<p>Does anyone know about schools that give scholarships or stipends if you sing? Especially if you are not a music major. My caboose, S, is in 11th grade and has made all state honor choir for the second year in a row; is in his second year of being in his school's scola cantorum; and was in all state middle school choir (when in middle school, obviously). Someone told me that there are colleges that give scholarhips, even if small ones, to get good singers in their choir/s, but I'm having a hard time with it on google.</p>
<p>He is going to visit Hendrix (who gives a small scholarship to choir members, larger one to majors) over Thanksgiving and loves it 'cause he has a friend there (he is going to overnight w/friend in dorm), and he loves to sing, but doesn't think he wants to major in vocal performance. Any ideas?</p>
<p>Sounds very much like my D. She made California all state honor choir for 4 years, plus one year in middle school, and western regional honor choir twice. She sang in high school in jazz, concert and show choirs for all 4 years. She has done musical theater and had lead roles. she also won many small scholarships for local competitions. When she applied to college last year, her declared major was IR not music, but she included tapes with her applications. She got seveal invitations to major in music and offers for money, but when she said no to the major, the money went away. She ended up with about $2,000 in prize money, but nothing from the colleges. She is happily enrolled as an IR major and made the top a capella group and is singing Chamber at school anyway. She loves singing and it is the biggest part of her college experience so far even tho she is not a voice major. She gets discounted voice lessons for being in Chamber, but at the cost of her college and the travel and lessons, it is a very small consolation. She may, yet, change majors, but for now, she is pursuing IR. </p>
<p>I have heard that instrumentalists may get money even if they don't major, but if they agree to play in ochestras. We know a young lady at U of Delaware that plays Oboe but has another major. She got a small stipend for playing Oboe in the orchestra. Oboe players are hard to find, I hear. </p>
<p>Good Luck to your S. Don't know anything about Hendrix; my D is at Tufts.</p>
<p>I would post this on the musical theater forum Perhaps people there are aware of scholarships. I have a son who is just like your daughter-all state etc. but doesn't want to major in vocal performance.He did win some scholarship money but only $1000 for his singing. The rest has come from applying to other scholarships which you can look up using scholarship.com or fastweb.com. Good luck-there is money out there!</p>
<p>There is a choir college associated with Rider University located in Princeton New Jersey.Westminster Choir College, I think. I can't tell you much about the program but we do know some who have gone there and they loved the program and environment. As you can imagine Princeton is a small place with a large university dominating the town, Princeton University that is, a safe college town. The kids we know who went there did not actually become choir directors, although I understand there is a need for them.I do know Rider is very generous with merit aid.</p>
<p>There is also a opera school in Philadephia. The name of the place escapes me at present but they provide free tuition to all accepted. We have encounter students from this school singing at a local restaurant and said they were enjoying living in Philadelphia which has many colleges and college students in the city.</p>
<p>I don't know that there would be many scholarships based on choral participation because with choirs so large, a single choir member wouldn't make a large impact on a program. Programs that cater to vocal majors are more competitive to get into than the Ivies. What the choral talent may do is to provide your son a hook that might help for admission to more selective schools. I'd recommend that he begin by e-mailing the choral directors at schools in which he's interested and asking if his background might be an asset on his application (in other words, asking if the director could be an advocate).</p>
<p>I don't know about voice, but Denison offers small ($1,000-$2,000/yr) music scholarships that can be added onto their generous merit aid to kids who work on a performance certificate, plus free lessons.</p>
<p>I would suggest looking at the music department and/or scholarship webpage at the schools where your S is interested. Many schools offer modest scholarships to non-music majors who participate in ensembles. As weenie indicated, some require the students to take lessons in addition to participating in an ensemble. I've found that more than half of the schools that I've checked do offer some music scholarship for non-majors. D is at a LAC/conservatory with a performance scholarship but S is in a similar position as yours regarding his musical talent (heavy HS participation and awards) and interests (he wants to major in biochemistry) so these issues are now on my radar screen for next year -- he's a HS sophomore this year. Good luck.</p>
<p>Hobart and William Smith has an Arts Scholar scholarship, which can be very generous and is not limited to majors. A separate application and an audition are required. </p>
<p>My daughter received an exceedingly generous talent award at Otterbein as a music major, but she knows several people who are receiving participation awards. I believe (but please double-check) that these are open to vocalists and instrumentalists; an audition is required.</p>
<p>Goucher is another school that may be worth checking out. I think they also have a special arts scholarship available through a separate application. And American may have one too. Sorry about the vagueness...a year ago this was among our criteria, but now that my daughter's happily ensconced at her college, I've forgotten many of the details!</p>
