<p>Yes, her English and French are just fine; She already earn her English proficiency certificate; on the other hand, she will be finishing the International Baccalaureate at the end of her senior year.
Several USA universities will be in Mexico City next October. And I have already contact by mail and phone the deans of admition of our first five Institutions. I believe by now that I understand the whole process of applying to a College or University in USA.
My biggest concern is about to find the right teacher; the right school size where she does not become a number; I school that makes her work hard and motivates her to be the best as she can be other to be the best of others
Reading through the forums and “listening” to the people in this particular one has brought us a lot of light to the majority of our doubts.</p>
<p>CCMguy, I agree that I found CCM to be very nurturing to my young voice. I am a rising sophomore and I am in a studio with mostly graduate students but I find that my instructor is extremely nurturing and I don't get a "vibe" at all that he would prefer not to teach me. I learn a lot from observing all the other students (undergrads and grads) and our very small undergraduate class is a very close knit group. I think it is true that you can succeed in graduate school from either a conservatory undergraduate training or university or LAC. I would recommend CCM for undergraduate studies as a consideration.</p>
<p>I agree voicstudent. It seems like there are a lot of strange people on here who are unwilling to listen to other opinions.</p>
<p>Oh we are listening, but due to experiences that are different from yours, we do have contrary opinions ccmguy. Thats hardly strange.</p>
<p>While some of us may indeed be strange, I'd urge the OP to take ANY comment, advice offered on an internet forum with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>You'll get much good info here, and a variety of insights, experiences based on first hand knowledge. And conflicting opinions. A few posters are professionals, most of us aren't. There's a couple of admission reps as well. A few posters have kids in MM programs, and a couple are performing professionally, or on the cusp of doing so. Most are parents/students trying to make sense of a difficult process. There's also a number of very knowledgeable, helpful students in various years of BM and MM programs. </p>
<p>OP, use what you find useful. Ignore what doesn't make sense. </p>
<p>Again, tis my opinion.</p>
<p>I have had a similar back and forth with Lorelei on the topic of conservatories or not, but still respect her expertise and opinion. (Good thing I don't have a singer :)) </p>
<p>In the last analysis, people will all make their own decisions, based on what is best for an individual student, family, etc. I find the give and take valuable, and we can all take what is useful for us from the forum, and leave the rest.</p>
<p>on edit: Yes, kind of like what Violadad said!</p>
<p>My advice with regard to conservatories is to be cautious. I have found that many people believe that well known conservatories automatically offer the best possible situation for every student. These students believe that sample lessons are necessary for other schools but think that every teacher at a conservatory is a good match. </p>
<p>Personally, I was not thinking of CCM in this regard. The group that I have heard concerns about with regard to undergrads are more along the lines of Juilliard, MSM, Eastman, Curtis, Mannes and NEC. The University of Maryland and Indiana were also mentioned as places in which an undergrad could get lost. The only warning about CCM was for students not to go there based on the hope of having Barbara Honn as a teacher. </p>
<p>I'm sure each of these schools can be a wonderful place for a young student, depending on the teacher. It always depends upon the teacher so choosing any particular school, based on name alone is not wise. </p>
<p>The name of the school or the teacher is also not as key for vocalists as it seems to be for instrumentalists. I know there are certain studios for instrumentalists that everyone seems to associate with success. That just isn't the case with vocalists.</p>
<p>Well you get 3 vocalists in a room and you will get at least 5 different opinions. :)</p>
<p>First of all. Thank's to you all.</p>
<p>D and I are going to take advantage of the prescreening process for this next step on her (and mine) search.</p>
<p>At the moment, the number of a school in our list does not reflect any priority.</p>
<p>1.- Oklahoma City University
2.- Westminster choir part of Rider
3.- Appalachian State University
4.- Wooster
5.- Rice
6.- University of North Texas
7.- University of Denver
8.- Lawrence
9.- University of Massacussets Amherst</p>
