<p>I've been lurking, but since we did our first college visit yesterday, felt it was time to ask this question....What are some suggestions of strong vocal performance colleges that have a more nurturing environment? I've seen lots of top 10 lists, but my daughter says she doesn't think she's ready for NYC yet (I'm not assuming she'd get in, mind you).</p>
<p>On the other hand, I don't want her looking at a weaker school just because its "comfy". So, any suggestions of schools that foster self esteem in freshman, but have them ready for real life (or at least grad school) by the time they are seniors? </p>
<p>She's looking for classical voice, with hopes for a future in the opera world (hence the grad school reference). </p>
<p>Oh, and our first visit was Westminster - she LOVED it and would apply there tomorrow if she could. Thanks for any input.</p>
<p>I hate to see anyone limiting themselves on the basis of geography, so hopefully, you are willing to consider looking (just) outside- in Ohio. May I suggest looking at Cleveland Institute of Music, CIM? They pride themselves on their small faculty-student ratio and even speak about their “supportive and nuturing environment”. My D, a VP major, will be attending CIM in the fall and we have been really impressed by their interest, and rememberence of things concerning my D, and that extends across the board from the Admissions Office to the other departments and the vocal and opera faculty.
Here is a useful link:
[Cleveland</a> Institute of Music](<a href=“http://www.cim.edu/collegeDivision.php]Cleveland”>Academics | Cleveland Institute of Music)</p>
<p>Appalachian State University is a wonderful school, takes good care of its students, has turned out fine singers, and the voice faculty is excellent. It is in the northwest corner of North Carolina, in Boone.</p>
<p>Thanks - we’ll be looking into both. I personally love that Appalachian has music therapy also. My daughter has been through some really rough patches, and is highly empathetic - I would love her to explore music therapy a bit.<br>
I’d like to be clear that it is HER wish to stay closer to the metro area, not any limitation we as parents have set. Her sister is in NYC, and looking at grad school in the UK, but not a music major, so I can’t use our experience with her. </p>
<p>Again, thank you for the suggestions, and hopefully some more will come in.</p>
<p>Another possibility would be Nazareth College in Rochester, NY. Their Music Therapy program is well-respected and has been around for a while- they even opened their own on-campus, “Music Therapy Clinic” last year. I know several grads from there who seemed very pleased with the training they received and have had no problem finding jobs. Naz also has some really good VP and MT faculty members and the students have access to them for classes and lessons.</p>
<p>Are you inside NJ? If so, don’t overlook your state flagship’s Mason Gross school at Rutgers. I have a couple of friends in the music program that love it, including a vocalist. Plus…only having to pay in-state tuition can’t hurt in these times!</p>
<p>If you’re in PA, you’re probably well aware of the reputation of Temple. It’s an excellent program, highly selective, although it might be prone to the same type of competitive atmosphere you might find in a big name independent private conservatory. I’m not sure though.</p>
<p>Ah, Mason Gross is her voice teacher’s undergrad Alma Mater. We need to do a visit there, but we’re told the core curriculum courses are still required. Psych classes with 250 kids aren’t very appealing to her. It’s hard with being a local - everyone holds on to their impressions from when they were in school, so it could be that with a Mason Gross BM, she wouldn’t have to deal with those. </p>
<p>It looks like an upstate trip might be in order as well. We could check out Nazareth along with Eastman. We’ve been told that she has the talent for the tough schools, just maybe not the tough skin required to endure them.</p>
<p>My other daughter could have been raised by wolves because she is incredibly resilient and self confident. Genetics and birth order are odd quirky things, aren’t they?</p>
<p>Thanks again for the responses - keep em coming.</p>
<p>Well, you already saw my first suggestion, WCC. They and Eastman were the two warmest atmospheres my D encountered of all the schools she saw over the past two years.</p>
<p>St Olaf and Lawrence University both felt very warm and welcoming to us and our son. (He turned out to be the raised-by-wolves type, though! Unlike his younger brother–my two seem quite similar to your two.)</p>
<p>Take a look at SUNY Fredonia. It has an excellent music therapy program and it is well known among the SUNYs as a strong performing arts school (along with Crane and Purchase). It also has a music education program. It’s even affordable for OOS.</p>
