<p>I kind of have two questions. I'm going to ask the other one right after this, I think. Thanks in advance! </p>
<p>First - I have a long list I'm working on shortening. Luckily, I'm going to the Classical Singer college fair where I'll be able to talk to several schools. I get extremely overwhelmed in my big public school with the chaos of a lot of people. I prefer smaller classes and a smaller school. Does that mean I should eliminate all large public universities from my list, or maybe there are certain ones I should eliminate? (UT Austin, Maryland, Cincinnati, Michigan maybe) How about the conservatories? I think I want to go someplace that I'll feel like I'm important to my teacher. I want to feel special. I do not have a need to perform, I just want to be like one of my teacher's "other children". Is this unlikely at say, a Juilliard, CCM or MSM?</p>
<p>I don’t know the vocal world, but I would think that that feeling of inclusiveness comes as much from an individual teacher’s personality as the culture of the larger school. Even at a larger school, the music department/school/conservatory is likely to be a smaller environment, and most music classes (with the possible exception of big intro classes like Music History) are likely to be very small.</p>
<p>For my D3, a personal connection with her studio teacher was very important, and one of the ways she determined whether particular schools were a good fit involved visiting campus and having sample lessons with the teachers, sitting in on studio classes, etc.</p>
<p>I would not worry about the size of the university as much as the size of the voice department. Like stradmom says, you can find inclusiveness within the school of music or music department. Work hard, sing well, be nice and you will do just fine.</p>
<p>As Stradmom mentions, whether you have a close warm relationship with your studio teacher will largely be a function of that teacher’s personality and have little to do with the school itself. There are very mothering-type teachers at most schools and those same schools have other teachers that are unmotherly (but potentially very good teachers, just as the mothering ones can be terrible teachers). If your teacher’s warmth-level is important, then I think that getting a trial lesson prior to committing to a school should be very important for you. </p>
<p>High schools generally are much more crowded and overwhelming than most large colleges and universities. Public secondary education is not funded well enough to create large enough spaces and hallways to disperse the lemmings, and strict bell schedules force the lemmings into tight hallways all together. Even gigantic universities rarely have the claustrophobic feeling that high schools have. In my city the local public university spends several times as much per student on its architecture as the local high schools do–it really makes a difference in reducing those overwhelming feelings. </p>
<p>As others mention, almost all music schools (including the ones like Juilliard which is large by music school standards) are small in comparison to most public high schools and they are much more personal, relaxed places than high schools. I would encourage you to spend a day at a large music school to get a feel for the place. I would be surprised if you didn’t find it less overwhelming than your high school.</p>
<p>It really depends upon the teacher. My D is very close to her teacher, so much so that she will continue to study with her even though the teacher has left the school. This woman has studio parties at her home, will meet students for a meal to talk things over and is unfailingly supportive (it’s to be hoped that her successor will follow suit). Another teacher is known for trying to make herself available if a student is debuting a role out of town. One may give much more attention to graduate or post-grad students while shorting the undergrads… you just don’t know until you have sample lessons and talk to other students at schools. The department may set the overall tone but each teacher has her/his own style which makes them more, or less, approachable. Find out if a teacher is on faculty at more than one school or has a full performing schedule- those things can severely limit their time in one place and could impact make-up lessons or even force “regular” lessons to be crammed into a tighter time frame. That would not be ideal for a young singer.
Do some checking here on CC to find out who has a D or S who is a VP major and ask them about schools; most are really willing to help you. Feel free to PM me if you’d like!</p>
<p>I was worried about a large school for my S, but after visiting one of the very biggest, IU Jacobs (with a couple of hundred more music students than in his entire high school!), I had a completely different impression. Imagine a large university as being like a small town, and within that town there are various neighborhoods, and you have a spot to live & a group of friends in that neighborhood. It can be very cozy, actually. As one professor said to me, the town - Bloomington - is not near anything else, so unlike schools in NYC, for example, the faculty are always around. The campus is the center of what’s going on around there, and the performing arts create the center of entertainment for miles around. So it feels very active & busy, but also comfortable, and warm. That’s all to say, I’d worry less about the size of the schools you’re interested in, and learn as much as you can about the culture & the people. Especially by visiting, if at all possible. You might be surprised!</p>
<p>Hi! I just finished my freshman year at one of the schools on your list (CCM) and never felt the size of the school to be a problem. CCM itself is a very positive and collaborative environment, and this is not limited to one’s own studio. I have several singer friends pursuing their BM’s with whom I sing in Chorale and went to see the undergraduate opera this year, which was the Marriage of Figaro.</p>
<p>I don’t know vocal/opera departments but at some prestigious conservatories, such as Juilliard, NEC and MSM the faculty are well known and successful musicians that might travel for gigs and master classes at other Universities. That means that they are not always there and you might not be their only focus. Your job is to “milk” them for all the wisdom that they have. As somebody above said, great teachers are not always the most maternal or nurturing. </p>
<p>On the other hand the community that exists among graduate students and undergraduates at a school like NEC is strong and very tight. There is a lot of peer support and mentoring that goes on. And faculty (besides just the private teachers) do take time to get to know the students. The Dean of the Jazz department at NEC goes to every single ensemble performance. I am always amazed to see him there and he knows all the students. And from what I can tell that is true with the voice/opera department as well.</p>
<p>I agree that the best way to get a feel for a school is to spend a day there. After our son was admitted to schools he spent the day at some of his final choices. He even shadowed a student at NEC, even though he went into the audition process with it as his top choice and familiar with it because he had attended prep school there. Shadowing convinced him that he was not just going there because it was familiar but because of all the conservatories it had what he wanted.</p>
<p>I think your perceptions of ‘big schools’ and ‘small schools’ may be based on perceptions that at a big school, for example, the student will be buried…but in reality, it depends on the school. Music schools tend to be pretty small, and the teacher’s studio may not be as big as you think it would be. Even if the school is the size of Juilliard or Indiana, it does tend to be like a city made up of neighborhoods, and kids tend to find which ‘neighborhood’ they belong in. </p>
<p>In terms of attention of the teacher, it depends on the teacher as well as the school. There are teachers who are ‘mothering’ of their students, who aren’t very good teachers, there are teachers considered ‘detached’ who teach well, as another poster pointed out, and that plays into it. It all depends on the teacher, some teachers are very involved in their student’s lives, help them make contacts, help them get into programs, and make the student feel like they are important, others think if they teach them well, that is all they have to do. I wouldn’t assume that a small school or program would be any better, plus with a small program you might find out the teacher you thought was great isn’t, and then you are stuck <em>shrug</em>. It is why getting a feel for a school is important, getting to do a lesson with the teachers can be important to see where you would feel comfortable. As someone else pointed out, the great performer teacher may not be available to their students as much as the less famous teacher would be, you never know. I guess the old expression don’t judge a book by its cover really holds true, and for example, assuming a Juilliard or Indiana must be this cold, impersonal place, while for example a school like Curtis, because it is small, must be more ‘village like’, and that may not be very true at all:)</p>