<p>does any one know any conservatories with good Singing or opera programs?</p>
<p>Conservatorio di Musica - Milan
Curtis
Manhattan School of M
Royal College of Music - London
Royal Northern C of M - Manchster Eng</p>
<p>other:
Barnard
Boston U
Northwestern
Sarah Lawrence
Smith
U Mass Amherst
U Michigan
USC
Eastman</p>
<p>I have heard that it might be better to take private voice lessons while attending a good college for languages and literature, rather than attending a conservatory right out of HS.</p>
<p>collegehelp-many of the schools you listed are not conservatories.
If you want to include universities with conservatory-level music schools, you can include Indiana, Rice, Oberlin. Julliard, Cleveland Institute of Music and New England Conservatory also have good vocal programs, although I am not high on NEC. Michigan is great for classical voice.</p>
<p>Mom-
Yes, you are correct, most of the schools I listed under "other" were not conservatories. </p>
<p>Do you think it is a good idea to go straight from HS to conservatory for voice? Isn't it important to attend a good college to develop proficiency in foreign languages and literature? Maybe take voice privately for a while....or in the music dept....or in a conservatory affiliated with a university like Eastman? This is what I was told by a music teacher. </p>
<p>I think they teach their own foreign language classes at Eastman independent of U of Rochester....so conservatories can provide their own language instruction I suppose.</p>
<p>Conservatories do teach languages. Yes, languages are important. I, personally, don't like the idea of going to a conservatory that does not have an affiliation with an academic institution. Of course, it depends on the student. My D is a junior vocal performance major at Rice, and it is the perfect fit.</p>
<p>Check out New England Conservatory in Boston. I am told by many that Julliard, New England Conservatory, and Curtis are the best opera schools in the Northeast. Denyce Graves went to the New England Conservatory. I would also check out Michigan.</p>
<p>Northwestern University has an A-MAZ-ING voice department. It may not be officially a "conservatory", but it is simply fantastic. I have one boy in my dorm, an opera singer, who applied to a number of conservatories as well as NU. NU was the only school he had to pay any money to go to: everywhere else offered him a free ride scholarship for his voice. But he chose NU. NU also has a very strong Musical Theatre Certificate program, where qualified actors get voice/dance/etc lessons, and qualified voice majors get some theatre classes (Just mentioning it because of your sn...). </p>
<p>I'm not a voice major personally (theatre for me...), but I also live right next to "the Beehive", the building reserved for practice rooms...and we have some amazing talent here. </p>
<p>So yeah, this is what I've experienced as a Northwestern student...but all of these other programs sound wonderful as well, so be sure to find one that fits for you. :)</p>
<p>I agree with both of you. New England Conservatory and Northwestern are incredible. It seems like all the top singers in the east are going to New England Conservatory. They have Marc Estefan from the Met working there! In addition, everyone is flocking to Northwestern as well. There must be something good happening there!</p>
<p>Northwestern is not as strong in classical voice as it is in music theater. D was not impressed at all with the classical voice program and wound up not applying at all. NEC has a good program, but not much of a college life and it can be a rather dismal experience. Just my two cents.</p>
<p>I agree with MomofWildChild about Northwestern and NEC. D had a sample lessson there and was not impressed -- facilities awful, too. Of course, Chicago is great! D did not look at straight conservatories but has a friend at NEC (since transferred out!) - probably a better experience there as a grad student. No college 'life' there at all. However, IMO, applying in vocal performance is all about the teacher and the environment. D wanted a teacher she could connect with, a college experience, and a liberal arts environment where she could pursue other interests. She found both a great teacher and a liberal arts environment at Lawrence U where she is pursuing a double-degree in Voice and Art History. I think MoWC would agree that both our D's wanted more from college than just voice.</p>
<p>Indiana University has a fantastic voice faculty.</p>
<p>Agreed- Indiana is one of-if not THE-top vocal performance program. D thought it was stronger for opera than Julliard. It is a huge program, however, which is why she chose Rice over IU. There are not as many performance opportunities for undergrads at IU. That is balanced off by the tremendous amount of talented grad students from whom you can learn.</p>
<p>Hi, I'm not sure if any members are still reading this thread...I hope so. I am a junior in high school, very strong student (3.875/4.0 unweighted, Honors/AP courses, etc.). I am intersted in pursuing a B.M. in Voice/Opera Performance, I'm a tenor, (and possibly a degree or minor in Speech Language Path.) I was wondering if any members had any further specific information, or opinions on the institutions I'm looking at. I am aware which schools offer both departments, but if you would share your info and opinions on the voice/opera departments of these institutions if you have any, thank you.</p>
<p>Indiana University-Bloomington
Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music
