St. Olaf Music Program

College Majors Music Major
1

<p>I'm interested in majoring in choral music ed at St. Olaf--possibly adding on a double major in vocal performance. For obvious reasons, they have a renowned choir. I've also applied to several large state universities (FSU, LSU, UNT) and I suppose I'm always used to hearing fantastic graduates--but something that struck me was that while the choral ensemble at St. Olaf is always great, I seem to get the vibe that as the individual singer, St. Olaf students aren't very strong based on soloists from their recordings and a freshman-run show I saw while there. Granted, I must remind myself they are all undergrads and the show, of course, was only freshmen and freshman-directed.</p>

<p>Could any current music majors or alums from St. Olaf address this for me or even tell me I'm completely wrong? I most worried about my own vocal technique suffering if the teachers are poor. Could anyone tell me anything about the voice teachers there? Any feedback is appreciated!</p>

2

<p>To answer your concerns, you are completely wrong.</p>

<p>I am a B.M. vocal performance and B.A. Norwegian senior at St. Olaf. I have sung in the Chapel Choir, rung in the St. Olaf Handbell Choir, and performed in 8 lyric theater works during my tenure here.</p>

<p>Although St. Olaf is well-known for its choral program, nobody “majors in choir.” The voice faculty is very strong, and most are active performers, e.g. Dan Dressen, Tracey Engleman, James McKeel, Janis Hardy, etc. I have watched both Dressen and Engleman perform with the Minnesota Opera. All of the voice faculty whom I have spent time working with or observing are great pedagogues.</p>

<p>To your question of graduating singers, I would say there are many strong voices leaving St. Olaf. But of course, one would expect a B.M. performance major to be able to perform at a higher level than a B.A. general music. And soloists in ensembles will vary. Most of the singers in the choirs are not voice majors, especially in Chapel and Cantorei. And a freshmen-directed production of freshmen could hardly be used to demonstrate the effectiveness or lack thereof in the voice faculty.</p>

<p>I have grown so much here at Olaf, vocally, academically, and personally. If you just want to go get a choral education degree, and don’t want to be exposed to study abroad opportunities, a broad liberal arts education, professors in every department who are thrilled to discuss their subject with you (even though you aren’t a department major), and an environment of multifaceted, fascinating people (none of my friends on this campus are just a “blank” major; everybody is involved in extracurricular and often a secondary academic interest), then St. Olaf probably isn’t a good fit for you. St. Olaf offers and expects more from its students than a lot of larger state schools.</p>

<p>But in simple conclusion, you would do well studying choral conducting at St. Olaf. And your voice would develop as well under the expert guidance of our vocal faculty. As long as you work at it.</p>

<p>If you have any more specific questions, feel free to contact me.</p>

3

<p>Oh, and if you would like to hear a rather recent alum with the St. Olaf Band:</p>

<p>[St</a>. Olaf College | St. Olaf Band](<a href=“http://www.stolaf.edu/multimedia/play/?e=562]St”>St. Olaf College — St. Olaf Band)</p>

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<p>tpd815: Do you know what grad schools the St. Olaf vocal performance majors have been accepted to for vocal performance in recent years? That would give an idea as to the strength of the solo vocal performance program. </p>

<p>Certainly, St. Olaf is a wonderful school with an awesome group of students and an inspiring educational climate.</p>

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<p>violindad - I’ve been following all these threads that recommend that we search for where grads go and where orch members got their degrees etc. I decided to follow the rabbit down the hole and do a few searches - and my google skills seem to be failing me. Even at my own kid’s school, I can’t find anything online that tells me where alumni ended up (except for the one featured Alum of the Year, who has a bio on the site). And many of the big name performers I looked up don’t necessarily include where they studied (some do have names of teachers), and they certainly don’t list summer programs attended. What I am missing here? [disclaimer: it’s been a particularly “clueless” day, so I suspect there’s something…]</p>

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<p>I agree, stradmom: this information is not readily available.</p>

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<p>I’ve noticed that Bard Conservatory does list the information - probably because it’s such a young conservatory, and because of the unusual requirement of the double degree. (scroll down to the bottom of the 'Overview" page: [Bard</a> College Conservatory of Music | Overview](<a href=“http://www.bard.edu/conservatory/overview/]Bard”>About the Bard Conservatory)</p>

