<p>My daughter is an aspiring operatic Mezzo and a junior in H.S. We're looking at schools in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. At the moment Westminster Choir College probably holds the lead in her heart and mind, but she's also considering Moravian (her voice teacher's mentor is there) and she's interested in Ithaca as well.</p>
<p>She wants a school attached to a Liberal Arts college or university to give her a better range of non-music courses and she prefers a smaller university or college not located in a large city.</p>
<p>Does anyone have particular recommendations about a voice teacher at a school that might fit her wants?</p>
<p>There are many find schools in the northeast/mid-atlantic region with good voice teachers. Will she be a vocal performance major? Undergraduate (18-21 year old) singers in vocal performance programs learn classical technique, with more emphasis on the song literature as the voice matures. Lighter, higher voices can more easily explore satisfactorily operatic repertory earlier than heavier and/or lower voices. She will need to be patient as she grows into her voice and its possibilities. </p>
<p>You need to tell more about her academic qualifications, as well as what kind of performance experience she has had. While the audition itself is the most crucial part of the applicatons, no school will admit a student who will not be able to survive the academic rigors and standards.</p>
<p>Her grades are good, but not stellar. She's a B student taking honors and AP courses. </p>
<p>She's been singing formally since joining a very good children's chorus when she was in 4th grade. She stayed there for 7 years. She started private lessons 4 years ago concentrating on arias and art songs and has attended summer camp programs at Westminster Choir College for the past four years. She currently sings in four ensembles at school, and both in the adult choir and as a Mass cantor for church. She has also taken piano lessons for 5 years.</p>
<p>She's rather torn between VP and music ed as a major at this time. She is waiting to see the outcomes of a couple of upcoming events to try and get a more objective idea of how good she really is to help make up her mind.</p>
<p>It sounds like she really enjoys choirs/ensembles - Westminister sounds like a perfect fit for her but it is wise to explore other options. I've heard from many classical soloists who enjoyed their time at Westminister. She should think about which she truly enjoys more - singing in groups or singing as a soloist - that will help her with the vocal performance route versus the music ed route. If she's not sure, she should go vocal performance (auditioned based) and then make sure that the school also has a good music education department (non-auditioned).</p>
<p>Oberlin is an excellent school for classical voice. Everything else I know enough to recommend is in a big city.</p>
<p>It is good that she is testing the waters to see if she is competitive. Enjoying singing, and even doing a lot of it is, alas, not indicative of career potential. That being said, what she sounds like at 16-17 may have nothing to do with her ultimate accomplishment. How are her test scores? B averages will not cut it for any of the better LAC schools, nor the better regional universities, and the singing, as a female, will not pave the way. She needs to get her grades up, more A's than B's, a goal to finish out this year. If she can do that and get her test scores above 1800-1900, she will be more competitive academically. If she were a major vocal talent or had a rare voice type (tenor or bass) doors would swing open more readily. See how the upcoming events go. Music ed is not about singing in groups, but rather wanting to lead groups, and work with youngsters in their music experiences.....it is a very specific calling and takes a very dedicated person. All voice majors spend time in choirs. On the other hand, a BA in music might give her a chance to explore her musical life and take courses which would lead to other career options. Good luck to her and her helpful parents! Lorelei</p>
<p>My daughter has a sample voice lesson scheduled at Westminster Choir at the end of this month. Her audition is in February. For music ed or vocal performance, some of the schools that your D may want to consider are West Chester University, Susquehanna and University of Delaware. Delaware is more competitive academically. My daughter visited all of those and has an audition scheduled at West Chester November 27. She is auditioning for vocal performance, however. Each of these places has great facilities and nice campuses. My daughter particularly likes Delaware's campus and the Dupont fine arts center is fabulous. Another school that I think is overlooked is Christopher Newport in Virginia. They have excellent performance venues and the faculty bios are impressive - they are also very well thought of for choral work. Tons of money has been poured into the facilities throughout the university and it is an hour from the beach. Another great choice for music ed or vocal performance is Appalachian State in NC - the nicest people in the world, nice facility and impressive, nurturing faculty. Boone is a great town - safe and eclectic. Others to check out are Furman in South Carolina and Stetson in Florida, if she'll look further south. If my daughter would consider an all women college, she would have applied to Converse College in SC. I have heard wonderful things about Beverly Hay there.</p>
<p>We live in the 'burbs of Philly near Valley Forge and she just doesn't want to be TOO close to home. That lets out West Chester and Temple, which has a pretty fine music school as well.</p>
<p>One of her better friends is a viola major at Susquehanna and James Jordan, a hero of hers, graduated from there so I think she's interested.</p>
<p>Thanks for the tips on Christopher Newport and ASU. I knew about the latter, but hadn't heard of Newport and will give it a look.</p>
<p>don9992 - my d is a freshman at WCC (MT), but her roommates are voice performance and music ed. They all are very happy with their programs and the atmosphere at Westminster in general. My D loves her studio teacher! Feel free to PM if you have any WCC questions.</p>