<p>Can anyone tell me about an undergraduate's realistic access to theatre, dance and music opportunities at Harvard? My S, a rising senior, is focused on a BFA in musical theatre, but also loves CREATING related things, as well as history of the Arts. Amazing things have been coming out of the American Repertory Theatre in recent years, and Harvard seems to have a long-standing tradition of incorporating theatre, wit and humor into its character. Is there a place at Harvard for a student singer/dancer/actor/musician/writer with nearly outstanding GPA and test scores?</p>
<p>Besides Harvard for the more academic program…if your son is SERIOUS about the combination of “interests” in performance art…he should be seriously considering Juilliard and Carnegie Mellon’s programs…Juilliard being the ultimate institution.</p>
<p>Harvard has many student-run organizations that are very active in all of the arts that you mentioned. There are musical theater groups, a talented G&S group, two opera groups and Hasty Pudding. Students produce their own works of theater and musical theater, as well as opera, but those tend to be “one of” productions. One of my son’s friends wrote and produced an opera for his thesis. Some students do work with ART. </p>
<p>Musically, Harvard has numerous choirs and a cappella groups, some of which tour around the US and the world. I know that Harvard has many dance groups, but my familiarity is limited.</p>
<p>While Harvard does have many student-run organizations for theater ([Harvard-Radcliffe</a> Dramatic Club](<a href=“http://www.hrdctheater.com%5DHarvard-Radcliffe”>http://www.hrdctheater.com)) and dance ([Dance</a> Program: Office for the Arts](<a href=“http://ofa.fas.harvard.edu/dance/]Dance”>Harvard Dance Center | Office for the Arts at Harvard)), the college DOES NOT grant a degree in either theater or dance. Harvard does offer a degree in music to a small number of concentrators: [Harvard</a> Department of Music](<a href=“http://www.music.fas.harvard.edu/undergraduate.html]Harvard”>http://www.music.fas.harvard.edu/undergraduate.html). There are many wonderful colleges that grant a BFA in theater/musical theater/dance, but sadly Harvard is not one of them – even though amazing things are coming out of A.R.T.</p>
<p>mom4bwayboy here is an article you may find of interest that discusses the pros and cons and differences between a BFA/conservatory education versus a straight-up liberal arts education for the aspiring theater artist: </p>
<p>[UP</a> CLOSE | For thespians, Yale degree not enough | Yale Daily News](<a href=“http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2012/04/23/up-close-for-thespians-yale-degree-not-enough/]UP”>UP CLOSE | For thespians, Yale degree not enough - Yale Daily News)</p>
<p>There are some great alternatives to the BFA route out there for a theater student including Brown, Northwestern, Yale and Williams.</p>
<p>And, as your son is probably discovering, the acceptance rates for small conservatory acting programs like Juilliard and CMU are brutal, as in below 1%. Even Harvard’s acceptance rate is exponentially higher. </p>
<p>From the article:</p>
<p>“The informed actor, the experienced actor, is the talented actor,” Margolin said, adding that she distrusts actors without defining real-life experiences outside theatrical training.</p>
<p>Margolin said her experiences teaching at conservatories left her disillusioned about the environment of such programs, questioning whether they are conducive to producing a broad-minded student.</p>
<p>“You may be able to sing ‘Oklahoma’ in pitch or something, but if you cannot create an eloquent English sentence, that is a major drawback,” Margolin said.</p>
<p>But, a counterpoint from the same article:</p>
<p>A number of graduates said they found the preparation provided by the Theater Studies program and Yale-funded student productions did not ready them for the challenges of the field.