<p>But, otherwise, I agree, the info can be very hard to find!</p>

<p>Also, on their front page about last year’s class: Out of a graduating class of 19 students, 3 will be continuing their studies at the Curtis Institute of Music, 4 will be attending the Yale School of Music, 1 will be attending The Juilliard School, and 1 will attend SUNY Stony Brook. Other students are in the process of making their decisions, and will be choosing from among Juilliard, New England Conservatory, Rice, and other schools. One of our Conservatory students will be attending a Ph.D. program in Information Systems at the University of Texas at Austin.</p>

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<p>Let’s see.</p>

<p>Of performance majors, I know an '11 grad I know is at Berklee School of Music in Boston, and the singer on the above link studied at Indiana. Honestly, I didn’t keep up with many graduating out of St. Olaf and most students decide to take a year or two to continue working/let their voice mature more before applying to grad school.</p>

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<p>Because I don’t have as much knowledge about your question on grad schools, I sent a message to our music administrations person. Here was her response:</p>

<p>In 2009 and 2010 there were no less than four Oles who made it to at least the regional level in the Metropolitan Opera Council auditions. (Holly Flack, Evelyn Johnson Nelson, Laura Wilde and Rachel Traughber [who played flute in the St. Olaf Band], and possibly one other whose name I can’t remember. Kelly Kaduce WON the Metropolitan Opera Council auditions in about 2001, two years after graduating from St. Olaf. Eric Neuville is doing well with the Seattle Opera. Lance Willford and Erick Lichte are a couple other names that have done well in the solo world. Erick was a founding member of Cantus the professional men’s choir Cantus, which was formed by Oles who sang together in Viking Chorus; they are one of only a couple such ensembles in the world. </p>

<p>The music ed program can claim a placement rate of virtually 100%, and they are landing great jobs in large programs all over the country.</p>

<p>Grad schools - voice (past 3 years):
Florida State
Baylor
Peabody
U of Illinois
Univ of Texas - Austin
Indiana- Jacobs School</p>

<p>other grad programs - non-voice (past 3 years):
Boston Conservatory
New England Conservatory
Cleveland Institute of Music
Eastman
Northwestern University
Yale
USC - Scoring and Motion Pictures & TV composition program
University of MN
U of Nebraska
DePaul</p>

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<p>A good place to look for this information is sometimes the teachers’ own websites. That was how I knew my potential professor at Iowa is successful. Her website boasts alumni that have gone on to Eastman, Indiana and the like and they’ve won competitions too, another important question to ask besides where students go on to grad school.</p>

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<p>Hi,
I’m the Alum who just performed with the St. Olaf Band. While I was back at Olaf, I talked with many of the professors and students about the subject of big university ( I went to Indiana University for my Masters) vs. small liberal arts school (particularly Olaf, as that is where I went for undergrad). Someone from the music department saw and told me about this post, which is why I’m responding. </p>

<p>I entered St. Olaf as a trumpet major, but wanted to explore vocal performance as well. At the time, the opera program was just starting up and has grown substantially since I was there. I really think there isn’t a better atmosphere for undergrads to start exploring their musical careers. ESPECIALLY if you are interested in two areas, you need to make sure you go to a school that will allow you to do so. I was so lucky to have supportive faculty in both the instrumental and vocal departments that encouraged me to find my true passion, which ended up being vocal performance. If you attended St. Olaf, you would truly be able to excel in both areas, allowing you to really make an informed decision on what you want to do as a vocation past college. </p>

<p>The choral department as a whole is really unsurpassed and the voice faculty is absolutely first rate. There are a variety of teaching styles represented in the voice faculty, which can allow you to find the teacher that is right for you. There are FANTASTIC voice teachers there, but the big plus is that they REALLY are focused on the students. Egos and politics are virtually non-existent at St. Olaf. You will not find this as the case in a lot of other big institutions. </p>

<p>As far as performance opportunities, the musical theater department is fantastic and has a long standing tradition of putting on excellent shows. The opera program, while relatively new, is doing tremendously. They do 3 shows a year, which is actually pretty fantastic for such a small university. The program really got going my sophomore year and I was able to do 4 big roles while in undergrad. The odds of undergrads beating out graduate students in big universities for opera roles is slim. I found having a small institution, without having to compete against students in their late twenties and thirties, gave me substantially more performance experience than I would have gotten elsewhere. It was also a safe place to figure out how to do this whole opera thing. I got experience early on, without the pressure of being on that giant IU stage. </p>

