Hey everyone!
I’m a senior in high school right now planning to take a gap year.
I’ve been talking to a lot of my mentors and coaches lately trying to decide between a Musical Theatre Major and a Vocal Performance Major. I’ve been told it would be more helpful for me to get a Vocal Performance Major, but I’m a little worried about that idea. I don’t want to spend 4 years studying opera, and when I graduate I have done no shows at all and because I haven’t been working on my belt (which is necessary for nearly all female musical theatre performers) I have to retrain myself to work in the theatre.
My goal for like is to be a working actor, and while opera does come natural to me I’m not so sure spending 4 years of in-depth study is going to help me further my career as an actor. It would maybe give me a better fall-back career, but I want to do theatre.
It would just be helpful to have some people’s thoughts on this. What are the pros and cons of doing MT or Voice? Any thoughts or ideas would be very appreciated!
My short answer is that you want to do musical theater and become an actor. Therefore, I suggest pursuing MT in college, rather than Vocal Performance.
If you want MT go with that…if you feel torn between the two look at the curriculum for the VP programs at each school your interested in. Also ask if you are a VP major can you audition for MT and non musical shows. Each program is so different you really need to research. You might want to look at NYU Steinhartd’s program. It’s a Vocal Performce specializing in MT . Also it’s not unheard of for VP majors to make the transition to MT
Look for comments made by VoiceTeacher on this very subject. He is on faculty at Shenandoah and has a lot of knowledge about both sides of this question. You can also do a search for previous threads on MT vs. Vocal Performance (VP). There have been several over the last few years.
This current thread deals with two specific summer intensives - one voice, one MT - but the reply posts address some of the same issues.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1778011-summer-program-question-bw-music-theatre-or-ccm-voice.html#latest
It honestly sounds like you answered it yourself in your post. Go with your gut, not what other people tell you, and think of your goal in the long term. Best of luck!
You may want to consider a program like OCU where you can double major in VP and MT. VPs can and do succeed in MT post grad. One recent example is Eryn LeCroy '14, who was cast as Emma Carew in the national tour of Jekyll and Hyde just weeks after she graduated. NYU Steinhardt is another great suggestion. But look at the curriculum and make sure you are taking the classes you want. VPS will take a more intensive load of music classes.
Just want to point out that this years Tony’s are full of legit musicals and several nominees and winners that are vp majors.
My d is an mt performer turned vp major. I go back and forth between both forums. She dreams of being on Broadway and at the met. She also was encouraged by a former professional director and a few mentors to get her major in vp. During her freshmen year she was cast in the musical a tale of two cities, the opera marriage of figaro and the operetta Orpheus and the underworld.
Not all programs are opera focused. Her school is quick to point out that there’s is a vocal performance degree…not exclusively an opera major. The training is classical in nature. Her school and voice coach support her pursuing both. I don’t think you’d have to retrain, but you may have to do outside training to keep yourself sharp in the other areas of dance and acting. My d school has acting as part of their vp program, but not dance so she takes dance separately.
For my d it was about maximizing her strength, plus she preferred the curriculum in a vp bm versus a bfa. She did not want any liberal arts classes. Plus she, like voice teacher plans on being a college professor later in life. She has a year under her belt and although she wishes she could perform even more…she loves her programs, her school, and her professors and is 100% happy with her choice.
@Sguti40 do you mind sharing where your daughter is a student? I ask because she reminds me a lot of my d who just finished freshman year at OCU where she is currently doubling in VP and MT. Switching from one to another or double majoring is by no means easy or encouraged at many schools, and it wasa big reason she chose OCU.
She is a rising sophomore at the hartt school of music at the University of Hartford in CT.
She made the decision about 8 months prior to prescreens and had to learn 6 English, French and German songs for prescreens (she only had one in her book).
Some people (mainly peers) have tried to convince her that she has to choose, but she refuses. She chose to room with an mt major (they have so many interests in common) and at school she socially goes back and forth between the mt and the vp students. She’s actually been somewhat of a catalyst bring the two groups together.
At first some thought she may only be doing vp because she wasn’t good enough for mt. But during one her spring classes she was able to sing whatever she chose and she picked “my kindergarten boyfriend” from heathers and it was a smash with both groups.
She looked into OCU and knows several who have attended, but exclusively wanted an east coast school. Plus I have a debilitating phobia of Oklahoma/tornadoes and would have dreaded visiting…I know irrational, but that’s why its a phobia. She liked the vp programs at Baldwin Wallace and Otterbein’s as well. A smaller program that appeared to have good cross-over type opportunities for mt and for vp was Plymouth State…plus it was really inexpensive.
I’ve said it multiple times, there’s no one path not one school. Stand confident in what feels right for you.
“My goal for like is to be a working actor, and while opera does come natural to me I’m not so sure spending 4 years of in-depth study is going to help me further my career as an actor. It would maybe give me a better fall-back career, but I want to do theatre.”
A “fallback career” in opera is not going to happen. I think it would be worthwhile to understand what a typical career in opera for a young soprano looks like and what the current market for sopranos is. Four years as an undergrad VP student does not make the cut in the opera world. Add on another four years of graduate study and post graduate study and add to that all the possible physical changes that may or may not occur in your instrument.(IN SHORT–4 years study is not considered “in depth” in the opera world)
I’m not trying to discourage work in VP, but the study of opera might not be the most effective or efficient way for someone who “just want(s) to do theater”.
I certainly second what @musicamusica is saying here about opera. It really depends on what you want long term, and at least from what you’ve posted initially, that sounds like an MT career. If you are interested in VP, or arent sure, it is important to realize that its fairly uncommon, at least in my experience, to find schools allowing flexibility to study both areas, or to switch from one to the other. In addition to OCU, I understand that NYU Steinhardt and Ithaca are flexible in this way.
@Sguti40 thanks for sharing your d’s story! I’m glad she found her “fit” at Hartt! We looked there but d wasn’t sure if they would be flexible-- glad to know it worked out for you and your d.
Also - between Gentleman’s Guide last year and The King and I and On the 20th Century this year, it is apparent there is still a place in musical theatre for legit singers. And legit singers can and do learn to belt. They don’t have to be mutually exclusive.
Ruthie Ann Miles who won a Tony for the King and I last nighgot her master in VP from NYU Steinhardt. And one of the lead sailors in On the Town (Jay Armstrong) got his BM degree in VP from Steinhardt. Both had a concentration in MT.
This is all so conflicting and true. Excellent points on both ends. I guess it just depends on the individual’s strengths in each performance area going into a program. Also depends their own personal ability to cross over from dancing, acting and belting, to classical performance.