<p>It is just incredible how many options you have, in Mexico we have 4 conservatories and one, only one university, unfortunately the quality of education is so poor we have excellent universities on the technical and IT side.</p>
<p>This list is the result of reading the informatioin of about 60 web pages, and the evaluationg of every e-mail answer we have received after asking the dean of admition or the responsibles of the voice area. We included the schools who gave us answers that we felt were honest, caring and interested for D. </p>
<p>We discarded the rude ones, the ones that sent us directly to their web pages without any more information; and ofcourse, the ones that did not answer.</p>
<p>Do not discount U/Mass, but look deeply. It used to be a very good program, more for music ed than (instrumental) pursuits.</p>
<p>I can't speak specifically to their vocal programs, others here might have more insight.</p>
<p>Recently, UMass has been underfunded, and the hearsay stories include a number of disgruntled alumni and some transfers among ed majors, regional long term educators and disappointed instrumental performers.</p>
<p>I would say consider Hartt. Son is a BM viola performance graduate, and from that standpoint he (and we) were very pleased with his experiences there. Extremely cooperative student interaction, very supportive faculty and administration.</p>
<p>Others here may express different opinions for vocal (non-music ed) studies, but if you are in New England, do not discount a visit. He has vocal major friends who were very happy, but many were dual majors in performance/ed or vocal music ed specifically.</p>
<p>I would agree with violadad re UMass-Amherst. The only reason I, personally, would look at it for vocal performance would be if your daughter were interested in jazz. Since she's not, I agree that Hartt would be a much better choice in the New England area.</p>
<p>Also, how are your daughter's other music skills, such as sight-reading? She should be working on that, as well.</p>
<p>Thank you again, I will add Hartt and remove UMass.</p>
<p>Yes, she is workng on her sight reading and aural skills with her private teacher every day.</p>
<p>Out of curiousity, which schools will be visiting Mexico City in October?</p>
<p>Mexico will hold about 6 college fairs at the end of October. Unfortunately, the only Universtiy with a Fine Arts Degree coming is University of British Columbia. All of the rest do not have music programs.</p>
<p>I have a question...some of the universities a visidet offer the Honours Music (B.Mus), How is this different to the Bachellor in Music (no honours) ?</p>
<p>The BM honors is an option for highly academically proficient students at many programs with a parent college/university. It is normally stat driven (GPA/SAT/ACT scores) for consideration, and the parameters vary by institution.</p>
<p>It encompasses academic coursework at the honors program the school offers with similarly talented students. The classes offered can vary widely by discipline (mostly academic in nature, but can include some music aspects), but in general are smaller, taught by the best profs or department heads. They can be far more intense than the standard offering, and are often seminar type classes rather than lecture/survey. At some schools, it may encompass other perks, like honors housing. Successful completion usually adds a "with honors" distinction to the diploma. It also requires meeting certain minimum undergrad GPA criteria.</p>
<p>It depends on the student. If your d is highly motivated academically in a number of subjects, (or even a few) and wants to pursue these at the highest level possible, it may be well worth looking into. Many students in perfomance pursuits are also academically stellar, but choose not to participate, concentrating on the performance aspects.</p>
<p>Performance degrees tend to be time and credit intense. It's really a matter of choice if she can handle a higher level more demanding academic workload in addition to performance studies.</p>
<p>And just for the record, the honors programs are different from the tiered, normally latin, academic distinctions of summa cum laude, magna cum laude, or cum laude, roughly translated as "with highest honors", "with high honors", and "with honors".</p>
<p>(If my translations are inaccurate, I'm sure someone will correct me. My latin has regressed to a few crude jokes and one-liners better suited to small groups than open public forums. ;) )</p>
<p>How these are awarded and at what criteria is outlined in the school's academic policies section of the undergrad handbook.</p>
<p>It's possible to attain a "summa cum laude" in an honors level program; how the academic distinction is shown on a transcript or diploma will vary by institution.</p>