I was recently at a masterclass with an actress who told me that she chose Boston Conservatory because of its strong emphasis on dance. Since I’m most interested in the vocal aspect of musical theatre, I was wondering, what colleges have a strong emphasis on voice?
I know Rider has a BFA program that is labeled “Voice Primary” so would that mean that voice is the focal point of training there, with dance and acting close behind?
Also, would it be safe to assume that all BM MT programs have a bigger emphasis on voice than BA and BFA MT programs?
What you may be most interested in may not be what you most need. Did that person feel they would get their best training in dance at BoCo because it was the person’s weakest area? Sometimes that is the case.
I agree with @Calliene - and think it is an interesting question. Obviously the ideal is to be a “triple threat”, but (in my opinion) it is rare to find a performer who is perfectly balanced in all 3 areas. So do you emphasize training your strongest component to make yourself the best contender in that area- or do you emphasize building your weakest area? (which I think for many MT applicants would be dance)
@Calliene She told us chose a program with an emphasis on dance because dance was her strongest suit. She had been dancing years before she started singing and acting, but couldn’t pursue a career that was wholly dance because of an injury (I can’t remember what it was exactly).
Although that does raise an interesting question. I’ll have to think about that
I bet like so many aspects of this business the “correct” answer probably depends on who you are. I’ve seen athletic boys with no dance experience get to a not-super-dancy National Tour level in 4 years of college, but am not aware of any non-dancing females who have become consistently-employable dance ensemble members at top theatres in 4 years. Does anyone have examples of that happening? All of the MT kids I know started college as relatively strong singers, so I don’t know if similar things could be said about singing or not.
@gmo913, you ask a question that is an interesting one to figure out how to answer when you are asking within the context of comparing one school to another. A school may put the most emphasis on voice as an example, but it could be because they are offering less instruction in acting or dance, not because there is more voice instruction than one might find at another school which is known to be strong in dance or acting instruction. So it’s hard to tell exactly what that means.
You mentioned Rider’s Voice Primary BFA. I’m know little about Rider but if you look at their curriculum on their website, it looks like that program includes private voice instruction and a number of other courses that one might find in many MT programs. Rider’s BM in MT has a Piano Primary Track. So it’s possible the “voice primary” classification could be to distinguish between the two vs. necessarily saying that voice is the emphasis of their BFA in MT. It could be, but Rider seems to have plenty of dance and acting training included in that degree track too too.@mttwinsinca care to comment?
What is likely a fair guess is that schools with a strong reputation for teaching vocal performance probably know how to teach voice and care about it as a subject. Rider (Westminster) I would assume is one of them as would be OCU, NYU Steinhardt and many others. Certainly a BM program vs. a BFA often by definition puts greater emphasis on the music though that may not necessarily always come in the form of voice instruction. You’d have to look at the detail.
@halflokum Thank you for the detailed response! I’m new to this whole MT process so I’m trying to figure out how all of these different types of programs work out. I never even considered that “voice primary” could have been used solely to differentiate! I’ll definitely look more closely into the curriculums
It’s also worth investigating the style of singing that’s emphasized in a given program. For example, at Northwestern kids can audition for the MT Certificate from either the Theatre or Vocal Performance majors. While you might assume the VP majors would get stronger vocal training, it is my impression that the emphasis of that program is more on classical singing, so more working MTs actually come from the Theatre major.
I agree with @halflokum that it’s tricky to compare emphasis across programs, but I suspect most kids in a school have a sense of the relative emphasis on the 3 different areas in their own program. For example, I’d guess many students at NU might say Acting, Singing then Dance at Northwestern, although their curriculum is extremely flexible so that may vary from student-to-student (and many VERY strong dancers graduate every year).
@gmo913 just to be clear, I don’t know what really goes on at Rider. I’m hoping that someone who does will chime in. Just looking at the curriculum didn’t explain the distinction to me because as I said, they seem to have a lot of dance and acting training in the package as well.
Also to @momcare’s comment above, she makes a good point that sometimes you can tweak a program to emphasize what is important to you. I’ve known many students who have done just that.
For the record and addressing a program I do know about, NYU Tisch’s MT emphasis is acting. That said the coursework includes excellent professional private and group vocal instruction, sight singing, music theory and all of the rest which would stack it well against any program. I would not consider it as dance heavy as some programs that are known for it, but dance classes are leveled and if you want more dance, it is there to be had.
At this stage it’s probably better to figure out the list colleges you are willing and able (financially) to attend and see where the chips fall in terms of acceptance. Cast a wide net and hopefully you’ll have choices. And by then (March/April of next year) you will have a much better idea of what you are looking for in a program and which of the schools you’ve been accepted to provides what you want. There are so many other factors involved in the decision you can go crazy trying to figure it all out before you know if you’ve even been accepted.
