<p>I'm a rising HS senior vocalist, and I won't be able to visit schools before the auditions. Because of that, I just have to rely on word-of-mouth to pick the schools I'm going to apply to. I realise that the quality of the teacher is of the utmost importance. I've come up with some names of recommended teachers already, but I was wondering if anyone has details on the voice faculty at these schools:</p>
<p>Lawrence U
U of Michigan
Saint Olaf
DePaul
Illinois Wesleyan</p>
<p>(I am interested in a teacher who will prepare me for a future career in opera, if that helps)</p>
<p>might i HIGHLY suggest northwestern university. karen brunssen, teresa brancaccio, or sunny joy langton.</p>
<p>If you haven't already, do a search on the forums for these schools. I'm not familiar with DePaul in terms of voice but I think you will find general info on all the others. Review the bios on the schools' websites and then visit and have a lesson with the faculty member in whom you are most interested. This approach worked well for my D who is also a soprano.</p>
<p>Lawrence, UM, and St. Olaf all have very solid reputations in voice. St. Olaf has more emphasis on ensemble but has also produced several solo singers who are have been quite successful in the past decade. Lawrence is the only conservatory in the group you listed but it is also a conservatory that has a highly integrated liberal arts curriculum. Illinois Wesleyan has a good program but is probably not quite on par with the other 3 with which I'm familiar. They do have very good merit/talent aid packages if your academics are strong.</p>
<p>I have no direct information on UM beyond its very strong reputation and raves I've seen on CC. It is much larger and has a large graduate program so that makes it quite a bit different.</p>
<p>Do a bit more homework and visit this fall before auditions if possible. </p>
<p>Best of luck to you.</p>
<p>I actually have searched CC for the colleges I've mentioned, and I have read the comments about them. I know they have good reputations.
: )</p>
<p>The thing is, it is not possible for me to have lessons with the teachers prior to audition time. And reading the faculty bios tells me who has the impressive resumes, but not so much about the quality of teaching necessarily. So I was hoping someone could tell me who is good, who to avoid, etc.
If anyone has info but doesn't want to name names in the thread, PMs are fine!</p>
<p>I was under the impression that Michigan, Olaf, and Wesleyan were primarily choral schools. I know that's definately the case with Olaf. I would recommend schools like Indiana and Rice to get you into an opera track. At those schools you would be able to get a solid musical education. Both of those schools also have very strong graduate opera programs so that you could get a sense of what is expected of grad students in opera programs before you try to audition for those programs. There are a number of people in the opera department at my school - NEC - from Indiana and Rice, and they are all doing very well in the program and are being cast in the productions.</p>
<p>I don't think Michigan is mainly choral. All the teachers I've talked to bring it up when thinking about schools for Vocal performance majors who are wanting to study opera and things like that.</p>