Realizing you want to go into vocal performance later than everyone else..help? (Graduate School!!!)

College Majors Music Major
1

Hi all!

So I’m finishing up a BA in Music right now. My junior year I discovered that I really really want to teach voice (ideally in college!) – it’s something I feel confident doing and I absolutely love it. However, the school I’m at right now has pretty few opportunities when it comes to performance so I don’t think I’m quite as competitive vocally as your standard vocal performance major. Of course as a music major I’ve studied classical music and I’ve always taken it very seriously. I also do a lot of musical theatre on the side, as well as independently teaching singing lessons to theatre majors.

I’ve spent most of my undergrad doing research. I’ll be presenting my research at the American Musicological Society this year and in my state’s music educators association conference. Additionally, because I chose to go to a liberal arts school, I’ve had the opportunity to concentrate in other areas in music like conducting. I’m currently a student conductor at my school, where I get to help choose repertoire, rehearse the choirs, and conduct them in concert. So outside of performance, I feel like I am a very strong musician. It’s not that my voice is weak… my technique is solid and heading in the right direction, I’m not boring on stage, I’ve had great training with foreign languages, I’ve made finals in NATS, I have a scholarship, I won the concerto award at my school. My voice is decent. What makes me nervous is I’ve never been in an opera or participated in summer programs and the school I chose for undergrad isn’t really well known. Our program is really centered around music education, so it’s not a great place to study performance. The only chances I got to study anything to do with opera was solely in my voice lessons every week.

It’s my understanding that to be a professor of voice you should hopefully have had some type of professional singing career? I definitely want to be at a school that will push me as a performer. I’m ready to take the next step to focus primarily on singing and not in all the other musical things I’ve done in my undergrad. I suppose I’m looking at a place that would be interested in the potential I have even though I don’t think I fit your typical vocal performance major :slight_smile:

SO I’m wondering a few things…

  1. What are my chances of getting into top music schools for a Masters in Music (VP)?
  2. Can you recommend any schools that you think would possibly be interested in someone like me?

Thank you!

2

I can’t speak to your chances of getting accepted into any given program. Are you looking for full funding for a master’s program? If you do not need funding then you might find that there are many more programs available to you. Getting into a Master’s program is not necessarily that hard but getting funding is.

Keep in mind that many students are older when they decide to enter a master’s program, because they have taken time off before applying to graduate school. You could potentially take time off and do local theater and opera projects to build up your resume and experience.

There are also summer workshops or intensives at places like Berklee College of Music where you can also gain experience.

If you are interested in teaching or working in the arts there are programs geared more toward that specifically such as Harvard’s Masters of Arts Education (which is part of their Graduate School of Education).

It is exciting you have found what your passion. I would not listen to others saying you are starting late or your school is not well known enough or any other excuse. I would just go for it. The only risk is failure and honestly even if you fail once you can pick yourself up and learn from that and try again. If this is something you really want you will find a way to succeed and make it work.