<p>I'm developing a list of colleges and universities with music majors that offer a focus on rock and pop music vocals. Virtually all voice programs are classical/opera only or might also offer jazz vocals, but this list is specific to schools that have a full rock/pop track (not just a couple classes)...schools like Berklee, Tiffin and USC. Can you suggest others?</p>
<p>Belmont School of Music:
[Commercial</a> Performance Emphasis - Belmont University](<a href=āhttp://www.belmont.edu/music/degrees/music_undergraduate/major_in_commercial_music/commercial_performance_emphasis.html]Commercialā>http://www.belmont.edu/music/degrees/music_undergraduate/major_in_commercial_music/commercial_performance_emphasis.html)</p>
<p>I donāt know anything about this genre but have heard a few things here on CC!</p>
<p>New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music <a href=āhttp://www.newschool.edu/jazz/[/url]ā>http://www.newschool.edu/jazz/</a></p>
<p>NYU???</p>
<p>University of the Arts in Philadelphia?</p>
<p>Another way to go might be:</p>
<p>Bennington College [Bennington:</a> Music](<a href=āhttp://www.bennington.edu/Academics/AreasStudy/Music.aspx]Bennington:ā>http://www.bennington.edu/Academics/AreasStudy/Music.aspx)
[Bennington:</a> Courses](<a href=āhttp://www.bennington.edu/Academics/AreasStudy/Courses.aspx?dCode=MUSIC]Bennington:ā>http://www.bennington.edu/Academics/AreasStudy/Courses.aspx?dCode=MUSIC)</p>
<p>Sarah Lawrence [url=<a href=āhttp://www.slc.edu/undergraduate/arts/music/courses.html]Musicā>Music | Sarah Lawrence College]Music</a> Courses<a href=ānote%20courses%20on%20post-tonal%20and%20rock%20musicā>/url</a></p>
<p>or schools of that kind</p>
<p>Your best bet is to look for a school with contemporary music, which mostly has a base in jazz. You will not likely find a major in rock vocals, but at a school like Berklee and similar you can take many genres of music, including rock, as part of ensembles and other classes. Most music schools will have 1-2 years of core music classes that are based either in jazz or classical music, but that is important so that the ensemble partners all speak in āmusicā and not random terminology (keys, grooves, rhythms, etc.). Rock vocals is a specialty in itself ā¦ there are ways to sing rock (and heavy metal) that are not as damaging to oneās vocal cords, but you may be have seek out these vocal experts outside of a 4-year college program, but use the 4-year college program to learn how to write, record, compose and perform professionally, as well as learn more about the music business side of the profession.</p>
<p>If your son/daugher is not a senior, another option to consider is a summer program that explores rock with other students of similar talent and interest. When my D did Berkleeās 5-week, you could pick ārockā as a genre and that allowed students to dive into it more deeply. If the 5-week is too expensive or too long, many larger cities have Rock Camps, too, but maybe youāve already done these.</p>
<p>Frost has a contemporary music program. I think it is aimed at singer/songwriters.</p>
<p>I am not into vocal music, but what I kind of wonder if it is worth studying rock/pop vocals as a major at the college level. I realize with some music schools (USC comes to mind) it can be about connections, but given the nature of rock/pop music it may be better to major in something else (perhaps even something like music business or recording tech or something allied) where you could talk things like music theory and so forth if you wanted to, and could study privately with a vocal teacher to improve the singing and protect your voice. I am not saying that to denigrate the work it takes to be successful at any kind of music but rather that if you donāt need it, you may be able to apply yourself to something else in college, even music related, and get what you need privately.</p>
<p>The reason I wonder about that is primarily because of how expensive college is. If you are talking about classical vocal (opera or other, whatever other is), given the kind of training required for that, learning to sing in multiple languages, theory and so forth, you arenāt going to be able to do that without studying it as your concentration in school, it is a required hashmark for a lot of reasons, whereas rock/pop is a lot more āforgivingā so to speak, and is the benefit of studying it in college worth it? While getting a music performance degree is something that can lead to a lot of paths, you also have the possibility of majoring in something in college that interests you/opens up doors for something else you could do if music doesnāt pan out while pursuing your dream, something kids going into classical music in its various flavors cannot do, or at least not easily, thanks to the rigors of doing music at that level requires. </p>
