<p>I'm at a loss as to which school would be best for me as a vocal performance major. I'm not sure I want to end up at a conservatory for my undergrad years, it seems a little intense. But I know I want to be a vocal performance/opera major, but still be able to take classes I love, like biology and calculus. I also want to end up in a city like Boston or New York, where there will be opportunities for opera and vocal performance. I really DON'T want to end up too far south, I'm a Wisconsin girl. I like seasons (:</p>
<p>Anyways, as far as grades go, I'll graduate with 6 or 7 AP classes under my belt, minimum, and straight A's. I can handle an academically challenging environment, and want to end up at a college where I can be a vocal performance major and still be able to take more regular classes.</p>
<p>If anyone knows of colleges with good voice programs, please let me know! And I definitely don't want a pure conservatory like Juilliard. I'll stop now (:</p>
<p>You can “end up” in Boston and New York, but do your undergrad elsewhere. There are not a lot of opportunities for a very young singer in either of these cities. So I would recommend that you do not narrow your search to those two locales.</p>
<p>That’s what I was wondering- I’ve been unable to find an interesting voice program in either of those cities. I’m not sure where I’d fit best, as far as colleges go. I like being a big fish in a small pond, but at the same time I want to go somewhere I’ll be challenged. I’m driving myself insane!</p>
<p>Hmmm. Well even though you don’t want to go too far South I have heard that Rice University has one of the very best opera programs right now. They are not pure conservatory and it is in Houston which has the HGO.</p>
<p>Dressage: When you mention cities with “opportunities for opera and vocal performance” do you mean opportunities for you to hear a variety of good performances? Or do you mean opportunities for you to perform yourself? </p>
<p>As an undergrad singer, normally a good school will provide you with sufficient opportunities to perform. A young voice can handle only so much singing, so you don’t want to take on much singing outside of your conservatory’s/school’s requirements. </p>
<p>I doubt that there are any good opportunities in NYC or Boston for undergrad singers to perform opera outside of their schools–undergrad voices are rarely ready and even if one does have an exceptionally mature voice, there are hundreds of graduate-level and post-graduate level voices that are much better that are lined up to take any available opportunity in cities like Boston and NYC. </p>
<p>Rice definitely has an excellent vocal program and has a wide variety of challenging and interesting academic offerings. If you like four seasons, then the Schulich School at McGill in Montreal has them in extremes along with good academics. Admission to voice at Rice and McGill is very competitive. Cleveland Institute of Music has an excellent voice program and CIM’s students have easy access to the good academic offerings of Case Western Reserve University. Have you looked at Northwestern U? Good academics and very good music school (and seasons!).</p>
<p>DressageWhiz, “ending up in Boston or New York” has more to do with your undergraduate teacher than going to school there. Your current private voice teacher should be able to help, have you discussed with him/her? </p>
<p>Good teachers are scattered throughout the US. One of DD’s studio mates who was a graduate student when DD was a freshmen, won the Met national auditions and is in the Met Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. She did her undergraduate degree at Webster, her graduate degree at Rice. Also, Boston and NY are not the only places to thrive in opera or classical singing. A number of cities have good opportunities, but as violindad indicated, they are mostly for more experienced singers. </p>
<p>If you want to be a big fish in a small pond then the suggestions for Rice, McGill, CIM, even Northwestern may not be for you. Those are all very high level programs. How about seeking out the lesser known programs? Look at the lists at the top of the page in this forum under this year’s school acceptances, the music school visits, and suggestions of music schools. See which ones appeal to you and come back with questions or PM the folks you see on those threads and see what they have to say about teachers, opportunities, etc . There are some great choices in those lists.</p>
<p>I would encourage you to look at Boston U for opera. My daughter’s friend is a senior there and has done very well w/ scholarships, and she has played major parts in several shows. The nice thing about a school like BU is that 1) it’s in Boston, 2) it’s a university, so you can be challenged by the academics, and 3) you can join one of 18 a cappella groups to get some other fun voice opportunities.</p>
<p>The obvious choice is the Vocal Performance major at NYU (Steinhardt.) You can specialize in musical theatre or opera. You recieve a BM degree in music, but you will have the opportunity to take many academic classes.</p>
<p>I teach in the Musical Theatre/ Theatre area at James Madison University (JMU) in VA, and have the opportunity to interact with faculty and students in the School of Music (SOM) on a regular basis. Students at have the opportunity to take classes outside of the major (in fact all students at JMU take the same 41 credit general education core), but the SOM is strong the faculty wonderful, the new performing arts center facilities beautiful, and the school has a strong track record of students going onto top MM programs like Manhattan and Indiana. </p>
<p>Not too far south, JMU is about 2 hours from DC and 6 hours from NYC.</p>
<p>Thanks guys! And I wasn’t saying I necessarily want to go to college in either of those cities, just end up being well-equipped enough to eventually spend time there. I’ve been to both cities, and LOVE them. </p>
<p>I did some research, and I really like Oberlin, but I haven’t done much looking into faculty yet. I also like Rice, but it’s so far south I don’t know how I’ll feel about it. Also- does anyone have info on USC’s voice program? I heard it’s decent, and I have the potential for a full ride scholarship there.</p>
<p>Oh, and I looked at NYU when I was there, and didn’t like it. I don’t know why, but the vibe I got from some of the people just turned me off. I liked BU better.</p>
<p>@dressageWhiz - having just completed this process with my d for an instrument (not voice), and having resisted the advice on this forum for about 6-8 weeks, when I did take their advice, I realized they were 100% correct. And so did my daughter.</p>
<p>The priority is finding the teacher(s) you want to work with, at schools you can afford.</p>
<p>The feel of the place - imo, needs to be lower on the ranking system. It is … a luxury… that we took into account once we were sitting with several acceptances, after considering the teachers and financial packages.</p>