Vocal Performance at Lawrence University

<p>Can anybody tell us any specifics about the voice program at Lawrence University? Experience with their voice faculty? Recommended teachers, based on personal experience or word of mouth?</p>

<p>If he chooses Lawrence, my son is planning on the 5 year double degree program - vocal performance and classic civilizations. The vocal performance degree is of the utmost importance to him. All other things will take a back seat to his opera goals, if there ever needs to be a choice.</p>

<p>Any wisdom or experience with Lawrence in general, and their voice program in particular would be much appreciated!</p>

<p>My D goes there. Start with Ken Bozeman for a voice teacher to look at. The program itself is very good. The conservatory is very serious about their music, so he will get solid music training in addition to voice lessons.</p>

<p>Reputation wise, Lawrence is not well known, but worst case, it is just a notch lower than the top tier conservatories. For a Double Degree, I think they are the best program out there. Eastman/U Rochester is great, but for the distance between the campuses (campi?). Indiana is just plane huge.</p>

<p>Also, if he wants to cut short the 5 year program, he can drop the conservatory degree, and double major with voice being one of the majors.</p>

<p>We’ve heard good things about Steven Paul Spears. I’ve heard him sing several times here in a regional music festival (NYC area), and I’ve talked with him. He loves teaching at Lawrence. He is an incredibly good tenor (we think so, and so does our singing son’s very, very critical voice teacher), and he’s got a great sense of humor. A generous CC parent talked with me at length about how her child loves Lawrence and having voice lessons with Spears.</p>

<p>My D is a junior in vocal performance at LU. She is delighted with her experiences and progress (as are we). The good news is that I have heard nothing negative about any of the vocal faculty either from the students at LU or from other general sources via internet forums such as this one. The faculty have somewhat different approaches and emphases and personalities as is true everywhere but all are well-regarded, effective teachers and several still perform actively. The dynamic is very professional and rigorous while still very supportive and relaxed. They are also very supportive of one another and the atmosphere in and across studios is much more collaborative than competitive. Performance opportunities are plentiful. </p>

<p>We are big LU conservatory fans. If you would like to PM me, I would be happy to try to answer other specific questions.</p>

<p>I graduated from Lawrence in '81; I was NOT a music major. He was right out of grad school then, but already he was very good, and by all accounts he has only gotten better.</p>

<p>(And no, dinosaurs did not graze on the quad, nor did we ride mastodons down College Avenue.)</p>