<p>Hello all! I kind of just need some advice for myself, an ambitious musician who likes to do everything. I would love to either teach full time elementary music ed, be a high school choral director, or a part time/full time church music director. I would also consider teaching piano privately on the side, but that is not my main ambition. I have been planning on getting a BME in choral music ed and, if allowed, tack on a piano pedagogy or performance degree, which ever one is available. I know I will be pressed for time, but I'll have a year's worth of college credit out of the way through dual credit, so I think it is doable. However, I just started voice lessons a month ago and my highly regarded voice teacher says she thinks I have the voice and ability to do a degree in vocal performance/opera if I wanted it. I know I am rough around the edges and have not had the years of vocal technique and coaching that others have had, but I have loved exploring the challenges of my voice. I highly doubt that a triple major in music is plausible in four years without going crazy, but I dearly love music ed, piano, and my newly developing voice. Should I just study voice as a secondary instrument? Which degree (piano or voice) would serve me better in my future goals? Should I even just stick to one degree? Any advice by this point would be appreciated.
On a side note, if I wanted to teach choir at the high school level, would I need a masters degree in education?
Thank you!</p>
<p>You could major in music ed, with voice as your instrument, and keep piano secondary. Two excellent places for that plan would be Eastman and Westminster Choir College. In both of these programs, the voice music ed students get the same studios and teachers as the performance people. They both support secondary piano as well. Also, in either of these programs you could audition as a music ed student with piano as your major instrument as well, and see how you do. However, I am not certain that secondary voice would give you the same teachers as the voice performance majors. </p>
<p>In any case, if your voice develops appropriately, then you can do a masters in performance. Also, you can supplement your voice training with summer programs. Eastman has a strong language program for voice students, and many or most of the music ed voice students take all the languages. Your strong piano skills will be a plus for your eventual teaching goals, as most schools are not in a position to provide a separate accompanist for the choir teacher. Also, you may end up having part time music director positions in churches along the way throughout your life. Best wishes, it sounds like you are getting prepared for a life in music. Your versatility will be an asset.</p>
<p>My concern is that any teacher would make such a comment after only a month’s worth of voice lessons. Periodically, we see a wave of students with little or no voice training suddenly deciding to pursue a VP degree and although teachers may be well meaning and even well thought of in an area that does not mean that they have the up-to-date knowledge to know what it takes to get into a good voice program now. Their info came from the way it was years (and that can be quite a lot of time!) ago when they were in school or from what they’ve read and remembered. For instance, back in the 60’s, Frederica von Stade decided that she wanted to learn to read music so she walked over to Mannes on her lunch break one day and enrolled in their voice program and a few years later she entered the Met Council Auditions and impressed Rudolph Bing so much that he gave her a contract on the spot. Could that happen today? No, simply because one can’t just walk into a conservatory and enroll- you have to submit an application with recommendations and a pre-screening CD/DVD, then if you pass that hurdle it’s on to a live audition and everything is on a tight time schedule dictated by the school. And let’s not forget the caliber of today’s applicants. The applicant pool can consist of others who have had several years of training and the overall level of musicianship is usually quite high.
Sopranomom92 gave you some excellent suggestions and a school like WCC would seem to fit all of your needs. Their choral music ed program is one of the best in the country (and quite rigorous), religious as well as secular music is incorporated, piano and choral accompanying is required and you have access to very good voice teachers. You’d graduate with immediate employment possibilities and could continue grad work in whichever area you then feel strongest in.</p>