<p>Hi-
I am currently a junior in high school. This summer, I did a voice intensive at Carnegie Mellon's precollege. The experience showed me that although I love singing and would love to pursue it professionally, the reality is I probably could not handle the pressure. In this, I have been looking at the possibility of music management with a minor voice. Does anyone have any schools that would offer this or tips on how to explore this further?
Thanks!</p>
<p>There's a previous discussion thread here:</p>
<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=350721&highlight=%22music+management%22%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=350721&highlight=%22music+management%22</a>. I quicky glanced through it and saw no mention of Hartt, with a solid Music Business major and very well known vocal program. </p>
<p>You may want to read through the Suggesions of Colleges with Music Majors sticky thread pinned to the top of the page. <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=6280%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=6280</a></p>
<p>Not many colleges have official minor programs in performance, although you can take voice lessons, Italian, diction, group piano lessons, music theory and so forth at many schools. At least some of the music courses and the language course may count as distribution requirements and the rest could be taken as electives within most majors. If you limit yourself to colleges with a music business program that also offer a vocal performance minor, your list could be really short. If you are not concerned that your diploma has the words "voice minor" on it, then you will have more options.</p>
<p>You could start by looking for schools that offer the music management curriculum. If you go to one of the various college matchmaker programs available on the internet and enter things like "Arts Management", "Music Management" and "Music Business" you are likely to find a list of a few hundred schools with those majors. Cross reference that with any other preferences you have in terms of size, location, selectivity, etc. to get the list a bit smaller. Then start narrowing the list to schools that have music performance programs somewhat in line with your vocal abilities. The result should be a reasonable start toward what you are looking for. Perhaps you will even find a few that do offer a voice minor.</p>
<p>James Madison University in VA has a Music Industry Major. As a part of that major you choose a major instrument... voice is an option.</p>
<p>As a current commercial music major, my suggestion would be to first look at the location of schools. Look for schools located where the music business is most thriving in the area of music management you'd want to do (i.e., Los Angeles for film, pop, rock; New York City for Broadway and Opera; Nashville for Country and Christian Contemporary/Rock; etc.). This will facilitate networking later on as well help you find schools with programs strong in what you want to do.
My second suggestion to NOT major in Music Business!!!
I'd suggest majoring in Business and maybe minoring in music and taking a few Music Business-specific classes on the side. The reason for this is simple and 2-fold--first, it is always best to keep your options open (jobs in the music biz are hard to find, generally don't pay well -- especially near the bottom -- and don't expect you'll ever get to the top either, and, frankly, you may get tired of it and want to move on later in life), and second, the Music Business changes so quickly that the stuff you learn in class your senior year of college (even in the second semester) WILL be obsolete by the time you graduate!</p>
<p>Miami University of Ohio offers minors in Music Performance, and in Arts Management. You wouldn't be able to major in Arts Management, but you could get a BA in Music (or a BM in performance) with the minor. I have no idea how their vocal dept is - My D is a violinist. I know she will be in the orchestra for the opera this semester. Look their website over - there are lots of possibilities. Ohio - the whole state - is a marvelous "breeding ground" for musicians - It seems like every small city has their own orchestra! Therefore, the teachers tend to be high quality, even at the "lesser" schools. My S2 compares it to Germany in that way.</p>