<p>i am looking at schools for music. i cant decide between musical theatre, vocal performance, opera, or music compostition. </p>
<p>here's the problem. i dont want to be at a place that only allows me to do one.</p>
<p>is there some music school that would allow me to participate in all of these areas?</p>
<p>in addition- are there any musical theatre programs which put their emphasis on music/voice?</p>
<p>You probably may want to look at a program that offers a BM in MT. (rather than a BFA in MT) Herberger at ASU offers that degree. You study with the same faculty that the VP people study with and you are required to take the same music theory track the other performance majors are in.(better to facilitate your interest in composition). But I do not imagine that you can double major in MT and composition.
<a href=“http://music.asu.edu/lot/[/url]”>http://music.asu.edu/lot/</a></p>
<p>Greetings. University of Michigan is a BFA for musical theatre, but I believe you can take composition courses via the ‘elections across fields.’ Not likely a double major, though, as the BFA is about 75% pre-programmed, I think. You will have private vocal so I doubt you’d have any trouble with flexibility there, and you have the musicology and piano requirements that BM students usually do. At any rate, you’d certainly have access to all your interests, one way or another. Here’s a link: [UM</a> School of Music, Theatre & Dance](<a href=“http://music.umich.edu%5DUM”>http://music.umich.edu)
Good luck in your search.</p>
<p>P.S. – Just a note, the issue isn’t what a school “allows” – it is what is viable within four or five years. When you are at a conservatory or school of music, you are in a “professional” school and must have a certain number of hours in specific disciplines for there to be integrity in the degree. That said, it is entirely possible, at least at Mich, to DUAL degree – so long as you are willing to pay for the additional year(s) you will need to attend to do so. Eg. my son is a dual degree PAT Music and Film student – 5 yrs. if he continues to pursue both. He may instead to graduate school instead of completing the second degree, but will determine that in another year. Maybe you need to apply as a dual degree student to keep your options open that way, though I’m not sure if you can dual degree INSIDE SOM (but you can with ENG, LSA etc.).</p>
<p>Some Composition programs will allow you to also major in a musical instrument. Opera as a major for undergrads is a misnomer- the major is VP and during the course of that study, you perform in opera scenes and staged operas, depending upon the school and it’s program.
Most of the top VP and MT programs are mutually exclusive (although I know of one that will tell you otherwise, but I’ve seen a lot of damage come out of there…) as today’s Musical Theatre is heavily dependent upon belting, a technique which is not compatible with classical vocal training.
Other arrangements are possible with additional years spent in study, and there is at least one young lady in a well-known YAP program with a major opera company who did her undergrad in MT at the U of Mich and then her grad degree in VP elsewhere.</p>