Has anyone done the MT summer intensive at Rider that they offer. It was mentioned to me by teacher of my D’s and I wondered. I was going to ask in the summer program thread but wasn’t sure if anyone would see that…
Don’t know much about it, but I do know that some of the MT profs and students are involved.
My daughter did the 2 week summer program at Rider the summer before sophomore year in hs. So we’re talking about 6 or 7 years ago. She combined that with the 2 week choir program, too. Overall she LOVED the choir program but was ehh about the MT program.
She felt the choir program was very professionally run and that the students were great and very talented. She felt that the students who attended the MT program were either inexperienced and doing it to have a fun 2 week experience…or were kids who may have done theatre before and were real divas. She was disappointed with the talent pool and the instruction.
I have to say that after seeing the final production, I could see what she was talking about. D had done many summers at a local Long Island performing arts day camp (Usdan) that also attracts NYC kids. Both are non-audition programs, but our local camp’s program (and talent) was much stronger which was disappointing.
It was a good first experience away from home, but after that summer D decided not to pursue MT in college and became an art major instead. Not saying it was a cause and effect thing, but I do think the “drama” in the program did influence her decision. She was not personally involved in any of it, but she saw that a lot of unkindness was tolerated and a lot of favoritism was in place.
Clearly the program may be quite different now.
Yes it may be different now since your experience was a while ago. I think that program has come a long way in the past 7 yrs
Well, I do know it has been revamped since then (like in the past 3 years) and the current MT faculty are now involved. Hope that helps.
Not sure if this is helpful but my D did the Middle School MT and VP camps this past summer. She thought the VP was excellent. She takes voice lessons but focuses on MT, this camp exposed her to a broader range of music. She really enjoyed it. She also did the MT camp. It was good. They performed Suessical Jr at the end of the week program. It was good, not outstanding. Can’t speak to the High School program.
Thanks for the input. Guessing no one has done the high school program lately that posts here. We’re still considering it . I really want a reasonable summer camp that is at a university so my D gets a college experience and being away from home for a week or two. I have some others . This one just happens to be non audition , good in case she wouldn’t get into the audition one.
I think that’s a good plan if she intends to apply to Rider. If you can afford it, I would try to send a child to pre-college at a school they are considering. Remember that their experience in the summer program may help in the college process. Sometimes it can even give them an opportunity to work with the faculty that she will be auditioning for later. I know for my own D that the merit money she got from NYU because she was in the summer program, meant that our initial investment for the summer program paid off quite a bit (probably close to 10x what’d we invested.)
I didn’t even know NYU had a summer program lol
D did NYU Tisch summer program - and I think it was one of the best things we ever did. It helped her audition in that she knew 3 out of 4 people on the panel. She earned 6 credits - which she has been able to apply to her degree easily (since she goes to the school). It gave her exposure to all the different studios (she was in NSB - but they had programs in many others) And most importantly for ME - the experience helped me “allow” her to go to school in NYC, which was something I had been struggling with. The whole thing was pricey has heck- but worth every penny
Yes, I looked it up on the site…that price is unfortunately out of my budget…but I have no doubt it is a wonderful program
My D did the MT program through NYU Steinhardt. It was 3 weeks and ran through their VP program. It was non credit and significantly less expensive than Tisch’s program. But I would suggest doing research on which schools or cities near schools you are considering offer programs. Audition programs will also give you a clue of how D stands with her peers on a national level.