<p>Case Western has "Music Achievement" awards (formerly "Creative Achievement" awards but now they're exclusively for music.) Awarded by audition and you don't have to be a music major. Nice if you're say, an engineering major with loads of talent in music as well. Probably pretty competitive but worth a shot.</p>
<p>In general, though, oboists and the like are rarer and better rewarded than vocalists.</p>
<p>I would say, even if your son doesn't get money for singing, it's a great outlet and he should definitely look for a school where there are choirs/ensembles for him.</p>
<p>Agree totally with mommusic: Have your S look into schools that are open to non majors joining the choral/chamber singers or other groups. a capella is really huge at colleges...........for example, Tufts has at least 6 different groups. I don't think you can count on much $ for vocal once in college (other than the few schools that do have small scholarships for non-majors). Make sure your S seeks out and competes for as many prizes now, before going off to school. We found out too late to have D compete for several that were out there. You don't have to wait until senior year, either.</p>
<p>George Washington University offers Presidential Arts Scholarships of $60,000 for 4 years in voice, fine arts, dance, theatre. I think you must minor in music, but can major in anything you choose. Check the admissions website under "Special Programs."</p>
<p>Thank you all so much for the info. Westminster Choir College was the only place that I'd located on my own, and then only 'cause the director of the all-state choir last year was from NYC and was a graduate of Westminster (love reading the bios at these things - it is so awesome to see the talent the kids are exposed to).</p>
<p>It has occured to me that his singing could be a "hook" for a more competitive school. A guy from his high school got in Yale two years ago, and in addition to being the valedictorian and NMF, he was also multiple all-state choir and president of the scola cantorum. I figure with Yale's singing clubs a good voice might be an edge over someone with similar stats in a given year.</p>
<p>Thanks one more time. I followed leads from here and discovered the special music and musical theater threads, prowled around and found several good options, but the best thing I discovered was a few schools (Loyola New Orleans and FSU in particular) that have a major called Music Therapy. It appears to be a combination of music and psychology, which is actually what S wants to major in (psychology, that is). He may prefer to jump in with both feet to psych, and keep singing as an outlet, but the therapy idea is an interesting alternative to the more usual teaching/performing route if he's interested in music, just not teaching/performing. Loyola also has music industry studies, but I think the therapy might attract him more.</p>
<p>Our newspaper just had an article about a stroke victim recovering through a combination of speech therapy and music therapy (singing/piano), so there might actually be some employment opptys here. Thanks for steering me to new places on cc!</p>
<p>Music therapy is available as a music degree at numberous schools across the country. Performance study is similar to that required as a music ed major, perhaps a bit less. It is a music degree, with a strong secondary field of psychology and/or special ed type courses. Internships are required. Check this web site:</p>
<p>It is much more likely that a male would receive a nonmusic major service award for choir singing. If he is good enough and makes the case he cannot afford the time for choir (as a non-major) because he has to work.... The other situation would be that if he takes lessons, he will be required to be in choir, regardless of his major. If they are part of his regular tuition, that is a grant, because private lessons are expensive for a university one-on-one instruction. </p>
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It has occured to me that his singing could be a "hook" for a more competitive school [/quote}</p>
<p>You are so right about music being a hook. D checked out the singing opportunities at each school she considered applying to even tho her intended major was IR. She only applied to schools where there were lots of options, Yale, Tufts and several others. For kids like ours, who have experienced the amazing "high" of honor choir weekends, singing is a MUST. It is what keeps D sane when doing the "serious" work of school. She calls her friends "broadway geeks" or "choir nerds" and loves everyone of them.</p>
<p>Another interesting fact: The latest U.S. News & World Report puts the FSU College of Music fifth among public universities, with the opera program number three.</p>
<p>Thanks. The musictherapy.org site has a list of schools with approved degree programs. FSU's site shows that they do indeed have a great music program, plus a summer program for high school choir kids. Unfortunately, the summer program butts up against a trip his hs has planned to go to the Linz, Austria Invitational Choir Festival in June.</p>
<p>S is showing an unusual amount of initiative (for him) with his college search. I am a little nervous that he has engineered a trip next week to Hendrix in Arkansas with a buddy of his whose parents have agreed to drive. They have also got themselves a voice audition even tho' they are only in 11th grade (which surprises me that the school agreed to that). Fortunately, he has his all-state concert this weekend, so the audition will come on the heels of three days of rehearsals and performing, and as he can pick any two songs he wants, he's going to just sing two from the concert.</p>
<p>It looks like a pretty low key audtion, so H says not to worry. It will be good experience for other college vocal auditions and may work in S's favor in other ways. I still worry tho' as I'm new to all this performing arts audition stuff and S is kind of "taking off" w/o me. Maybe I am in helicopter parent w/drawal.</p>