<p>Do schools tend to give more money to performance majors than music ed majors? I'm just curious. My D is struggling with deciding on doing vocal performance, choral music ed or both...and I'm wondering if she would be better off just doing VP (I actually think her life is going more that direction anyway), but also wondering if she might get more scholarship money that way too...although I wouldn't ask her to do that just for money, if she truly sees herself as a choral teacher. But I do wonder if anyone has noticed a pattern.</p>
<p>Females in Vocal Performance get very little merit money. There is too much competition for the available spaces.</p>
<p>I have no idea about Merit Aid available for Music Ed. But, there are loan forgiveness programs if she ends up teaching in distressed areas.</p>
<p>If she goes music ed, I suggest picking up an instrument in addition to voice. Then she can teach Choral (voice), and band or orchestra, depending upon which instrument.</p>
<p>Another alternative is to pick up math or science. Being able to fill in her teaching schedule with a math or science class would improve her marketability.</p>
<p>She is actually an accomplished cellist, and has even filled in for her orchestra director when she’s absent (conducting the ensemble, I mean), so yes, she has that going for her. She is not planning on auditioning on cello, however.</p>
<p>I am a teacher, and I think one needs to be careful when getting ed degrees in more than one subject. It can definitely help to get that initial job, but what seems to happen more often is that one subject is the person’s favorite, and that is the subject the person finally gets a job teaching. Then, 25 years down the road, they are suddenly forced to teach the other subject. The HS band director in our town had that exact situation happen to him this year - they took away half of his band classes and replaced them with biology. Needless to say, he is very unhappy and will probably look for another job. I am only certified to teach music…and I must say, I am very thankful for that at this stage in my career!</p>
<p>But thank you for your advice, OperaDad - I really do appreciate it!</p>
<p>OperaDad is correct, but it also depends upon the school and your D’s qualities. In general, schools are loaded with female singers- far more graduate with VP degrees than will ever have an actual performing career, but there are also things that can be done with the degree that don’t require standing on a stage. My D was lucky and has received very generous scholarship money from her conservatory, but she also has loans that make up her package. She’s gotten an excellent education however, and has discovered that she has a deep interest in music history and musicology and has done quite well in music theory. While she will attend grad school for VP, I’m sure that she will also pursue the other areas and they could help to land her a teaching fellowship while she gets her Masters.
There are schools such as WCC with excellent music ed departments-and the students have access to the same teachers as the VP majors- where $$ is available. You have to research this just as you would a business investment, because that’s just what it is.</p>
<p>There are also a number of state universities that will give money to entice someone with excellent test scores or grades to their program. DD, as a VP major had enough merit $ from U South Carolina to make it cheaper than the in state schools. U of North Texas is known for that, too and I know there are others. As an undergrad, a good teacher is important and they can be in all kinds of schools. For music ed, look at where she wants to teach. Peruse last year,s acceptances thread pinned to the top for more ideas.</p>
<p>hmmm,. CC is doing odd things again with the time of post. This one shoudl have been after Mezzo’sMama</p>
<p>The combination of voice and cello might be of interest to some schools. It might be worth it to mention the fact that she is an accomplished cellist, in addition to vocalist, to the schools she is applying to. Some schools are able to accommodate multiple instruments, and if they also happen to need a cellist…</p>
<p>I’d suspect that the combination of voice and cello would be more appealing to a Music Ed program. In high second tier and first tier music schools/conservatories there are plenty of female VP majors and they’re knee deep in very talented cellists as well. Because of the time components, majoring in both for performance would be a nightmare- opera workshop, studio, production, orchestra, rep class, chamber groups…not enough hours in the day since VP students take more classes than instrumentalists (languages, diction, etc).
But I can see that it might really be a good “hook” to interest a Music Ed department. As a group, singers are not usually the best musicians with many, if not most, never having played an instrument. Reading different clefs ( reading music well at all!), knowing orchestral rep, etc, would make this young lady stand out from the run of the mill singer.</p>
<p>My son has a music scholarship to a major out of state university after turning down several more in state. He entered as a music Ed major this year, and just switched to music performance.</p>
<p>It really depends on the college and their program - some don’t care much between the two as far as a talent scholarship, while others determine what degree they qualify for. And, in my opinion, most will try to dissuade a major in performance.</p>
<p>The best thing you can do is meet with the primary professor BEFORE you ever audition - there are so many advantages to this, and very few people do it - yet the professors are more than happy to do so.</p>
<p>This is the time to ask all those questions about Ed vs. Performance, open spaces, and if either will impact scholarship opportunities. They may not be able to come right out and say it directly, but they will give you enough clues to draw the right conclusions. Trust me on this one.</p>
<p>PS - my commentary excludes conservatories, which are clearly geared towards music performance.</p>