<p>Although everything that cartera45 and ABlestMom says is true, time have changed dramatically since the 70s when Renee was starting out. Yes, she wanted to go to Oberlin but the school didn’t give her enough funding so she attended Potsdam and lucked into a good teacher there. She attended two good grad schools and then got a Fulbright to study in Germany. Yes, she’s good, but she was also very, very lucky and was in the right place at the right time and had parents who knew music (both were/are teachers).
Frederica von Stade walked into Mannes, while she was working down the street as a secretary. just wanting to learn to read music, with no formal training in voice, soon found herself on the stage of the Met for the Council auditions…and the rest, as they say, is history!
Just try to do that today! You couldn’t. Entrance auditions must be prepared for, applications filed, recommendations obtained… it’s a whole different world.
When a student is looking at schools and compiling lists, it’s always good to find a couple with rolling admissions or who may be a little lower on the “musical radar”. Check out the faculty and find out what grad schools their students attend. What seems daunting now will work out an come together by fall; just keep good records so that you can refer back to the notes you make and don’t have to waste valuable time doing things twice…</p>
<p>I really didn’t mean to sound defeated. But if you apply to 8 schools (and notice I said better, not top) and they all turn you down, it probably means you should rethink things. Anyway, at the risk of being called cocky, I’m pretty sure that won’t happen to me.</p>
<p>BTW, what is NFAA? When I googled it, it came up as NATIONAL FIELD ARCHERY ASSOCIATION - lol!</p>
<p>NFAA is the Young Arts competition for high school seniors. Well worth entering. [url=<a href=“http://www.youngarts.org/]YoungArts[/url”>http://www.youngarts.org/]YoungArts[/url</a>]</p>
<p>What if all 8 schools already had a full roster of coloratura sopranos because they took alot the year before…you are going to base your worth on their needs? There is so much more than your vocal talent that comes into play when being accepted into an auditioned program. Don’t put limits on yourself at your young age…there’s plenty of time for that later in life.</p>
<p>NFAA is great for the experience, but I wouldn’t encourage anyone to rely on the results with regard to how competitive they may be in auditions or in a opera program. As with most programs of this nature, the results can be fairly arbitrary.</p>
<p>Haha well with Rice and IU in that list you certainly are applying to the top schools for voice anyway. But that is neither here nor there. D actually had the privilege of meeting the baritone Keith Miller who gave her the most wonderful advice that until you get told directly and consistently that you need to “rethink” things, you never stop working towards your goal with the mindset that you have something unique and wonderful to offer that will change music forever. This was in a time when D was concerned after three years in undergrad at her “safety” that by the time she graduated the kids in the “top” schools would be lightyears ahead of her. But she eventually hit her vocal “growth spurt” if you will and was so pleased that she stuck with it. Keep this in my mind throughout this upcoming process. I wish you the best of luck! :)</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone for all your help. I hadn’t heard about NFAA, but I entered yesterday. I will definitely go to the master list of acceptances from year’s past and see if I can get some info from current students. Thanks for the good wishes - I have a lot of work to do, but look for me on the Master List of Acceptances 2012!</p>
<p>I agree with those who said that finding the right teacher is the most important thing - both for the development of your voice and also for admissions. (If a teacher really likes you in a lesson that happens during the same visit as your audition, I think it boosts your chances.) However, it is logistically challenging to get sample lessons with all the teachers you want to try. It is not too early to do some research. Find out which teachers at a school teach your type of voice - usually its 2 or 3 max. As soon as you know when you will be auditioning, send emails and make appointments to meet with them during that same visit. My D never got all the trial lessons she wanted, because once the auditions started, it was too hectic to do the research and get all the appointments made. Sometimes it works to contact a teacher last minute, but often not. It’s best to figure all this out ahead of time, and make the appointments the same time you schedule your audition day. Meanwhile, you might want to also start now to think about what you are looking for in a teacher, because there is tremendous variety in approaches, personalities, and professional experience.</p>
<p>Hmmm, I’m planning to visit FSU soon and called the music dept. They told me that their teachers didn’t teach specific voice types. Still trying to see if I can get a voice lesson, but it’s not looking too hopeful since it’s summer. At least it’s not too far away that I can’t go back another time. Anyway, thanks for the advice; I’ll try it with other schools.</p>
<p>FLSinger, almost all professors are going to be off for the summer. They are often at festivals or other summer events. You need to schedule during the school year. Also, you do not need a professor that only does one voice type. Voices change. You need one that you relate to and that can guide you in your development. I do not expect any school to say they have professors per type.</p>
<p>I agree with Singersmom that a school is not going to tell you that they have professors per type (although I know of one conservatory that informally does) , but I believe that you would hear differently from the students who are there. I think in reality you will find sopranos, for example, taking from mostly the same few teachers. There is a division of opinion as to whether one should study with a professor who has the same voice type. In theory, all voice professors trained adequately in voice pedagogy should be able to teach any voice type, and some students are sure this is true. However, some voice students feel they learn better with a teacher who can explain how it feels to do a particular note - especially high notes. These are generalities, of course, and there are other factors such as teachers who specialize in voice health issues, which personality would fit best with you, etc. And some teachers are much more experienced in how to develop a performing career. It’s ideal to talk to a voice student in the program, and they can give you a description of the voice teachers that seem to be teaching most of the sopranos who are making good progress. They can also tell you who the strongest teachers for all voices. If you can’t network your way to anyone in the program, I think some internet research would give you the information. For example, most of the voice departments, in their online news page, will give notice of those students who have won awards,and, most importantly for you, who their teachers are. And on the faculty bios, you can figure out what voice part the teacher is by what opera roles they have played. This is all a little daunting, and sometimes its hard to reach teachers to arrange for a lesson, but I think if you work at it you’ll find at least one teacher for you.</p>
<p>One school to check out would be Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, OH. That was my safety when I was doing my undergrad auditions. It was recommended to me by my teacher at Oberlin when I had a sample lesson with her because she realized that I didn’t have a safety school. The audition was also early in December so it was a good warm-up for my other auditions.</p>
<p>I have never had a teacher that was my voice type. My undergrad teacher was a mezzo and she did wonderful things for me. I will most likely be studying with a male teacher this fall.</p>