<p>My son has his first auditioned BFA acceptance, to Shenandoah, and he would be very happy to attend there. He has applied or is in the process of applying to 8 other schools, all much more nationally known. But now that he has his "safety," we are hoping to pare the list down a little. But it's hard -- all these schools have a lot going for them!</p>
<p>Now we are trying to figure out which would be the better choices for an "actor who sings." He's going to want a first rate voice teacher, and be able to take a few low-level dance classes. Does anyone happen to know whether this would present a difficulty, at any of the following: Carnegie Mellon, SUNY Purchase, BU, Emerson, Ithaca, Rutgers, Syracuse, and USC?</p>
<p>My D is also an actor who sings, and dances. We have asked questions about the availability of voice lessons and dance class at all the schools we are looking at. Ideally we’d like her to be able to take classes in dance and voice as an elective.
We haven’t been to SUNY Purchase or Rutgers to visit yet, mainly because they don’t have alot of available dates for visits, and we aren’t applying to USC.
At Syracuse I remember that MT’s get first preference in classes for dance, and classes often fill up from the MT’s. Ithaca requires Acting students to take dance, but if you want voice you have to go to the music department and pay for privates.
As I write this I am realizing the rest of the schools are muddled in my mind and I am going to need better notes before we decide next year. (My D is a junior.) It does vary substantially from school to school, and you need to ask specific questions. Most common is availability of dance.
The best school for us for training in all three disciplines without being an actual MT major, is our backup, which is Muehlenberg. They offer acting students the option to double major in voice or dance and even minor in the other. They require dance, as they said today’s Broadway auditions start with dance. If you can’t dance, they can’t fix it in tech! And if you cant get through the dance audition you cant get to the acting or voice one. It was interesting to hear.
Also, for some of the schools you had to use electives to take voice or dance. My D will have extra electives because she is taking quite a few AP’s and should place out of some Gen ed’s. That will give her more time to take electives in the theatre school.
Sorry this isn’t too specific but gives you a general idea of what we have found.</p>
<p>I remember being told years ago at Rutgers that there would not be many, if any, opportunities to take voice or dance while studying at Mason Gross at Rutgers. I remember Rutgers saying that students were too busy with conservatory classes to find time for even outside dance or voice training. Memory was that it was similar at Purchase. Things may have changed, however, so this is a question worth confirming.</p>
<p>When I was at Syracuse there were Acting majors in dance classes, sometimes they offered a MT performance class for Acting majors, and some paid an additional fee for voice lessons. I have worked with students and alums from CMU and Syracuse recently, and I believe they said these opportunities were still available to Acting students at these schools, but that an additional fee may required for voice, and MTs had priority placement for dance classes. Again… worth confirming directly.</p>
<p>I know students who studied at BU who took voice and dance independently in Boston. Not sure if this is available at BU itself as well.</p>
<p>It has been my experience that opportunities to take dance and voice may be available at many Acting programs (or privately in the surrounding area), but that placement priority for classes on campus often goes to MT students (when there is a MT program) since those classes are required for their major. Also, that Acting students may be able to take voice lessons with faculty or graduate students, but that a performance studies fee is often charged, or the students pay to study privately. </p>
<p>As an aside some MT and VP programs also charge an additional performance studies fee for private voice lessons even when they are required. A good question to ask at each school. </p>
<p>Congrats to your S in his Shenandoah acceptance! Takes a little of the pressure off :-)</p>
<p>In practice, I think it’s very difficult to fit dance into a BFA Acting. D looked at this last year, was assured that at Hartt she’d be welcome to audit dance classes and to study voice (for an extra fee). In reality there just isn’t time-- between classes, rehearsals, now an internship, etc. I’m sure she will take voice back up, and she gets some dance in regular movement classes. But there just isn’t time for another dance class that meets several times a week. Knowing this, I’m not sure I’d let this be the main reason to cross a school off the list.</p>
<p>At BU, students in the Theatre Arts track (same essential training as the Acting track, but less rigid requirements) have time for things like voice and dance. My son is a BFA Theatre Arts major at BU, and he is doing a dance minor.</p>