Just for fun - which path is less risky?

College Majors Musical Theater Major
1

<p>the contestants: </p>

<p>Popular/Commercial Voice Degree</p>

<p>vs.</p>

<p>Musical Theater Degree</p>

<p>vs. </p>

<p>Voice/Opera (Performance)</p>

<p>All three are high risk. All three requires loads of talent and hard work. All three make parents wonder if it's worth spending 40, 50, 200 thousand dollars funding a degree in the arts. But which one is the safest bet? Which one is most likely to lead a student to a fulfilling life as a paid performer? Which is the least risky proposition?</p>

<p>Here are the rules:
1. Assume equal talent level, work ethic, program quality, etc.
2. No stating the obvious ("all are extremely risky, jobs are scarce, you could be a teacher, yada yada yada")
3. Keep it purely hypothetical - no need to clarify, "well, if this" or "depending on that"...
4. For this exercise, SUCCESS should be defined as "making a living as a performer as your sole source of income." Not stinking rich but comfortable and not worried about paying the bills every month.
5. Restrict your answer to: WHICH IS LESS RISKY, plus one or two sentences why.
6. MOST IMPORTANT RULE: Have fun with this. It's not a serious topic, just for fun & debate.</p>

<p>As for me, I think you could make an argument for any of the three, but I'm leaning towards:</p>

<p>MUSICAL THEATER, because of the loads of NY, touring, and regional companies, not to mention cruise lines, acting for TV and film, etc. </p>

<p>(see, that's an example of how to write your reply)</p>

<p>SIDE BET: Guess how many replies before someone goes off tangent with a long diatribe! </p>

<p>Aaaaannnnnd.... GO!</p>

2

<p>If I had to pick one, I’d say Musical Theater. It involves a variety of skill sets applicable to various sorts of work.</p>

<p>However, I don’t really agree with the premise of the question because I don’t think WHAT your major/degree is in is as important as the talent (and some luck). One is hired for talent and not the name of the degree or major. </p>

<p>Another thing, my kid has a degree in musical theater and acting, yet she is also professionally working as well in popular voice (singer/songwriter…rock/pop/jazz/folk). Not to mention that besides working as a musical theater performer (actor/singer/dancer) and as singer/songwriter of popular music, she also works professionally as a writer/composer/lyricist of musicals (her degree was not in that either) and other aspects of performing arts. So, one’s actual degree doesn’t necessarily dictate the only thing they can do professionally in the arts.</p>

3

<p>Musical Theatre: Studying multiple skills gives students options for future careers and future training outside of a degree (i.e. Certified Fight Combatant, Stunt training, etc). The BFA leads to the MFA which is a “terminal” degree and does not require a PhD or other doctorate for most university positions.</p>

4

<p>Coming at it from the opposite direction, if you ask about voice/opera from the perspective of a career in opera or other classical singing, that is the most risky and protracted. There’s a fascinating discussion on the Music Majors forum about this. Years of post graduate training, the mandatory participation in YAPs where new performers must pay at times substantial sums of money to participate and even audition.Careers that don’t start to gel until the mid-30’s. It’s a whole different world from theatre. </p>

<p>I also have a niece by marriage who has made a career as a “pop” vocalist and it too is a long hard road. While she is signed to a major record label, has released several cds,tours nationally, has done national commercials for NASCAR etc, the back story is the years she had to spend in Europe breaking into the business before she could parley those successes into an active career in the U.S, the years she had to come up with her own funding to cut professional quality demo cds and get studio time.</p>

<p>So is MT/Theatre the least risky, yeah, maybe but given the risk level and vagaries of theatre, as a parent of a performer, I don’t give great weight to that ;).</p>

5

<p>Will the judges accept a BA in Theatre with an MT Certificate PLUS an unrelated double major from a well-respected University, providing you with all the skills for your MT/Theatre career (including business, marketing and broad-based cultural knowledge in addition to singing, acting and dancing) coupled with a large network of contacts to help you find work throughout the world? ;-)</p>

6

<p>Don’t fall for this one folks. This exact same thread is posted over on the Music Forum and the OP considers it all to be a big “joke”.</p>

7

<p>As i stated clearly in my original post:</p>

<ol>
<li>MOST IMPORTANT RULE: Have fun with this. It’s not a serious topic, just for fun & debate.</li>
</ol>

<p>No bait & switch. I posted to both forums to see different perspectives on how people would reply. The strange thing is - the MT forum people have played by the rules - picked one and gave a quick reason for their choice. Well done, MT forum!</p>