<p>who knows anything about Temples new MT program?
I emailed the director of the program, but I haven’t heard anything.</p>
<p>An acting student took us on a tour of the theater facilities. (There was no staff person on campus.) There was very little in the way of practice space and no dance studio. She said performance time was difficult because graduate students were garaunteed roles each semester.</p>
<p>But the MT program is new and we were wondering if there is some kind of agreement with the school of Music and Dance which is in a totally separate place. No one knew the answer to our questions at the time.</p>
<p>Keep trying to contact the director and let us know what you find out!!!! (My D decided to go to a different school.)</p>
<p>I don't know much about the program either, but a friend is going to be in the MT program at Temple starting in the fall. It's a definite possibility that I may be looking into it this year (I'm a rising senior), and I live right outside of the city, so I will post here when I find out more.</p>
<p>Just received this message.</p>
<p>Alexandra,
Temple is not a BFA program. Temple offers a BA in Theater.
The new Musical Theater Concentration is a concentration of
courses open to students finishing their senior year of high
school or Freshman year of college.
If you are interested in a liberal arts degree in Theater, I
cannot recommend Temple highly enough. We are a wonderful
theater school, but we are not a Conservatory.
If you would like more information, contact me or our website.
Sincerely,</p>
<p>Peter Reynolds
Director of Musical Theater
Temple University
1301 W. Norris Street
Philadelphia, PA 19122
(215)204-8628
<a href="mailto:peterr@temple.edu">peterr@temple.edu</a></p>
<p>Look at the school's website - ACADEMICS</a> : THEATER : SCT : TEMPLE UNIVERSITY</p>
<p>It seems to be a rather comprehensive program, even though it is only a BA degree. I'm sure that there will be some overlap between the Music and Dance departments. Just remember that Music and Dance are housed in an entirely separate School from Theater. And Temple is VERY well respected for their music and dance programs so I'm sure their facilities are quite good.</p>
<p>I think Temple has the added benefit of being in a big theatre city. I'm sure that regional theaters in the area often will have Temple students in their productions so just because they have a graduate program I wouldn't rule the school out because there may not be a lot of performance time in comparison.</p>
<p>Philadelphia is indeed a great theatre city and Temple's Theatre Department is doing some great work (there was a recent article about a student production about Iraq war veterans being picked up and developed for off Broadway with the original cast). But don't expect during the school year to have much opportunity to work in outside professional productions in Philadelphia. The time requirements for rehearsals and performances generally will greatly conflict with school responsibilities. The great advantage to being a theatre student in Philadelphia is that there is so much theatre and other performing arts to see, very often, your professors are working pros who bring current working experience into the classroom/studio and there are many opportunities to get internships or take summer classes at professional theatres in the city.</p>
<p>Philadelphia offers students some great options for a college education in theatre. You have Temple's BA program and also University of the Arts BFA programs. The former is liberal arts based with a major in theatre/performance classes (2/3 classes liberal arts, 1/3 in your major) and the latter is a conservatory based professional training program with a more limited focus on general liberal arts (which is not to say that there is not an academic side to the program but it is very different from a BA - 1/3 liberal arts types of classes, half of which are theatre oriented, and 2/3 focused performance/studio classes). Both are excellent programs within their respective categories.</p>
<p>I had asked the policy on transfers. and this was the response...
why am i being told that I will have to go in as a freshman at every other program, but not this one?</p>
<p>Alexandra,
The curriculum is posted on the website. I don't make it a
practice to advise someone to stay longer than 4 years in
undergrad. I could absolutely recommend you coming to Temple
and finishing up your B.A. degree in the amount of time you
have left (I am assuming 2 years)... This is very doable.
It is possible that you could take musical theater courses at
Temple, but I don't recommend the concentration to current
sophomores, juniors or seniors.</p>
<p>I don't know where else you are looking or what other responses you've received; but maybe it is because Temple is a BA as opposed to a BFA with a very specific curriculum.</p>
<p>i guess that I thought an MT concentration was the same.</p>
<p>I agree with AZKMom's response. The reason that you may have to be in a freshmen or soph track in a BFA MT program as a transfer is because it is a very explicit degree with heavy course/credit requirements in the major to earn the BFA and can't be done by entering it midstream. You have to do all the BFA credits to get that degree. That is not the same in a BA program where many credits transfer and correlate with BA requirements at another school.</p>
<p>There are MAJOR differences between a BFA and a BA degree in MT. Please do a search of this forum on such discussions. Further, if you go to the FAQ link which is available on one of the sticky posts near the top of the MT forum, there is an explanation there of the differences between a BA and a BFA.</p>
<p>I'm going to Temple as an MT major this fall. Although the program is currently a BA, the entire concentration in MT is being created by this huge grant the school received to start a BFA program. No BFA in Musical Theater is being offered at this time, but the program is structured like a BFA program since that is what it is to become in the future. I received an outline of my course of study over the next four years. It's basically all music/dance/theater courses. There is room to satisfy the Temple GenEd requirements and maybe 3-5 (at most) electives. Additionally, MT majors end up having to take the maximum number of credits one can take within ones college (in this case, the College of Communications and Theater), and often are taking the maximum number of course credits covered by tuition each semester. You get the liberal arts aspect, but it's definitely structured.</p>
<p>The program is a collaboration between the College of Communications and Theater (where the major is based) and the Boyer College of Music and Dance. I won't know until fall exactly how much collaboration there is, but I do know that the College of Music and Dance is taking care of my voice lessons, not the theater school.</p>