This is one of those topics where it will vary so much from person to person and what they feel will be important for them. My D will be a freshman at Hartt and her strength is definitely her voice, with acting a close second. She has danced in shows, but not had much formal dance training (2 years of ballet and one year of Tap and Jazz). She is athletic and moves well, but she thought going in that she wanted to focus on a program with strong dance, to help her “catch up”. As we went along our journey we found that the schools regarded as having stronger dance programs seemed to be looking to admit strong dancers, so she was less competitive for those programs, even though they appealed to her. Bogeyw’s point about casting a wide net is so true. You have very little control about where you get accepted.
My D ultimately decided on and is excited about Hartt because it seems to emphasize Voice and Acting (which are her strengths) but still has a terrific dance component, led by Ralph Perkins, who is phenomenal. And, she can pick up extra dance if she wants to (and has time, which is the probably the main issue) though their Community Division. Students get a great discount on those classes and they are taught by the regular dance faculty. Ultimately, my D is not likely to make her living as a dance ensemble performer. It is really difficult to catch up the girls who have been dancing since they were 3 in 4 years. So she is now realizing it is probably good to build on your strengths and then try to do your best to “fill in the gaps” in your training. She felt like Hartt had a program that would allow her to do that and also had the culture and “vibe” that she wanted. which is another really important element that you won’t get from a school’s web page.
Good Luck! It is a roller coaster ride, but you will get through it!
Depending on what part of the country you are looking in, there are certainly quite a few schools where the vocal program is a strength. Some commonly mentioned programs on here would be Ithaca, NYU Steinhardt, JMU, Belmont, Baldwin Wallace, OCU and Arizona State.
This is not to say you won’t get great training in the other two areas at these schools as well. Again I’m most familiar with OCU and there students in the MT program take 12 credits of dance, which is levelled by ability. And most dance classes are only 1 credit, although there are a few exceptions.
If you are looking for schools that are more likely to stretch you as a vocal student, you may want to check the curriculum of the program. My D was very surprised to find that a number of MT programs don’t require private voice every term. Again, YMMV, but for her this was a deal breaker, and we crossed those schools off the list of places to which she wanted to apply.
D had private voice from professors (not grad students), in addition to several other vocal courses, every quarter at Northwestern, so keep in mind that even some programs where Acting might be generally considered the forte offer extremely strong vocal training as well. As with everything about comparing programs, the subject requires close examination. I would also consider UMich a program where kids get strong vocal training.
Be aware that several programs (including very well known ones) have grad students, not professors, teaching freshmen (and sometimes sophomores) voice. We have discussed this in the past…some people don’t care. We did. Some programs have a very limited number of voice teachers. Again…some people don’t care. We did. But IF you do care who teaches your child voice, or how many options they have for voice teachers (in case it’s not a good fit for whatever reason), then ASK the school. That’s the only way you will know.
Re Post #5 from @halflokum – there is a “piano primary BFA MT” at Rider but I don’t think there have been any students in that major for a few years – it is very specialized and I believe aimed at students who want to be music directors. (I can think of one boy who graduated a few years back – he is now working as an MD in northeast area.) The voice primary BFA MT is “the” BFA MT program at Rider – I think they make the distinction because they do still have that piano track available.
I will share that Rider’s history with Westminster Choir College as a strong “singers’ school” lends itself to exemplary vocal training. My S who is there has had an excellent private voice teacher with stellar credentials. (I think proximity to NYC helps, too, as many of the voice teachers live/work in NYC metro area; many have private studios serving professional clients, etc. Feel free to PM me with specific Rider MT questions. I don’t check on here as much as I used to, but I’m always happy to help.
@MTTwinsinCA thanks for jumping in. I am always reluctant to pretend to know more than I do about a program I have no personal experience with and would hate to be the last and lingering word about it.
NYU Tisch’s MT studio doesn’t use grad students for private voice instruction either and I believe they share many of their fine instructors with NYU Steinhardt. I would agree that proximity to NYC is a bonus. My daughter’s voice teacher is a goddess, Fulbright Scholar and opera star with a doctorate in Musical Arts in Vocal Performance and Vocal Pedagogy. As impressive as that is, what really counts is that she is a excellent teacher who believes in her students so wholeheartedly that they begin to believe in themselves too. Huge fan.
@halflokum Last part of your post made me smile - Nothing could compare to a teacher who genuinely cares about their students!
@MTTwinsinCA Thank you so much for insight on Rider! The whole piano/voice primary makes a lot more sense now. And I’m really glad your S has a great teacher