<p>Keep in mind that is a question more to think about, could be there are solid reasons to go that route that I am not aware of (again, I am speaking as someone who is no expert on vocal music).</p>
<p>Another suggestion is Columbia College Chicago</p>
<p>Make a list of some of the bands/singers that are your greatest musical influences and check their bios to see where they went to school. You may well find attendence at some of the best music schools, art schools, regular colleges and universities, or no post high school education at all.</p>
<p>^True. I can think of a few, eg. English majors, bio, etc. ;)</p>
<p>If money isnāt tight, you might want to check out NYU/Tischās Clive Davis Recording Arts program ā one variant is meant for performers who also want to produce their own music.</p>
<p>In response to musicprntās post, I had the same thought (is it worth it?). Once. But beyond the connections at USC (and by connections, I include those with other students, because I happen to believe many of them will have careers in music, if not performing - they are that special, from what weāve seen), my son is learning about the industry, recording, mixing, composing - all kinds of stuff he wouldnāt have had room for with a non-music major (heās a guitarist, not a vocalist, just to be clear, though).</p>
<p>And to be honest, my son even had the same question when he started, since he only applied to jazz programs (and later switched). He wasnāt sure studying ācontemporaryā music made sense. But then he asked himself āwhy does studying jazz really make sense?ā Plenty of jazz artists donāt even go to college.</p>
<p>I guess I also feel better about the āpopā degree because I know itās coming from a top tier academic university. In other words, regardless of his major, heās getting a great education.</p>
<p>Just another perspective.</p>
<p>Try University of Colarado-Denver. The band The Fray came out of that program (FWTW), and Denver is a great city - they have a generous out-of-state scholarship program as well. </p>
<p>Alo, University of Denver has a Jazz & Commercial music major - their facilities are amazing. </p>
<p>If you expand to jazz, as others have said, you will open yourself up to more options. Welcome to CC - and this crazy search process. Itās a wild ride!</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. I have continued researching this topic and soon will post a roster of rock voice colleges for US and UK. Iāve discovered a number of other CC posters are in search of same, so perhaps this āLittle Listā will help others too.</p>
<p>Thanks, kimwilliams. Iād be curious what a ārockā curriculum looks like compared to jazz or contemporary or even classic.</p>
<p>In jazz studies, youāll have courses like Jazz Arranging, Jazz Standards and Literature, and Jazz Theory and Aural Training. In contemporary voice, you have Progressive Rock Performance, Pop/Rock/Country Vocal Ensemble, Musical Theater Chorus, Singing with Soul. I am just grabbing from Ithacaās jazz program and Berkleeās voice program as examples. Of course, Berkleeās music college curriculum is so large and wide ranging it also has jazz offerings. But the point of my search is to find those few schools that offer a contemporary voice program that <em>can</em> focus on contemporary, non-jazz stylesāas USCās program calls it, popular music. So one way to distinguish between a jazz voice program and a popular music voice program is, as you are training your voice in classes, are you usually singing like Chet Baker or Robert Plant?</p>
<p>Hereās the āRock Vocalsā Little List so far (there are a handful of other possibilities in the US and also a number in the UK Iām still researching) of popular music, non-jazz-focused, voice performance, degree programs:</p>
<p>College:</p>
<p>Berklee College of Music, Boston, Mass.
USC, Los Angeles, Calif.
U Colorado Denver, Denver, Colo.
ACM@UCO, Oklahoma City, Okla.
Catawba College, Salisbury, N.C.
Santa Fe College of Art and Design, Santa Fe, N.M.
Belmont University, Nashville, Tenn.
McNally Smith College of Music, St. Paul, Minn.
Tiffin University, Tiffin, Ohio
Johnson State College, Johnson, Vermont
Western Oregon University, Monmouth, Ore.
UK: LIPA, Liverpool, England
UK: Leeds College of Music, Leeds, England
Down Under: U Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia</p>
<p>āTradeā-like schools:</p>
<p>L.A. Music Academy, Pasadena, Calif.
Musicians Institute, Hollywood, Calif.
