This is what I get for replying when I’m not at the end of the thread… scroll back to the post about accompanists - and this makes more sense.
Yep - My D pays for an accompanist as well. She takes care of this herself!?! and so I can’t tell you what she pays - but I do know she pays for the whole semester at the beginning of the semester.
This is great info - thank you so much everyone!
I would strongly advise against additional private lessons unless they are with the same voice teacher. It is very easy for a young singer to get confused when working with two different teachers unless those teachers have a close relationship with each other and are teaching a similar technique. However, I think it can be really beneficial to have a vocal coach on the side. A vocal coach will play the student’s songs, teach them the stylistic differences between different sub-genres of musical theatre, and coach their presentation/performance of their songs. However, this work is usually only beneficial when the student has a really strong handle on their technique. Usually starting around the junior year of college.
~VT
Hopefully one’s MT Program has classes on working on Vocal Performance that does that very thing mentioned above! (my child’s program did)
At Steinhardt, there is an Acting the Song class that does coaching. Also a drop in studio class weekly that offers feedback from faculty and peers. But D found additional time with an accompanist/ coach helpful when she wanted to work on a particular piece for an audition or for her recital/ showcase.
Viterbo is very much in line with Steinhardt’s program. MT students study with one of two musical theatre voice teachers who happen to be married to each other! We have a weekly studio class that, like Steinhardt, offers feedback from faculty and peers, and during your work session in studio class, you will often work with the voice teacher who you don’t study with. Obviously, being married to each other and working together means they meet the criteria that VoiceTeacher mentioned upthread (close relationship/teach similar technique). I find that it’s very helpful to get a fresh set of eyes on a piece every once in a while.
We have two half-hour lessons with our voice teacher a week (one with our accompanist and one without), and we are expected to meet with our accompanist for at least one additional half-hour coaching outside our lesson time. I find that the coachings are very helpful for spot-checking material, or for trying out new material that I’m considering bringing into lessons. I do pay for my accompanist, and at Viterbo, rates will vary depending on if you hire a student accompanist or a professional accompanist (I elected to do the latter).
Viterbo students also take two semesters of Musical Theatre Scene Study (one Golden Age MT semester and one Contemporary MT semester), which is an acting the song class that is probably very similar to what Soozie mentioned her daughter had at Tisch.
We’ve heard so many great things about Viterbo this year! Thank you for these additional words, @CanadianMTgirl. Great information to share. Congratulations on your journey.
I received a private message that made me realize I need to clarify my previous statement. Taking lessons with another teacher during the summer or other breaks is normal - think of all the summer camps students go to. In fact many teachers encourage their students to find someone to take lessons with when they go home so that they do not regress during the summer. Having teachers (other than your own) who work with you in a class or workshop setting is also fine.
What I was really referring to was having two or more teachers at the same time on a regular basis (such as during the school year). We saw a student this year who I remember correctly had seven voice teachers that he rotated between. That is not good. Too many opinions can easily lead to confusion and muscular tension.
~VT
At Utah, they have a weekly one hour private voice lesson. For whatever strange accounting reason, voice lessons are an additional fee, as is the acompianist (professional). We pay the acompianist directly for each semester although they are trying to get that rolled into fees as well so we only write one check. The acompianists are paid by the department for juries and for weekly dem labs. Each semester the students have one Italian selection and two or three Broadway songs from specific time periods. Many MT kids at Utah minor in dance, but I think they have to audition for a minor as well. They have separate majors in ballet, jazz, and modern. It is difficult to fit anything into BFA schedules unless the student enters with enough gen eds knocked out to make room for extra classes.
I cannot imagine how my D would have the time. And I don’t know that she really needs the extra lessons. In her program each student is assigned a voice professor when they enter as a freshman, and she has private lessons with him every week plus they have master class, where every week her professor’s students meet and several perform and get critiques, etc. For dance she took 3 diffrent dance classes this semester, and she can always schedules off times with the specific faculty member.
Thank you very much everyone for the insights. One thing that we’d have to figure out for my D is how to continue her Royal Conservatory Certiicate program (a Canadian ‘thing’) I guess she could study with any classical vocal teacher, and just travel for the exams. Is it usually possible to book private lessons with faculty members you work with within a program (to eliminate the ‘two different voice teachers’ issue)?
Are you asking about additional lessons with her voice teacher that go beyond those allotted for credit? That may be a possibility, but it depends on the teacher’s availability. I know that D took occasional lessons (like summers) with other faculty at NYU if her voice teacher wasn’t available. It was actually encouraged because the voice teachers shared a common belief in how voice should be taught and did not have conflicting methodology.
Thanks @uskoolfish, that was exactly what I was asking about.