<p>inquiring on behalf of soprano. also plays piano. want undergraduate vocal performance major with chance to study</p>
<p>classical technique
musical theater technique
bollywood/Hindustani technique</p>
<p>i assume the last one is not available, so not a requisite, but first two are. Also wants opportunity to pursue study in songwriting and develop as a now “medium level” piano player.</p>
<p>would love a conservatory in Europe, too, but that’s also not mandatory. thanks</p>
<p>I really don’t think that it’s possible to pursue a performance degree in VP AND songwriting AND take the extra piano lessons needed to progress to the higher level you’re talking about. And getting training in BOTH VP and MT voice techniques can be confusing if one doesn’t have a good solid foundation to begin with- most schools won’t train in both at the same time.
Any VP major will have to take piano, and if she can test up or out then she might be able to fit in a weekly lesson, but it depends upon scheduling- and there will be an extra charge for that because it would be considered a "secondary instrument’. Voice majors take languages, diction, acting, dance, opera workshop, production, etc. so there’s not a lot of extra time. I’m not aware of any VP programs that offer Bollywood/Hindustani technique classes as part of the curriculum.
Does the student want a European conservatory because it’s closer to home? Some of those really depend upon a student’s fluency in the language of instruction, so does she speak other languages and can she take instruction in those languages? If you can give us some more information along with some background on the student- length of time studying voice, level of performance, etc- we might be able to help further.</p>
<p>To clarify, she’s looking to major in vocal performance (ideally, studying both mt and classical), as well as receive some instruction in songwriting, if possible. </p>
<p>But I’m hearing to study these at once, or even to mix MT and VP at once is not doable? Am I mistaken about Berklee & Oberlin offering this opportunity, and that you can study both mt and vp at NYU? </p>
<p>The level of performance is “top level” in MT(just assume that’s accurate for sake of discussion, lol) classically, is less developed (just started lessons) but has 2 years to improve. Auditions would be 2 years from now. I’m hoping to get a list of possible schools as options, and go from there. </p>
<p>Many thanks.</p>
<p>Will she be “normal” age (17-19) upon entering college? If so, and she is already that good as an MT performer and she wants to attend school in the US or the UK, then maybe she should think about majoring in that area and taking good solid vocal training until then. Two years- would that mean a year from this winter(meaning that she will be beginning her next to last year in high school), or two full years (which would mean that she will be in her second year of high school this fall)? Even though singers can begin later, she’s going to be behind the other girls auditioning for major conservatories as vocal performance majors, so she needs to have an excellent teacher and work only on appropriate repertoire if she is going to go the VP route.
MT schools in the US are going to want a girl who can belt (there might be a lesser program who would consider one without it, but the pendulum may not swing back to “classical” musical theatre for quite a while, if ever). Oberlin does not offer a MT major but students can combine Theatre and Dance. Berklee has a voice dept but it’s training is geared towards contemporary performance style and doesn’t offer definitive MT or VP per se. They do offer a songwriting major, and I am pretty sure that some in this year’s group has a D who will be attending in that area; do a search of acceptances and see.
NYU would be worth a look because while all students at the Steinhardt School take classically-based lessons and the two departments have different requirements for graduation, VP students can take classes in musical theatre and MT students can take classical voice lessons. Not much room for pursuing song writing though as the requirements take up most of the time.
What career is she looking toward and what year will she be in high school?</p>
<p>You may want to look at MT programs that are within the music dept and offer a Bachelors of Music. You will get the music theory, composition, piano, etc. electives that you’re looking for.</p>
<p>My son was originally looking for a Bachelors of Music in MT - he looked at OCU, Baldwin-Wallace, NYU Steinhardt and Catholic U.</p>