Initial Freshman MT Experiences

<p>The students have only been in school for a few weeks, but would anyone like to summarize what they are hearing from their kids?</p>

<p>My son just entered a MT BFA program at Ithaca. I don’t think he has ever been so busy in his life. Their MT program is a double major in Acting and Vocal Performance with a minor in Dance, so the schedule is already set and he didn’t have any options when registering for classes, and only one class is outside of his major. He is very happy to be there, but it seems very different from my own undergrad experience of choosing classes and having lots of free time for extracurriculars.</p>

<p>Ithaca is experiencing a “bulge year” with much larger groups of freshmen in both MT and Acting. It’s working out, though. There is a buddy system of sorts with the seniors acting as mentors for the freshmen, and organizing a few parties. The seniors are extremely impressive, apparently, though my son is dazzled by the level of talent that he is seeing among his classmates as well.</p>

<p>At Ithaca, all BFA students are required to audition for the shows, with the exception of first semester freshmen who have the option. They have the auditions at the beginning of each semester, then have separate callbacks for each of the productions being cast. I think only one freshman got a good role in the mainstage musical, but a few were given small roles or understudies in other plays. </p>

<p>The MTs have dance class every morning at 8, and various acting classes and music classes such as keyboard (some placed out of that class), and voice lessons. Nothing but raves for the voice teachers, who are reputedly fantastic, but have high expectations for practicing! The students also have tech assignments for the shows this semester. </p>

<p>Trying to find time to eat and sleep is a challenge. </p>

<p>Mom: Are you happy?
Son: Yes.
Mom: Are you glad you’re there?
Son: Yes! Got to go now!</p>

<p>Prodesse, so glad to see your post and see that your son is embracing the exciting “busy-ness” that is Ithaca’s freshman year in either of their BFA programs. Barring any curriculum changes/overhauls, his Sophomore year will be just as busy but he will have been fully indoctrinated. Junior year will seem relatively “easy” in comparison, with the semester in London (if your son so chooses) the absolute best in terms of having a chance to really experience life outside the classroom/rehearsals. My now senior daughter is back into the jammed-pack schedule of classes/rehearsals, but she wouldn’t have it any other way. And she and her fellow seniors are blown away by the talent (and size!) of your son’s freshman class. Here’s to an amazing four years at Ithaca!</p>

<p>My D is taking 18 credits (only one of which is what I would recognize as a college course, the rest being dance classes, music theory, acting classes, etc, etc). They just finished their first month and I think the 20 kids in her class are getting to know each other, forming friendships, and the like. My D tells me she already feels like she’s a better singer. She has private voice lessons with a faculty member twice a week and then a Master class with all his students every week. Loves her acting classes, and they had her add a jazz class to her ballet class as she had not taken a formal jazz class for a few years. No freshman audition for first semester shows/plays so she signed up to usher for performances - all are required to do something either in front or backstage. She says she’s very, very busy but that it has confirmed for her that MT is what she should be doing.</p>

<p>Wow! How exciting to read this. I fell in love with the campus and the city when we visited. I really can’t wait until my daughter is at the school where she will land. She loves performing so much and really works on her craft, I know she’ll love being able to do it all day long! I remember seeing the excitement all over her face when she heard about a semester in London! Question: How often are the voice lessons and are they private? Thank you.</p>

<p>jeffandann, I was posting my question at the same time you answered it!</p>

<p>Jeffandann, where is your daughter going to school?</p>

<p>GSOMTMom, my son has weekly private voice lessons, I think. One thing I hadn’t expected was that they have to hire an accompanist for the lessons. These are music students, of course. His is a graduate student and he says the accompanist is very good. The expense must not be too much, or he’d have hit me up for money to pay for it.</p>

<p>Nobusiness, the freshmen are totally blown away by the seniors too! And yes, there certainly are a lot of them. Ithaca must be a “hot” program.</p>

<p>Hire an accompanist? That’s good to know. It may be like that at other schools. Thanks!</p>

<p>My D is at Ball State.</p>

<p>Prodesse, I loved your description of your phone conversation. I have friends with boys in college who have reported very similar exchanges. I guess I’ll be prepared when my time comes!</p>

