<p>My S2 is still in high school, but is interested in pursuing voice performance. Although he is more of a rocker, from looking at college audition requirements, he would also need to be proficient with classical pieces. My question is, would it be helpful for him to take French in high school? I suppose Italian would be ideal, but his high school does not offer it.</p>
<p>Any foreign language is important for VP majors.</p>
<p>The three most important foreign languages that he will encounter as a voice major in college will be Italian, German and French. A classical voice major in a BM program will probably wind up taking or obtaining advanced placement for at least two semesters of each. Depending on where he applies, there may or may not be a foreign language requirement for either two or four semesters of a foreign language in high school. Some colleges like to see the same language taken for at least four semesters and some do not care. The high schools themselves often have a graduation requirement of a certain number of semesters of foreign language.</p>
<p>Two years (4 standard semesters/2 extended block semesters or 6 trimesters) of a single foreign language is the typical foreign language requirement for most LA colleges and considered a staple among CP programs of study. A single year (2/1/3 as cited above) of two foreign languages is sometimes considered an acceptable alternative. I would suggest you have your son discuss this with his guidance counselor and check out the requirements at each of the colleges under consideration. If he is serious about VP, forget about Spanish in HS. Many grad programs will require a minimum of a year of college language study in Italian, German and French, or demonstrated proficiency at the collegiate level, so being able to test “out” of one of those in college would be beneficial.</p>
<p>At my daughter’s school they were given 2-years of college level language credit if they attained a certain score on the language test and took a single semester of “advanced” language work. This allowed her to focus on developing a proficiency in the two other languages (as electives) for the remainder of her time at the school.</p>
<p>My D took through French 4 Honors and then AP French in high school, which allowed her to exempt from the French requirement in her VP program now. Her fluency then enabled her to test out of all of the higher level French classes but she will be minoring in the language anyway so will take some additional lit classes. She is taking Italian and will take German too. As has been said, ANY and all language study is helpful, but to obtain any real grasp of a language, more than the standard 2 years required in most high schools is necessary. And when taking the AP exam, a specific score is required in order to have the credits accepted by a conservatory/college. French or German are the most useful for VP majors (if Italian isn’t offered) and as RCLCSKI mentioned, Spanish isn’t of much use (he may be assigned some Spanish Art Songs later on, but the other romance languages will help there too).</p>
<p>Thank you all for the excellent information, just what I needed. It looks like he’ll be signing up for French for next year.</p>