<p>A few of the major conservatories have “warmer” reputations than others. During my auditions this year, I got the sense that Peabody, CCM, Mannes and Boston Conservatory were relatively nurturing and warm.</p>
<p>DePauw University, while not in the same league as the others, certainly has the warm environment you are looking for. They take great care of their prospective students during audition weekends, providing a dinner, tickets to a concert/opera and a sample lesson. At other schools, you have to arrange these things yourself! You should also look at University of Denver. While not as well known as other programs, they have a rising voice program with AMAZING new facilities!</p>
<p>Are you mainly looking at universities or conservatories? How high are you aiming? Knowing that would help us to make better suggestions.</p>
<p>P.S. Your daughter REALLY shouldn’t limit herself to one area of the country if at all possible. That is one of my BIGGEST, BIGGEST regrets. I avoided every school that was either hot or South of Maryland. There could have been some great teachers for me at some of those schools that I chose not to apply to for what I now consider to be dumb reasons.</p>
<p>Jolene100:
First - She’s going for a BM - she’ll work her tail off when it involves music or performance, whereas her drive for traditional academics is erratic (Lefty, ADD, highly creative, etc). She’s trying to steer clear of the 250 person core class environment.</p>
<p>Distance: With my oldest, we limited her to the contiguous 48, and she nearly went to McGill. You have to know your child, and this one needs the security of knowing she can get to family easily if she needs to. Since she has cousins in New England, and we live in NJ, I think we’ve got some good choices within driving distance. By the time she’s ready for grad school, she’ll also realize she doesn’t need the safety net any longer - IF she’s had a good undergrad experience. She’ll get her wings - they’re just taking a little longer to grow than for some others. But the bird that flies first, doesn’t necessarily fly the longest, so I’m only pushing her when I think it’s comfort holding her back. </p>
<p>I don’t mean to be so personal about my dd, but she’s really hard to describe. </p>
<p>So in the end, I guess here’s what she’s looking for: A good solid music base, in a school that won’t ruin her voice, and will prepare her for a serious conservatory for grad school. Somewhere in the NorthEast, preferably. Yeah, I know…Us and about 40 million other Sopranos…</p>
<p>If you visit DePauw in Greencastle, IN (outside of Indianapolis), make a stop in Anderson, IN (also outside of Indianapolis). Anderson is a small college and we liked the voice teacher. They seem to have a benefactor that allows them to stage an opera each year.</p>
<p>Hello BeezMom: I thought I’d put my two cents in. My daughter and I visited what seems like a huge number of music schools, many of them have already been named by previous posters. My daughter had three or four practice voice lessons at each one. And here’s my observation. Almost all of te voice teachers giving those practice lessons came across to me as nurturing, kind, and sensitive people. Almost all of them seemed incredibly happy with their profession and delighted with the prospect of helping yet another person reach his or her potential. I found almost all of them to be charming, intellectually alert, and a real pleasure to meet. </p>
<p>I used to wonder how it was that we consistently met such nice, warm, and genuine people. My hypothesis is that because voice professors get to do what they love every single day, they are truely happy people and can afford to be warm and generous with their time and talent. </p>
<p>Based on our experience, BeezMom, I don’t think it would be particularly difficult to find a school with a nurturing environment. Based on our experience, it seems that the harder task might be to find one that was not nurturing.</p>
<p>By the way, you can get a sense of what a school is going to be like by emailing various members of the faculty. Ask for a practice lesson with each one and enclose a copy of your resume. Observe the promptness with which you get responses. Observe rather the teachers make comments about the resume or whether they’ve even read it. These responses could tell you a lot about the school, its management, and individual faculty.</p>
<p>One benefit of searching for colleges is that my Son has had the opportunity to take lessons with a lot of professors. Yes, all of them are nice nurturing professors. However, my son has developed a sense of “who he thinks he can learn from”, or what teaching style works for him.</p>