<p>A little upside good voice job news. D who just got her undergrad degree in VP, is pulling down
MINIMUM about 800 to 1200 dollars this month singing the national anthem at graduations, singing in a professional organ concert and singing two church gigs. All existing rep with virtually no rehearsal time. Shes a great sight reader, specializes in Baroque mezzo rep (organists love her) and easy to work with(no diva reputation). Its not enough to live on, but a nice start and gig seems to be following gig---add to her now full time job at an architectural firm, from now till grad school starts, she is putting away some serious coin. Money can be made</p>
<p>Interesting topic. I think that the choice may also depend on just how steeped in music the student wants to be. Especially where one has got diversified musical interests, say composition, voice, an instrument etc. it is good to be in an environment where there is the flexibility to pursue them. One school that I looked at that seem to have a lot of room for self-design of a degree and fabulous musical resources was Vassar. Another to consider (but they don't have voice) is Bard. Two small schools in Vermont with a lot of flexibility are Marlboro and Bennington.</p>
<p>
Bard may not have an undergrad program in voice but they do have an undergrad conservatory (5-year degree) as well as an under-grad vocal faculty, and a graduate program in Vocal Performance with Dawn Upshaw on the faculty. My D has had amazing access to classes and instruction in voice even in her first year as an under-grad and a non-music major. I can't image anywhere that could have provided the same academic experience in liberal arts in addition to enabling her to pursue her passion for singing. She couldn't be happier.</p>
<p>A college music professor who is familiar with my D’s current voice teacher gave her the following suggestion as an option: Continue to study with current voice teacher, apply to the excellent local public university as a language major (French lit, Italian studies…), fit in as many music theory/history, maybe composition courses as possible (minor +), continue piano. Study abroad, and upon application to grad school for voice she could potentially be very valuable as a diction coach, maybe get grad fellowship/assistantship. Since my D has a passion and aptitude for languages, she does plan to set up this option. Even now she seems to be everyone’s French diction coach. It will be interesting to see how it all turns out.</p>
<p>There was an article in one of the newsweeklies about promising careers for the future. “Accent Removal Specialist” was one of their hot careers for the future. I pointed that out to my daughter, who’s also considering VP (jazz) for her UG program.</p>
<p>because of the dates on this post I may not get a reply but will ask anyway. Where is the conservatory, university or school where opera vocal majors can obtain a masters degree?</p>
<p>cindy, the choices will be many and varied, ranging from Juilliard to public institutions. Without knowing more personal background, it is virtually impossible to even begin to counsel you.</p>
<p>I’m assuming you have had extensive musical training and experience to date to even consider being competitive within any number of these programs at the MM level. If you have studied privately, or in an undergrad music pursuit, your private vocal instructor and additional faculty resources might well be the best source of information, as they are in the best position to suggest potential schools for further development based on knowing your strengths and weaknesses, as well as how you may relate within a broader highly competitive base of talent.</p>
<p>This thread has some highly knowledgeable posters with the experiences and background to suggest potential places to consider. You can start to do some background investigation by searching the forum for other posts under those usernames, and posts by papengena, OperaDad, opera-mom. </p>
<p>The latest post here <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/618208-master-list-music-school-acceptances-fall-2009-a-59.html?highlight=master[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/618208-master-list-music-school-acceptances-fall-2009-a-59.html?highlight=master</a> will indicate some of the schools of acceptance for the recent cycle of BM and MM opera/vocal candidates. You might want to begin by investigating the requirements and parameters of those programs.</p>
<p>violadad was quite correct in his writings.Not knowing your abilities/ambitions, it is hard to give you advice. Assuming that you have a voice teacher now, he/she should be the one you go to for advice. A teacher you are working with knows your abilities and how they compare to the abilities of students at various schools. And those programs do vary widely from those who mostly prepare students to peform locally or teach at a more advanced level to those which routinely send graduates into top Young Artists programs and to the Met Council Auditions. Another thing you might want to consider is an Artist’s Diploma or Artist’s Certificate program- they have different admission requirements and they don’t usually include all of the language/theory/keyboard classes. Again, ask your voice teacher for advice.
I can point you towards a few of the higher level programs( other than Julliard)- check out Cincinatti, Eastman and the Cleveland Institute of Music. I would have to say that the first program is perhaps the most difficult of those three and their requirements for numbers of students admitted are strict. One thing I have learned recently is that the students who are accepted as grad students in voice who do not have an undergrad degree in VP is that there is a lot for them to “make up”. In addition to the studies they are assigned in the Masters Program, they must also take the languages, music theory, music history and piano/keyboard classes which they would have had as an undergrad. It appears that it can be done though, so I wish you good luck, cindy!</p>