“My main complaint is that it doesn’t prepare you for the real world,” said Allison Goldberg ’06, who now runs a production company in New York. “It’s a very theoretical education that talks a lot about art, but not as much about marketing yourself as a performer… the program is not about the business side, it’s about making art, which is lovely, but doesn’t really prepare you.”</p>
<p>Best of luck to your son!</p>
<p>Wow, thanks for informed replies. The Yale article - and comments - are enlightening. I feel like we have a handle on the difference between a BFA/conservatory program and a more broadly based BA/Liberal Arts program have to offer. I guess my real question is that if a student attends a rigorous liberal arts school, is there REALLY enough time in the day to partake of the wonderful extracurriculars that would give the more practical, skills-based experiences. My son is recovering from shoulder surgery which is prohibiting him from dancing for a few (several?) months, and has limited his summer performance options. While he is an intelligent guy who loves a good philosophical discussion and can write a decent paper when he has to, he has come to realize that life w/o dance - or being part of a show - is very hard to live through. At Harvard, Yale, etc, would the necessary study-time crowd out the things he loves to do most? Is there a way to “have it all” at Harvard?</p>
<p>“Is there a way to “have it all” at Harvard?”</p>
<p>Yes! My daughter’s first choice school was Yale, as she was interested in their theater studies degree. Unfortunately, she was rejected and is now at Harvard as a film studies major – which I guess is related. Anyway, my daughter is heavily involved in Harvard’s theater community and does manage to fit everything in and do it all. She has found though that because all but one of the theater productions each year are student directed and produced (with no faculty oversight), much depends on the organizational abilities of the students in charge – and it’s been hit or miss for her. Which is why she tries to get cast in the one guest directed production each year where Harvard brings in a professional to direct a show.</p>
<p>I agree with gibby that a lot of time can be wasted depending on the organizational abilities of the people in charge. My son was involved in two choirs while at Harvard, one where every member could read music and quickly produce a quality concert, and another where many members could not read music and production was slow and tedious. He was also in the Dunster House Opera and Gilbert & Sullivan productions, which are student-led and he never complained about wasted time. Long hours perhaps, but not wasted time. His time was full, but I do not believe that it affected his coursework significantly.</p>
<p>Thank you hat and gibby. What you’re saying is what I suspected. It sounds like it would take some organizational skills, strategic thinking to find groups/productions that are the best fit - currently NOT an area of strength for my son, but certainly one he will need to develop in order to make it in the field. Hmmm. Much to think about.</p>
<p>As someone whose son was a singer at Harvard and whose daughter is a dancer turned engineer at Northwestern, I have seen what both schools have to offer. For a serious singer, Harvard’s Holden Choirs (Glee Club, Radcliffe Choral Society, and Collegium Musicum) are astoundingly good, and students go on from there to careers in music (Leonard Bernstein and Elliott Carter come to mind). However, for the total Broadway/musical theater/theater experience, Northwestern is a MUCH better option. If you look at the people who went to NU and continued on in the performing arts, you will see a cavalcade of famous entertainers, from Ann Margaret back in the 50s to Will Butler of Arcade Fire in the mid 2000s. In my daughter’s freshman year, we went to see a production of The Secret Garden at Northwestern, and I thought it was better than a lot of what I’ve seen on the professional stage recently. Now, someone could go to Harvard and cobble together a theater experience, but there are better schools for the Broadway bound.</p>
<p>Thank you for the insights.</p>
<p>@ arwarw</p>
<p>I really enjoyed reading the article from the Yale Daily News in your link. I think the conservatory as vocational training vs the Harvard or Yale education where the arts is considered part of the humanities, is a very interesting one. I was struck by this quote from the YDN (including your link again for ease of reference):</p>
<p>[UP</a> CLOSE | For thespians, Yale degree not enough | Yale Daily News](<a href=“http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2012/04/23/up-close-for-thespians-yale-degree-not-enough/]UP”>UP CLOSE | For thespians, Yale degree not enough - Yale Daily News)</p>
<p>“My main complaint is that it doesn’t prepare you for the real world,” said Allison Goldberg ’06, who now runs a production company in New York. “It’s a very theoretical education that talks a lot about art, but not as much about marketing yourself as a performer… the program is not about the business side, it’s about making art, which is lovely, but doesn’t really prepare you.”</p>
<p>I think the distinction between a conservatory and a Yale or Harvard education needs closer inspection on the conservatory side. Based on my observation of music schools, especially jazz (vs theater which I know a lot less about), it is not clear, that schools like NEC or Manhattan School of Music, to name a couple, prepare you for the business side very well either…kind of late to that game compared to the very un-warm, un-fuzzy and un-abashedly proud-of-it being so, Berklee. (To quote one Berklee administrator, a few months before his retirement by the way, at a jazz camp college fair: “We’re not warm and fuzzy, and neither is the music business…”) </p>
<p>I think the bigness (maybe a plus or a minus) combined with the entrepreneurial vibe (a very big plus) at Berklee is kind of unique. The smaller programs where acceptance is more selective and everybody is made to feel like they belong, are very different from a big program like Berklee, with what appears to me to be haves and have-nots, some having a great experience, and some having a dreadful experience.</p>
<p>There is a school to school difference and a genre difference. I might say something related as a contrast to the Popular Music program at USC vs the Jazz Program at USC. This may be a bit harsh, but I would characterize jazz students (in general, not just at USC) as happy to stay up all night making beautiful music and not really caring if anybody listens to it or not, vs popular music students (at USC, Berklee and elsewhere) that kind of get it that it is about the audience.</p>
<p>As my D heard Livingston Taylor say at a workshop at Berklee, to paraphrase: It is not rocket science. If the audience likes it, do it again. If the audience doesn’t like it, don’t do it. Without an audience, what is the artist? </p>
<p>This may apply very differently to musical theater programs. I would say musical theater students probably get this a whole lot better than jazz students.</p>
<p>Another thought is that, it seems to me to that some musical theater programs may be a little more real worldly when they accept a large freshman class and then have cuts each year to graduate a small senior class. Like that line from The Paper Chase: “Look to your right, look to your left,…” Get used to survival of the fittest, eh?</p>
<p>Just a few thoughts…</p>