<p>If you are trying to transfer in later than your sophomore year, from the semester by semester breakdown of courses I was given doing the MT concentration would indeed be next to impossible. If you are transferring in for your sophomore year, the MT concentration is totally possible. I think it's because you can at least get some GenEd credits out of the way. Actually, since the program is new, more than half of the students entering the program will be sophomores in the fall. I believe there are only 6 freshman (out of about 8-9 admitted).</p>
<p>If anyone wants to know the semester by semester breakdown of courses, let me know and I'll post them. It tells you where all the GenEds fit in, and it shows that there isn't really any wiggle room. Some semesters we have to take ONLY theater/mt courses!</p>
<p>I'll keep those interested updated on my experiences when I start this fall. Hope I could help!</p>
<p>xoxtinysingerxox</p>
<p>In re-reading your post with the emails from Temple, it does say that you could finish your BA in theatre at Temple in your remaining 2 years, but that they don't recommend the MT concentration unless you are coming in as a freshman or possibly (per Kaitrin's post above) as a sophomore transfer.</p>
<p>So do you think that the MT concentration will become a BFA program anytime soon or no? I know Coastal Carolina has a similar situation, a BA in the works of a BFA and their program says that when its officially a BFA current majors will be able to get there BFA in it. Think it's the same for Temple?</p>
<p>A little off topic from the original post, but since the BA/ BFA (and I will add BM) question seems to be a part of the discussion -- There are significant differences between programs that offer the same degree... meaning the BFA program at school "A" will not be exactly the same as the BFA program at school "B". Some BFA programs require you to take almost no classes outside of your major... others require you to complete the same general education requirements as BA students at the university. </p>
<p>Some BA programs offer very focused and intense training (I know of a BA MT program where students take 70% of their required courses in the major and only 30% outside of the major, for example... many other BA schools which may be more 50%/ 50% in terms of courses in and outside of the major will encourage you to take as many classes in the major as possible).</p>
<p>Generally speaking a BM degree in musical theatre will include more music courses than a BA of a BFA -- but this may not be true in every case, and the requirements will also differ from BM program to BM program. </p>
<p>No two programs are built alike, so it is important to look at the specifics of each program regardless of the degree "letters". Look for the schools that offer the kind of training that you want.... it is about finding the right fit.</p>
<p>In response to the question posted #7 -- "why am i being told that I will have to go in as a freshman at every other program, but not this one?" This too will differ from program to program. It all depends on which courses the program will accept in transfer from another program. I too coordinate a BA MT program. I suppose if some one had been in a program where they had taken all of the core work that our freshman and sophomores take (including two years of private voice or one year of group voice and one year of private voice), someone coming in as a junior might be able to fit all of the required course work in the major into two years of study, but it would be on a case by case basis, and most would probably need three years to complete the required MT coursework. Some schools (particularly conservatory style BFA programs) will not accept any theatre or musical theatre coursework that you have taken at another school. This is why it could take four years to complete the program.</p>
<p>Can anyone give me details about their Temple audition?</p>
<p>First, I do believe Temple is working toward becoming a BFA. The money we received from the Abbott's was given to Temple so they could established a BFA program. I couldn't tell you when exactly this would happen. I haven't the slightest clue.</p>
<p>Temple's audition was pretty straight forward. All the kids auditioning completed a dance audition, which was fairly difficult. I have 10 years of dance experience, and I found the routine challenging. Even the best dancers could not do it perfectly, however, it wasn't so hard that you couldn't do it well. I think the most important thing is to LOOK like a dancer. Those with the most experience are the first to dance before the judges. With 10 years experience, I was in the first group. At my audition, we danced to "A Ladies Choice" from Hairspray.</p>
<p>The voice and acting auditions come next. We had time to freshen up/change and warm up in the lobby right after the dance. Then it was pretty straight forward. I went into the room, sang 16 bars of both my ballad and uptempo, and did my contemporary monologue. The panel was very nice, and the accompanist was good. Throughout all portions of the audition (including the dance) Mr. Reynolds (head of MT) was present along with a teacher from the acting department, and two teachers (one voice, one dance) from Boyer College of Music and Dance.</p>
<p>I got a call the last week of March saying I was accepted. The program seems to want to model itself after some of the more prestigious schools and only accepted about 9 freshman (6 are attending) plus a bunch of transfers.</p>
<p>I will also be a freshman musical theater major at Temple this fall (I leave tommorow haha). I auditioned at alot of the top MT BFA programs during my senior year but felt that Temple was by far the best fit for me. I actually liked that they are currently offering a BA in MT as opposed to a BFA because I do have interests in some other areas. However, like the poster above me stated, the BA in Theatre/MT concentration ends up being about the same-course requirement wise-as a BFA would be. </p>
<p>My Temple audition was one of my favorites over the course of the audition process. The dance audition was challenging but they gave lots of time for us to iron out any questions/kinks we might have with it. The singing/acting audition ended with a lengthy interview where I was allowed to ask the auditors as many questions as I needed.</p>
<p>Anyway, I will post again in a few months to give my review of Temple's new program and answer any questions prospectives students might have. I am most excited about how small/personalized the program is going to be at first. With only a handful of freshman and a total of about 16 students all together (freshman and transfers)...it's sure to be a good experience for all involved.</p>
<p>Welcome to Temple, guys :)</p>