Cleveland Institute of Music/CWRU
Rice University (have connections with Kathleen Kaun through IAC)
University of Maryland
Peabody Institute of JHU
University of Michigan
Northwestern University
Eastman School of Music</p>
<p>Thank you for your time, answering and consideration. It's about that time of year again so seniors and parents involved this year, GOOD LUCK, I'd love to know the process and how things progress. Thanks again, happy Thanksgiving!</p>
<p>Add my voice to the impression about Northwestern. The facilities were terrible, the building smelled of mold and no comparison to other schools--possibly living off the reputation from being a hot great overall school.<br>
Not worth the money imho--get ready for an allergist.</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins Peabody is a very attractive building, kept up to date but the neighborhood the day we auditioned spooked my kid. Too many homeless and scruffy looking people.</p>
<p>Rice--beautiful but small school. The entrance requirements are daunting and you have to pace yourself in auditioning to all these schools. By the time my kid was interested it was exhaustion and sickness that precluded doing one more audition.</p>
<p>I'll throw another one out--Vanderbilt. Class of about 50 for everything, total school 200. Modern, up to date facilities. Great school. Performance opportunities. </p>
<p>Indiana--great school, but big for a music school. Opportunities given primarily to upper classmen. </p>
<p>There are so many factors in choosing a music school--size, location, faculty, overall school impression. It's a tough decision and the stress of making all the apps and auditions is daunting. People think vocalists just get up and it's so easy to get admitted--you just sing. They know nothing.</p>
<p>Thanks for your input musictoad! Have a good thanksgiving.</p>
<p>Patrick- you would love Rice. If you want to get in touch with my daughter for more info on the vocal performance program, send me a PM.
Indiana is a great program but very political (the studios....).
CCM is not that great, according to D. She does not recommend it.
Oberlin has a great program and you would have solid academics, too.</p>
<p>My D, who is junior in high school, went to BoCo for their 2 week Vocal/Choral Institute for high school students this summer. She loved it, the program, the school, the instructors and Boston. They gave the kids lots of advice in choosing a school. After having been there, she decided that she would like to be at a small conservatory in a large city where she would get acting classes. The opera chairperson recommended BoCo, Mannes, Chicago School of Performing Arts (a part of Roosevelt). We're also checking out Cincinnati, and Eastman. CCM is attractive as it is a state school for us. It just has to have the right feel, she's not interested in the big university stuff. Does anybody have any input about these places?</p>
<p>D says to not even consider CCM- it is not a good place for vocal performance. Eastman is good. She recommends Oberlin, Indiana, Cleveland and Rice, of course.</p>
<p>Oberlin and CIM are out. We live smack dab in the middle of the 2 places. My D wants to go away. We do, however, enjoy student performances there. We'll be checking into Eastman for sure. But why does your D feel so strongly against CCM? I had always heard that it was considered highly for VP and very selective, too. (The BOCO folks think my D would be a very competitive candidate and even gave her a professors name for a sample lesson.) I know Indiana is highly regarded, but not too much in the way of freshman performance opportunities, I heard somewhere... We've never thought of Rice. It was included in the Performing Arts College Fair that was at Oberlin in October, but I didn't talk to anybody.</p>
<p>To let the board know, just added yet another school to my list that I'm considering: Oberlin. I would absolutely love to work with Richard Miller (I have this really intersting passion for vocal pedagogy, and Otto B. Schoepfle Vocal Arts Center (OBSVAC), is really phenomenal, one of the leading voice/speech laboratories of a college/university in the nation I'd think.) And, it's an amazing school. Anyway, just thought it would be nice to mention Oberlin is added on as well. How does anybody ever narrow schools down? But, being a junior I have time. Also to a.c.bay, as everybody already knows, the best thing to do is to visit and see what your daughter thinks of CCM, eventhough it is always really appreciated to get heads up from other people's experiences. I went to Interlochen by Traverse City, Michigan for their summer arts camp for their advanced vocal program. It really is a wonderful program and I really grew in my technique and in my artistry, I'd definitely suggest it to you and your D. It isn't too far away and she seems like she could easily get in. I think around 150 people auditioned (not sure on this number, but around there) and 28 were accepted. Mind you I was involved last year after Soph. year in high school and the program is growing fast in applicants, and in the prestige of the program. Next summer, the program could be bumped up to six weeks and not four weeks as it was originally. So, it is always really nice to be working with good talent from around the country! And, a.c.bay, I have a question for you. How far is Oberlin from Cleveland? CIM/Case Western is on my list as well and the "University Circle" area and the Cleveland and Lyric Opera of Cleveland Operas would be a nice thing to have at a tolerable distance.</p>