppetry skills to the Utah cast of Ave Q. </p>

<p>All freshman are expected to audition for shows, but not cast. They are also welcome to audition for equity productions at the Pioneer Theatre. My D had good experiences auditioning for school productions and was glad for the opportunity without any real pressure. She has not auditioned for equity roles yet as she feels she is not ready dance wise. Her voice has changed so MUCH that I can’t believe it’s her singing! Her voice prof told her that she was never an alto and to stop thinking of herself as one. My daughter sends me her recorded voice lesson every week so that I can have a glimpse of her in class. I really appreciate her doing that for me. It makes me look forward to Mondays!</p>

19

<p>Thanks to all of you for taking the time to share this terrific information. It is great to hear how you are all thriving!</p>

20

<p>We put our son back on the plane yesterday for London (fortunately before the storm that is currently hitting the Northeast). It has been an interesting start to his training and not without hiccups for sure. He absolutely loves London and that has been a positive adjustment and the International Student House he lives in is wonderful.
The program is rigorous and the days are long. He has ballet five days a week, plus tap, jazz, contemporary, and “street”. His days are full of acting, integrated performance, accent reduction, music theory, health and nutrition for the dancer, dance history and the academic component of the degree program, and private voice around about 15 hours of dance weekly. He is tired and his fatigue was a battle all semester for him as he adjusted. It is all training and he misses being in shows which he has always done around training. He feels, however, that he is improving and the training , although intense, is incredible.
The school has been very helpful and encouraging. I have sent him back to the UK with multivitamins, vitamin C and vitamin D and the lecture of eating right and getting enough sleep(following lab work while he was home to rule out anything).<br>
I have enjoyed reading everyone’s updates.</p>