Baldwin Wallace VS. CCPA/Roosevelt

mwparent
Sun, 16 Mar 2008 16:25:46 +0000

In addition to the comments above, you should carefully examine/compare the curriculum at both (you probably already have). BW offers the Bachelor of Music thru its Music Conservatory. This means a very thick load of music-specific classes, including multi-term sequences in music theory, music history, conducting, etc. Nothing wrong with that, but some MT students are not interested in so much study of non-MT music. On the other hand, having observed an MT class taught by Vicki Bussert, I would agree she is absolutley top notch, and the main reason MT students go there. And her grads don’t look for work in Berea! Bussert has great contacts in NY and elsewhere, including Chicago.

CCPA offers a BFA in MT, with a balanced curriculum. As far as the benefit of studying in Chicago, I agree only partly. While it’s true Chicago is a HUGE theatre town, it’s still mostly known for straight theatre, not MT. That is changing somewhat, and the outside world is noticing the outstanding MT work being done by Chicago’s many small blackbox companies, an example being Next Theatre Co., who last year premiered “The Adding Machine” in Chicago (Evanston actually) which is now getting good reviews Off B-way. But these shows are small casts, with usually only the few leads being Equity, if any. I don’t know whether many MT performers start in Chicago and migrate to NY/national. It seems to me based on studying the playbills that the bigger flow is performers with B-way or national tour experience moving to Chicago for the lifestyle and lower rent. I do see a few CCPA grads in local Chicago MT casts, so some are getting work here. I occasionally see BW grads also.