UK: ACM Guildford, Guildford, England</p>
<p>I will be further vetting the above to make sure they truly fit, as well as I said certain other US/UK schools ā and, thatās right, a couple in Canada, like Humber. I am trying not to gauge the programs ā I realize the difference just in faculty between a Berklee/USC-type program and certain other of the above is clear ā but instead simply ascertain if they are popular music, non-jazz-focused, voice performance, degree programs.</p>
<p>Assistance appreciated! Just please keep in mind, if itās a program that says it is ājazz andā¦,ā itās jazz ā so not a fit. If it has a course or three in popular music, it is not a fit. If itās a culture, production or entrepreneurial program, itās not a fit. The program has to include all of the below:</p>
<ul>
<li>voice track</li>
<li>performance based</li>
<li>degree (or certificate) program</li>
<li>with the huge majority of classes focusing on popular music (primarily rock and pop, but other contemporary styles like hip-hop, world, usw can be included)</li>
<li>and so has minimal or zero jazz required</li>
</ul>
<p>The degree does not have to be called a voice degree or performance degree; itās just that the majority of what your classes are in must be voice performance.</p>
<p>So, given the above, schools that are not fits, for example, are: Denver/Lamont; Miami/Frost; Roosevelt/CCPA; Indiana/Jacobs; Northeastern; Rider; Manhattan School of Music; the New Schools; NYU Tisch or Steinhardt; U Cincinnati/CCM; U Arts; Cornish. Some superb programs thereābut they and those like them are not degree programs that let you focus to the nth degree on 1. voice 2. performance in 3. popular music.</p>
<p>Thanks to all past and future commenters!</p>
<p>brendansdad, if you do further research on Catawba, Iād love to hear what you find. They come up in my research from time to time. I would just love to know more about them.</p>
<p>I know Princeton Review rates Catawba College quite nicelyāplus, Catawba has a well-developed program in musical theatre (BFA, BA and minor), which could provide more opportunities for contemporary-oriented singers. There is a funny post on CC from a Catawba summer camper that described a real horrorshow (maybe a search here on ādead bats, decrepit dormā would find it), but the students overall seem to like their college. Plus, In Tune Monthly rates Catawba as a best music program, and the description of the contemporary music program on the Catawba site makes it sound very dynamic=āsure, they all do, but this seems dynamic in a very effective way, getting the kids actively working and working together toward a career from day one. Now, as I noted before, if you compare the faculty list of a Berklee and the faculty list of most of the other ārock schools,ā well, Berklee is the Sorbonne, most others the local community college. By comparison. That said, if you compare Catawbaās with a number of the āothers,ā Catawbaās is comparatively impressive. One thing I wonder about: If post-graduation a student is looking for a music-related jobs, and the student says āBerklee,ā well, nothing further need be said. In the music biz, thatās like saying āHarvard.ā With many of the othersā¦</p>
<p>Brendandsdad I would be careful with a couple of your conclusions.</p>
<p>Son graduated from USCās program and the matriculation rate is 90-100% of those accepted, about 5% of applicants are admitted and his classmates think that in his and the following class those accepted to both all chose USC. Berklee has excellent musicians but admits many more per class so I suspect the average quality per student is somewhat lower. Berklee is a more established program but son had lessons from world renowned professional musicians including jazz piano from a gentleman who expressed excitement about sonās EP but never mentioned he was up for a Jazz grammy at that very same time. Berklee has excellent instruction I am sure, but access to LA music professionals provides an exceptional faculty at USC also. I wouldnāt assume Berklee is number 1</p>
<p>Also, I donāt think for working musicians any school degree including Berklee or USC or Julliard provides extensive demand just on the school degree. More important how the student develops.</p>