<p>From a very personal side, I am SO happy I didn’t go to a giant university first AND that I went to St. Olaf. I still describe Olaf as my “happy place”. The atmosphere is one that foster true art and produces true artists. The faculty prioritizes the students, the music, and the art of collaboration above their own egos and agendas. The further I get in the professional music world, I see that this is a rarity. Also, I felt completely prepared for any education after the academics there. Grad school was incredibly easy academically, thanks to my undergrad education. Also, one of the most valuable parts of going to ST. Olaf was being able to explore non-musical areas and connecting with people who are still some of my best friends, but aren’t singers. I have people who understand me and what I do, but are removed enough from it that I can share all of my successes and failures, without any hint of competition. </p>

<p>As far as successful Alumni, there are a number of them out there. Many of them are listed in a previous post. Beyond simply looking at what schools they went to, St. Olaf Alums have gotten accepted into the most prestigious schools in the nation. Where they end up going has many factors. </p>

<p>As biased as my opinion about my wonderful St. Olaf can be, I would recommend to ANY person wanting to study music (especially two different areas), to go to St. Olaf. I think big universities are perfect for graduate studies, once someone has a clear vision of what their career path will be. </p>

<p>I hope this was helpful and I wish you well in your upcoming decision. Overall, just pick the place that fits you. Have some lessons with teachers at all the schools you are looking at and make sure the school will truly let you explore both areas of study. </p>

<p>Best of luck!</p>

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<p>Thank you so much Onthesparrow. St. Olaf, of course, sounds wonderful with wonderful faculty! It seems like a wonderful place to be.</p>

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<p>For any future viewers, I have decided to attend St. Olaf College. After having several sample lessons with teachers myself, I have no qualms with the teachers I saw, and indeed more impressed with them than teachers I’ve seen at large opera schools.</p>

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<p>410627, I am going to add your St. Olaf acceptance and decision to the <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/1260441-master-list-music-school-acceptances-fall-2012-a-63.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/1260441-master-list-music-school-acceptances-fall-2012-a-63.html&lt;/a&gt; and the <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/1260860-master-list-final-decisions-fall-2012-a-7.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/1260860-master-list-final-decisions-fall-2012-a-7.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I presume your degree will be in music education. Did you also decide to major in vocal performance? Please let me know of any other music school acceptances so I can add those to the acceptance thread.</p>

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<p>So I got off of the waitlist at Claremont McKenna, and I need to send my deposit to them by Friday (as in tomorrow) if I decide to go, and therefore it would be greatly appreciated if you all could reply to this as soon as possible!</p>

<p>I am having the most difficult time trying to decide where to go to school - Claremont McKenna or St. Olaf. I have already sent my deposit to St. Olaf.</p>

<p>I am planning on attending medical school after college, and I am a very hardworking student. My parents have saved up some money for college, but if I was to attend CMC then this money would be exhausted before I attended medical school. Also, I hope to attend UW medical school in particular, simply because it would be the cheapest medical school option for me.</p>

<p>I received a scholarship for $26,000 a year from St. Olaf, in merit money, but I didn’t receive anything from CMC.</p>

<p>Obviously CMC is ranked higher, and they have a higher medical school acceptance rate. But obviously it would be a lot more expensive to go there. With regard to all other factors, such as how I felt when I visited the campuses and how well I liked the schools in general, the two schools could not be more equal (which I know sounds strange since they are quite different). So although very true, that “just go where you feel best” college advice is not going to be of much help to me.</p>

<p>I just really have no idea what to do right now, but thank you in advance for your help!</p>

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<p>My older son graduated from CMC. Since you’re posting on the Music Forum I assume you want to pursue music in addition to preparing for medical school? If so, I think your current choice of St. Olaf will suit all your needs well. My son’s friends who went on to med school from CMC were all working intensely hard, all the time - a couple of them did play in extra curricular bands - but they were not heavily involved in any of the school music programs. St. Olaf, with its emphasis on music, might be able to give you a better balance between your two interests. And, if you feel equally strongly about them - then go with the cheaper option! This is not to say anything negative about Claremont McKenna - my son got a very good education there…</p>

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<p>With $104 000 from St. Olaf and nothing from CMC and your parents not having enough to put you through CMC (and med school on the horizon), I would go for St. Olaf. It is a strong school academically. If St. Olaf gave you $26000 per year, then you must be a strong student who will graduate near the top of your class there and therefore med school admissions should not be a problem.</p>