<p>My D loves her first semester at Nebraska Wesleyan. She has 17 credit hours and weekly voice lessons. She does her 10 hour a week work study job between classes. All freshman are required to take a Liberal Arts seminar this semester along with her acting, MT, dance, script analysis and english class. Everyone is required to audition for shows and she was cast in Anything Goes where they have guest choreographer Andrew Cao (cast member from the revival). She just had student directed auditions which they can choose to audition for or not and an MT evaluation tomorrow. She also tries to squeeze in seeing as many of the other performances as possible. It’s homecoming week so she is involved in a dance performance for that and she ended up rushing a sorrity. It helps that she is so busy since she is 12 hours away(less time to get homesick) along with the fact she wouldn’t have it any other. </p>

<p>The challenges are time to eat, sleep, do laundry and call. Luckily we text during the day so I can keep up on what she is doing. I’m looking forward to seeing her show next month.</p>

<p>My son is at BoCo, and after a 10 day orientation, they have now been in class for just over one week. Based upon 2 short phone conversations and a number of text messages, we have gleaned the following:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>a few minor schedule mishaps were quickly resolved. His original schedule had 2 overlapping classes on one day, but the registrar quickly fixed this. </p></li>
<li><p>he has 2 private voice lessons each week (the 2nd one is optional and an extra charge), and he likes his voice teacher, although he says the way he teaches is very different from his voice teacher at home. </p></li>
<li><p>dance is 5 days per week : ballet, tap, and contemporary. Placements happened during orientation. Jazz starts in the 2nd year after there is a strong ballet foundation. Students also are required to take piano, unless they test out. Believe it or not, we haven’t talked about whether he tested out or not. Our son is In “Early” or beginner levels for dance, and he says he doesn’t ache too much from daily dance classes. </p></li>
<li><p>he has a light Monday, with only 2 classes (about 4 hours) in the afternoon. Other days run all day and into the early evening. I think he said he has 9+ hours of classes on Tuesday and Friday, and this was before he had worked out when his private voice lessons were. </p></li>
<li><p>auditions have been going on for 2 weeks. Freshman are allowed to audition, but he said he didn’t know of any freshman who got a significant role in the MainStage show, Oklahoma. He has gotten a callback for a lead in “Evil Dead, the Musical” (but didn’t get the part), and he has a callback today for John in a student directed production of Miss Saigon. He said few freshmen are getting callbacks, much less roles, but he understands that there are incredibly talented upperclassmen that now have 1-3 years of BoCo training, so he’s not disappointed. </p></li>
<li><p>he has 3 roommates, and they seem to be off to a good start: another musical theater major, a vocal performance major, and a contemporary ballet major. The dorms are old brownstones in a great part of Boston. Gym and food service is at nearby Northeastern Univ (about a 5-7 minute walk). He knows a number of upperclassmen from his local community theater program, and they have been very welcoming and friendly. </p></li>
<li><p>orientation for parents was great, and the head of student services recommended a book that all parents should read, “Letting Go.” I read it, and it is great for understanding what they are going through and how we parents can best support them and their new independence. </p></li>
<li><p>weather is hot and humid as one would expect this time of year in Boston. Being a CA kid, the first snow storm may be a wake up call.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Net-net, he seems to be very happy there and acclimating well. My wife and I are looking forward to Parent’s Weekend in mid October; they have a special parent’s performance of Oklahoma.</p>

<p>My D is in her 3rd week at Rider and loving it. She placed out of Music Theory, so she is only taking 15 hours this semester. She is taking private voice lessons for 1 hour each week and has an accompanist also. She also has a Master class each week, a MT Practicum, and Acting I. She has always been devoted to dance, so she takes Ballet, jazz, modern and Pilates - they had dance placement when they first arrived. She is also getting 2 general ed classes out of the way.</p>

<p>Her biggest surprise has been how quickly it has gotten “cold” up north - she is from the Galveston, TX area so “cold” is a relative term in this case ;)</p>