<p>Hi, thanks! But, quoting my list post: āI am trying not to gauge the programs.ā There is no order to that list of schools, thus no numbers; itās almost happenstance Berklee is firstāgoing in, it was the only contemporary program I knew, so as I found more I added them. I will say that, despite it being a small and newer program, USCās seems to be awesome; there might well be a reason Rolling Stone recently profiled it. (Full disclosure: Iām a Trojan, MFA writing program, early '80s, thus by that happenstance USC was the first school I looked at after Berklee in my search, and so is listed next.) Thereās a longtime CC poster, 27dreams, whose postings of a couple years ago (and since) on studying contemporary music have been incredibly helpfulāanyone interested in studying rock/pop (contemporary) performance should start with her (470!) comments. (And tune in those of jazz/shreddermom and several others who previously made this rocky rock journey.) 27dreams, I might add, blessed with multiple acceptances, chose USC. So I think that misunderstanding is set aside. Now, re: your further comments, if you asked me to prove that the two best contemporary performance programs were <em>not</em> the two you discuss, that disproof would be at least a challenge to construct. I do have your exact sense of them, but this is how I express it: At Berklee, you study with a wide, wide range of students and faculty, an advantage in itself; at USC, you study only with the best of the best, an advantage in itself. NYC an hour away; Hollywood up the hill. Advantage, advantage. But I want to draw attention to the other schools on the list; Iām betting most of their students are very happy theyāre where they are. [Such program students, please chime in.] One after another, each of these programs has its unique quality, its āoh, man, I want to go there!ā For any one student, thereās no need for a number 1 going in to the research; my hope is the list helps those like my son and 27dreams have a place to start their search for what will <em>become</em> their number 1. That said, āparentā kicking in, I do think it more than possible that having a degree from certain schools will be a crucial help after graduation. Hereās an example from MT: Itās a Broadway cattle call, the part calls for a 22-year-old, there are two hundred applicants, the producer and director have time to audition twenty that afternoon. The producer and director look through the resumes; given the age target theyāre all from recent graduates, their play credits are thus similar, so how will the twenty be picked? Iād not be stunned if they went with the known imprimaturs. Michigan, CCM, CMUābring them in. Auditioners from WAU (Where Again? University)āwellā¦. Letās say itās a music setting, make it a college thatās building its program and wants to hire a young music instructor. Most else being equal, would they prefer to put on their websiteās faculty list Instructor: Name, Degree, WAU, or Instructor: Name, Degree, Berklee? (Or USC, or whatever āitā school.) You mention it yourself: It means more that the USC teacher who praised your son is a Grammy nomineeāit wouldnāt mean the same if the teacher taught at WAU and also was an organist at a local church. So I do consider that, after four or more (irreplaceable) years and all that expense, being able (using your cited schools) to say āBerklee or USC or Juilliardā will be a help in opening the first doors and getting careers launched. As I tell my son, āItās a hundred miles from Pace to Broadway.ā The William Street home of the marvelous Pace MT program is, according to Google Maps, just 4.8 miles from Times Squareābut the chances of breaking into Broadway make it a hundred miles. But for those from WAU in the town of Itmon (located In The Middle Of Nowhere), itās a thousand miles to Broadway. Always so? Noābut, more and more, with all the MT schools, and now with the contemporary M schools like USC, I worry that that thousand-mile distance will grow even greater, and the Itmon exceptions will be less and less. True, you do say degrees wonāt matter āfor working musiciansāābut getting from college to working is the critical step. Once youāre working, you have professional credits, college means less and less. But, for that scary but so-significant first step after college, having that parchment from āBerklee or USC or Juilliardā I have to think could be an important aid in getting to hear this from the assistant: āThey will see you now.ā</p>
1 Like
<p>Updated list of ārock vocalsā schools offering performance degrees:</p>
<p>Colleges:</p>
<p>Berklee College of Music, Boston, Mass.
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Calif.
University of Colorado Denver, Denver, Colo.
Academy of Contemporary Music @ U Central Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, Okla.
Catawba College, Salisbury, N.C.
Santa Fe College of Art and Design, Santa Fe, N.M.
Belmont University, Nashville, Tenn.
McNally Smith College of Music, St. Paul, Minn.
Tiffin University, Tiffin, Ohio
Johnson State College, Johnson, Vt.
Western Oregon University, Monmouth, Ore.
Columbia College Chicago, Chicago, Ill.
Canada: Humber College, Toronto, Ontario
UK: Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, Liverpool, England
UK: Leeds College of Music, Leeds, England
Down Under: University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia</p>
<p>Trade Schools:</p>
<p>L.A. Music Academy, Pasadena, Calif.
Musicians Institute, Hollywood, Calif.
UK: Academy of Contemporary Music, Guildford, England</p>
<p>Iāve also heard: University of Miami, University of North Texas, NYU, Oberlin, and University of Tennesse have Pop/Rock/Contemporary programs</p>