<p>Hi all, I posted this on the main page, but thought I’d also post it here for anyone specifically searching for info on Montclair. Also, people keep posting on Savannah’s thread but my understanding is that she is not in the program anymore, so is unlikely to answer. My daughter chose Montclair after a long hard search, and it has turned out to be a wonderful choice and perfect fit for her. Here is what I could get out of her:</p>
<p>So happy to see all the reports of happy kids! Mine is no different. She just finished her first semester at Montclair and whenever anyone asks her about school, her answer is always, “I LOVE IT.” Classes first semester were Ballet 4 mornings a week with Elisabeth McPherson and Nancy Lushington, Music Theory with Patrick Burns, Aural Skills with Greg Dabbon, Freshman Studio (which the kids called their “Glee” class) taught by Greg Dlugos (who was a Musical Director on Broadway most of his career, and who my D says is AWESOME), College Writing, Acting I taught by Joe Joyce who the kids call “Papa Joe” and totally love to pieces, Vocal Technique with Lori McCann who is a CCM classical voice grad and head of voice for the MT program, Tap, Jazz, New Student Seminar which is an interest-specific class required of all freshman (her class was all the BFA MT freshman, and sounds like they discussed MT-related topics, taught by Eric Diamond who my daughter described as “the nicest guy in the world”), and Production Operations (which means she did tech for one of the fall productions). My daughter came in a strong dancer, and all of her dance classes were leveled and happily challenging. Her ballet class was with the BFA Dance students, taught by a Julliard grad. Her tap and jazz teachers teach all over the place, including Steps on Broadway and Broadway Dance Center in NYC. She loved ALL of the faculty she worked with. REALLY was inspired by and respected them. Next semester she’ll be taking Acting II Theater Games and Improv, Jazz, Tap, and Ballet, Theory II, Aural Skills II, Acting for the Singer I, College Writing, and Voice. Montclair does not start individual voice lessons until semester 2 because they want to get to know the student and their voice well before hooking them up with a teacher (NOT a grad student). They really believe in this. But she will have a full hour (no extra cost) as well an an accompanist she’ll be able to practice with outside of lessons. She also has been cast in “42nd Street” which promises to be a big tap-dancing extravaganza in the beautiful Kasser Theatre, directed by Clay James, head of MT who is himself a singer and tapper. Almost all of the freshman were cast in SOMETHING freshman year. My daughter lives in The Heights which is one of the new luxurious dorms. She shares a (very large) bathroom with just one other person. Since the campus is so close to NYC (less than a half hour with easy public transportation) she goes there quite often. But there are also things to do on campus, like an unbelievably gorgeous new rec center/gym, an ice-skating rink, and bikes (and even cars) you can rent. Downtown Montclair is also really nice with great stores and restaurants. Montclair is NOT a big party school. Though 5-6 thousand live on campus, many go home on weekends. Certainly not all, and a good portion of the MT kids are from out of state who stick around. My daughter seems to use weekends for catching up on sleep, going into the City, getting homework done, doing laundry (which is free) and practicing. There are also a huge amount of productions and guest speakers that take place on campus, all free to students, even if it is a big name or famous person. The students just have to go to the box office and show their ID to get a ticket, but it’s free. My D’s MT class seems to be a very cohesive group, very supportive of each other, as are the upper-classpeople. She has a sophomore Big, a junior Grand Big, and a senior Great Grand Big. I have seen 2 shows there so far (“Take Flight” and “Falsettos”) and the talent in both utterly blew me away. I think one thing all our kids (who, face it, if they got this far were all big stars in high school) experience is being a bit humbled by all the amazing talent around them in these programs. My daughter is in awe of most of her peers, several of whom have done professional work, been on national tours, have family in the business, etc. It really feels like a professional atmosphere. It has turned out to be just the right program for her. One thing to note is that tap and jazz were not required this semester, but my daughter chose to take them. This did take her one credit above the max included with tuition, so I had to pay for an extra credit. Another thing is that, unlike some other schools, the BFA MT program is really separate from the BFA Acting program, the MT minor or any other BA theatre performance degree program. There are technical theatre degree programs and they do collaborate on the shows; there is also a full orchestra for each show in collaboration with the music department. But oddly, my daughter says she doesn’t even know anyone in the BFA Acting program. I’m not sure if they have completely different faculty or not. Maybe I’ll know more at the end of Year One.</p>
We too would love to hear about the Acting/MT because that is something important to us. D wants a school that allows for crossover and she wants to be able to audition for everything, not just one or the other when it comes to productions.</p>