<p>At Rider, MTs must audition for all shows. She had a blast auditioning and was even called back for a major role, but was not cast. She told me that she was happy not to be cast because it gives her time to settle in to college studies before she is overwhelmed with a completely packed schedule.</p>

<p>She lives in the Performing Arts dorm and loves how intimate and crazy it can be with her classmates. Her schedule is packed so tight on Mon and Wed that she has only 30 min between 10am - 8pm to eat, so she has learned how to work around that. I suggested that she “shop” in the cafeteria on those morning for items she can snack on when she is walking to the next class. On a good note, Tues and Thurs she has only 2 dances classes and voice Lessons, so she can do her homework and relax.</p>

<p>All in all, she is happy, enthusiastic and making friends. I definitely miss her more than she misses me!</p>

<p>Another interesting part of my D’s classes is she has a mandatory physical fitness class two mornings a week for all the MT students. It actually has her working out for the first time ever! Between that and dance several times a week she’s really getting into shape.</p>

<p>I told my daughter that as an MT major there seems to be NO way to gain the freshman 15!</p>

<p>When we were looking at schools, we found there was a lot of variety in audition policies for freshmen. Some posters on CC were inclined to give preference to schools that allowed freshmen to audition from day one. Now that my son is enrolled at such a school (though not for that reason, which was not a factor), I am beginning to see the sense in the more restrictive policies. This first semester is truly overwhelming. Just the auditions were an enormous cause of stress in the first week of school. All the MT parents I know agree, we wish they didn’t have to deal with that on top of everything else. And in fact, the DIDN’T have to deal with that, it was optional for first semester freshmen, but when was there ever a theatre kid who would opt NOT to audition?</p>

<p>This is a great topic, I love reading the updates!</p>

<p>Son is in his fourth week at Point Park and LOVING it. It is a frantic busy pace, complete with the obligatory-discipline-building ballet class at 8:00 a.m. daily. Freshmen are not allowed to audition there, and although I wondered about that policy in the beginning, I do think it makes sense, although one can certainly argue the other way as well. I think that’s turned out to be a blessing in his case as he gets adjusted to the routine. I laughed out loud at the previous text of a phone conversation…as I have had similar conversations with my son: “gotta go, Mom!” When I asked him if the experience was everything he had hoped for thus far, I got a resounding and definitive YES YES YES. That’s all I need to know. :)</p>

<p>We also had quite a few of those brief, rushed phone calls and texts until finally we BEGGED for a “real” phone call, and she indulged us last weekend. I heard the words “I love it!” and “I’m very happy!” so I finally could take a sigh of relief. She is at Montclair, and sounds like she is super busy!! She is taking 19 credits because she wanted to add (non-required) tap and jazz classes on top of the daily ballet, which meant I had to pay for an extra (out of state!) credit because regular tuition only covers 18 credits. I was worried about her having too heavy a load, but she reeeeally wanted to dance more. All dance classes are leveled so he feels happily challenged, and is in fact in ballet with mostly dance majors. She admitted that the work load was “more than she expected” and she has to do a lot of walking because she chose to live in a dorm at the other end of campus from the music and theater classes, but she seems to really like all her classmates and teachers. Freshmen did have to audition for the fall shows, but only a few were chosen, and my daughter was actually happy to not be chosen and have a little more time to just get adjusted to her new world. She also decided not to audition for any student-run shows yet for this reason. She and a bunch of her classmates have already been into the City to student-rush a Broadway show. She has one English class but all the rest are MT-related. One thing Montclair does differently is that she does not start voice lessons until January; the freshmen are in a class called “vocal technique” (as well as another singing class) this semester with the head of voice who gets to know them and evaluates which voice teacher she thinks would be the best for them to work with, then they start the private hour-long lessons with an accompanist next semester. All-in-all my daughter sounds extremely happy!! And I’m comforted to hear that I’m not the only one wishing for more communication!!</p>

<p>Anyone’s kids telling them they are unhappy? Mine is telling me the program is nothing like she expected. Should I chalk it up to it being so early in the year and she’s still adjusting or do we start looking for somewhere to transfer? Now I’m thinking of the other programs she was accepted to, but I don’t know if any of them look at transfer students.</p>