<p>I'm from MN, and Carleton and Macalester have strong music programs (especially Carleton, though Macalester has great options for non-majors.) However, St. Olaf has always stood out to me as being the strongest in vocal performance. Their choir is world-renowned and their program is very strong.</p>
<p>Because of the 5 college consortium with Amherst, you could go there and still take classes at the stronger programs at the other schools. I do know, however, because I have a friend there, that the a capella groups at Amherst are amazing! Also, the lack of requirements at Amherst makes it very easy to double major.</p>
<p>Jazz, pop, rock success don't always depend directly on the quality of the voice alone with way classical success might.</p>
<p>Wesleyan is a school that might meet your needs as you've now expressed them. I don't know specifically about the voice program, but the department is very well regarded and well funded.</p>
<p>MichaelNKat, since the thread is about a liberal arts school with music, Curtis is NOT a good choice. Curtis is about music for the aspiring professional musician and nothing else....and that's great if that's what you're after and can get in, but not so hot if you want access to non-musical programs to round yourself out.</p>
<p>A school that is kind of a dark horse in this list is Moravian in Bethlehem, PA. My daughter's voice teacher went there so we checked out their open house a few weeks back. It's a fine, well-rounded liberal arts school with a very strong, versatile, tight-knit music school. </p>
<p>The really cool part about that school is that the music and graphic arts programs have their own campus in a part of town that predates the country. Music is taught in a building that has rooms where Washington was entertained in a harpsichord concert and John Adams wrote letters to Abigail. The performance facilities are very nice and the school attracts some top-flight performers in its concert series (example: Denyce Graves will perform and give a master class there in February).</p>
<p>The school's name doesn't have the cache that Oberlin can boast, but my daughter was impressed enough to include it on her list.</p>
<p>don9992 - Perhaps you should read the 3rd paragraph of post 31 a little more carefully. My post was in response to the inquiry of whether faculty at Philadelphia area music schools would be available to give lessons to students at Phila area LA colleges.</p>
<p>If you are drawn to a performance career, try to learn to do as much in the music industry as possible (It does not have to be learned in college). My neighbor supports his family of 5 quite nicely as a musician. (His fellow musicians call him a "Six Figure Man.") He started out with the trumpet and has a degree from Eastman. But he also sings-more of a rock style voice, and does jingle/radio work. (He's the voice of the singing Christmas tree!) He also composes and arranges. He is very knowledgable about the technology of the business, so he can record this and that and email it around the country. Before he had kids, he also worked cruise ships....being the guy in charge of the entertainment on a cruise...he'd hire the musicians, put the shows together, etc. He still does pretty much the same thing for big conventions that come to town. I actually don't think he plays his trumpet now anywhere but church.</p>
<p>This is all to say, if you want to make your living in music, learn absolutely every part of the industry that you can.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt and Furman in the South have outstanding performing arts Schools.....Schools of Music. Some of their graduates have made it big in the professional world as well. </p>
<p>My daughter returned late last night from a two day visit on her own to St. Olaf and she wants to major in either music ed or vocal performance. Choral music is very important to her. She loved it!! She has visited many other schools (such as Kenyon, Grinnell, Carleton, etc), but St. Olaf quality of music and student-faculty atmosphere was by far the best for her.</p>
<p>Two more schools that fit this theme are Heidelberg College in Tiffin, OH and Alma College in Alma Mich. Both are great academically and their music depts are very good. And both are on the cheaper end of costs.</p>
<p>Actually, there are vibrant, top notch music programs at a number of the SUNYs. The Crane School at Potsdam has a national rep as a top notch music ed school, SUNY Buffalo has a strong composition department, SUNY StonyBrook has the Emerson Quartet in residence, has a fine chamber music program but might be geared a bit more towards the grad student. SUNY Purchase is a true conservatory with a wonderful performing arts center and many of the faculty also teach at Juilliard, Manhattan School of Music, and Mannes. Suny Fredonia appears to have a strong string program.</p>
<p>Hello everyone, sorry to intrude on this post but I saw that someone had mentioned Bennington in this thread of replies. I am a high school senior and I have been studying classical voice for 6 years at Westminster choir college of Rider University. I was very intrigued by Bennington but I was worried that it wouldn't give me ample oppurtunities to perform classically, since I want to pursue Vocal Performance. Does anyone know about the classical voice dept. at Bennington, or if it is strong in voice to begin with? Thanks.</p>
<p>The chair of Smith music department is a well-known opera and chamber singer, and they have produced more than their share of voice professionals over the years. There is also a Five-College Opera Consortium, and a local opera company, so there are performance opportunities as well. Two different general choirs, and two Five-College Medieval and Renaissance voice groups, one all-female, one co-ed.</p>
<p>OT, but curiously enough, I had almost opposite reactions to Vassar/Yale and Williams. I really like the "safe" and cloistered feel of the Vassar campus, while at Williams the students and administrators struck me as too polished (which often signifies affluence) with only empty words of praise. But academically, all of the schools at this level are excellent. I've heard good things about Williams instrumental music, not sure about voice.</p>
<p>nth-ing St. Olaf (MN). Their choir is quite renowned.</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone who previously posted on this string. I have found the info very helpful. My S is a junior in HS and is trying to narrow down is college list to his top 10. He will be entering college in the fall of 2011. He is interested in pursuing a double major in Vocal Performance (Baritone/Opera) and History/English/Economics but has a preference for a small liberal arts college (<5000). He is a strong student but not at the top of his class. His voice audition will probably be more impressive than his grades/test scores to these top schools. We have visited schools both large and small: Vanderbilt, Northwestern, St. Olaf, Oberlin, Kenyon, Bucknell, Indiana, DePauw, Rhodes, Colgate, Lawrence, Michigan. Liked St. Olaf, Bucknell and Colgate but haven’t seen the last two colleges mentioned. Looking for some guidance.</p>
<p>This may not be quite the right thread for me, but the last post is too close to my question - and you are all too helpful - for me to let the opportunity go by. My D is also a junior looking for a combination of strong music and strong academics. She is interested in music ed, which seems to require a very different program than performance. She also may be interested in double majoring in music and Spanish. Although I recognize that this thread is mostly voice, she is actually a flute player (very competitive, I know), with peripheral interests in keyboard percussion, voice, piano, and composition.</p>
<p>I’m having trouble identifying schools offering music ed that also have excellent academics, especially in a small LAC environment, and I’m really having difficulty finding ways to properly evaluate the music schools. For instance, she adored Swarthmore, and I agree that academically and culturally it would fit her beautifully, but I’m not sure if the music department will really put her on the road she wants. And I’m not quite sure how to find out, either. </p>
<p>She is quite interested in Lawrence; does anyone have a current opinion on their conservatory? Oberlin, of course, is in the mix (although they require a BM in either Performance or Composition prior to their Ed MMA), and I like Michigan and Northwestern too. Any other current opinions or suggestions? Does anyone know if any Ivies have decent music departments? Does Indiana have good academics if you’re a music school student? Are there other resources out there that can help me evaluate the music departments?</p>
<p>Thanks for any help any of you can give me!</p>
<p>I applied to SUNY Potsdam. It required no essay, no prescreening, no nothing. So when will I hear back if I need at audition for Crane school of music? And how on earth do they make that determination based solely on my high school transcripts?</p>
<p>There’s plenty of past threads under “music ed”, “music education” as well as titled threads on Oberlin, Lawrence, UMich and Northwestern. Spend some time looking around, and if you need help, I’d be happy to pull up a number of links.</p>