<p>My son is a junior and we are starting to work hard at identifying music school choices. He is ready to immerse himself in music, so would want a B.M. degree. The problem we are struggling with is that he does not want to rely totally on his vocal chords to make a living, and also has other significant musical interests. After a trip to Paris last year where we visited St. Sulpice, and watched Daniel Roth play the organ, he is very interested in becoming a competent organist. The problem is that DS's keyboard skills are behind his vocal skills, so we figure the best thing is to get into conservatory on vocal performance but try to end up at a place where he can build the keyboard/organ skills and choral repetoire. He also enjoys choral work and probably would like conducting. We have found some schools (Hartt, for example) find that a more integrated experience is completely antithetical to the way they see their voice performance degree -- it is voice all the way. </p>
<p>Oberlin's program seems to have a lot of flexibility and room to work on the organ while leading with voice performance. We were very encouraged and also impressed with a Senior Organ recital we saw (in the middle of a sleet storm!). We were told that Oberlin's January project month is also a period where he could work to build his organ skills. Eastman is also a possibility. We have thought about the English schools, but at the moment it is already daunting enough to try to focus and do our best with the U.S. schools. St. Olaf's is on the list, as is Westminster Choir College. Mannes offers a BM in Conducting, but DS is not thrilled with being in NYC. He really liked Oberlin.</p>
<p>In any case, I hope this thread starts some discussion along these lines!</p>
<p>I asked our Eastman/Yale organ scholar this weekend about organ/choral conducting schools in the US and he mentioned Eastman, of course, and Yale School of Music, Institute of Sacred Music (grad program only), and he also mentioned Indiana University (my son applied and was accepted there in Early Music/Vocal performance; he's not entirely sure about a BMus yet, though!) An organ/choral director I met last week went to New England Conservatory, then Yale ISM. Another fabulous organist/choral directors I met graduated from Pacific Lutheran University and went to Yale ISM (I'm sensing a trend...).</p>
<p>Does Oberlin's voice program do other-than-opera? Your visit there must have indicated that. The Oberlin admissions rep at the College Fair for the Performing Arts (we attended in Wash DC this past fall) point blank told my son that Oberlin's vocal program was opera based. So he did not apply. A few months later we met a Yale ISM vocal student who said he did sing early music at Oberlin, so I am guessing the rep may not know the whole story. But it may be worth inquiring about.</p>
<p>The British organ and choral scholars we've known have been to Oxford and, primarily, Cambridge. You probably know all about the differences between US and UK--at Oxbridge, and most other UK schools (as far as I know, which is little!) you study one subject and, if qualified, can be an organ or choral scholar on the side (provides income, takes lots of time). Music studies are quite academic. I know nothing about the music schools, though, like Guildhall and the others. They may be more performance based, not academic like Oxbridge. University of York is another good one for choral scholarship/academics. Organ scholarships are quite competitive, as I think there are a lot more UK teens playing the organ than American. The American organists I've met get a little irked when Brits get posts in American churches!</p>
<p>A caveat--this is all hearsay, as I have no actual experience with this. I wish my son played the organ!</p>
<p>I should add that I know two very talented, always-busy NYC-based male vocalists who do primarily choral (sacred and opera chorus) singing who graduated from Westminster; one has been a part-time chorus master for a boys' choir as well--he can play the keyboard moderately well.</p>
<p>And the well-known choral director Richard Westenburg (known for early music groups and particularly his Messiah concerts) received a BM in organ at Lawrence University and MM at UMinnesota. (He died recently at 75-ish, so he was in school a while ago! My son applied to Lawrence because he liked the idea of being able to study across the disciplines, perhaps doing a double major, and because of good things we heard about the voice faculty.)</p>