D20 is trying to make her final decision on where to go to school next year and is deciding between three great but very different schools that range in size from around 800 undergrads to 50,000 students! We love UT Austin (since all her aunts and uncles and both parents went there), but we don’t know much about the music school, and especially vocal performance. Can anyone give insight? I know it’s a smallish program in a huge university, but I don’t know what the performance opportunities are, especially for undergraduates and opera. Any insight would be very helpful. Financially, they are our cheapest option.
My sister-in-law is a professor at UT (not music). We visit Austin often…so I get the attraction to that city and school. Really a dynamic, beautiful place. However I don’t know much about their music school.
Of course, the administration or a teacher can be consulted about “performance opportunities for each year of study” during VP.
Another “strategy” is to have your D contact administration to find out if there is an older VP student that she can text with questions. Most schools have students available for this. That way she can get a real sense of “performance opportunties” for a Freshman or Sophomore and beyond. And, since the school will list “their official” shows…but not always student or community activities…she can ask about those as well. Most performance freshmen/sophomores DO find outlets for their talents as they are growing their voices and waiting for opportunites to be cast.
She should also ask about “opera workshops”. Those may be classes. That would not always show up on curriculum bc it would be under a general music class. But she could ask another student about opera workshop classes…again mainly for upper classmen.
She should also ask about “opera chorus” opportunites for freshmen or sophomores. The ensemble for opera is called the opera chorus…and it rehearses completely separate from the principal roles in opera. Only in tech week do the principals and chorus come together. This is where underclassmen can get on stage for the first time. You may already know this…but I didn’t! So if you just ask about the operas…sometimes you will be told NO you won’t be cast in a role until you’re older. But you could be in opera chorus which is a great opportunity for underclassmen. So if you don’t ask the question right…you may get a sense that you won’t be on stage. This happened to my D who assumed she wouldn’t be in any operas for a couple years…only to be “cast” first semester Freshman year in a very large opera chorus.
I hope that helps.
Edit: This assume opera studies solely but for MT opportunites…again she can text about those with a student as well. Many young VP majors have experiences in MT and may do student activites to continue to sing some MT pieces.
Hello, I visited UTs music program about 5 months ago and boy what happened was interesting. I don’t know much about UTs music program but from when I talked to their head choral director she said that UT is cutting their budget more and more every year and that their music program is running really low on funding. I in the Rio Grande Valley and when I asked them when was the last time they visited the valley and they said they couldn’t remember. The farthest they traveled down south in the past 10 years was Corpus Christi. I know the info isn’t much on the voice program but it’s definitely something to consider since it is running low on funding from the school.