Important read for potential Vocal Performance/Opera students and families

compmom
Thu, 09 Nov 2017 11:32:06 +0000

I posted this about 6 weeks ago:
http://www.wqxr.org/story/her-music-crusading-composers-present-past/

Please scroll down to the graph on female faculty in composition in 2015, which shows a shocking gender disparity in the field of composition.

The articles bridgenail posted are important reads. There are the points I absorbed:

-Undergrad studies can be for exploration and can result in a continued music path or in other careers, just like any other liberal arts major
-Debt for grad studies, if undertaken,s should be avoided as much as possible
-The dream career may turn into a practical mix of vocal performance and other job, with smaller roles, alternate venues, newer works and so on

Despite the fact that one of the articles says female composers are not writing operas that have any better gender parity, I think that more gender parity in the composition world will help the issue with opera/vocal performance improve tremendously. One of my kids is a “female composer” (who ever says “male composer”?) and attended a summer program last summer where she was one of 2 females in a group of 30 composers. One attendee asked whose wife she was. In the US there are schools where faculty and student body does indeed reflect some equality in numbers and opportunities so it is getting better, but slowly.

The other interesting point that almost never comes up on this forum is the opportunities presented by contemporary classical aka “new music.” There are grad programs (a few in the US and more in Europe) that tend toward more avant-garde work for vocalists. This is a niche with some exciting opportunities. Also a niche where gender parity is valued in all fields within music, mostly because it lacks the historical baggage.

I think that looking at programs that offer funding can be a priority. I am not informed enough about VP to know if students can jump from bachelor’s to doctoral or to a non-terminal master’s with funding. Or if lesser known schools offer funding to those with talent. Maybe someone can tell me if VP is a field where funding is less available-?

The idea of smaller, more selective programs to address the problems outlined in these articles is a good one in theory
but I suspect the reality is that expensive master’s programs fund the doctoral students, and in general, music schools and departments need a certain number of students to fund the few who are certain to “make it.”

Finally, performers and composers alike have always considered the prize at the end of the rainbow to be orchestral or large operas, big time performances that pay well if you can get them. But music has changed. Musicians are becoming more entrepreneurial and there is a lot of solo or ensemble work out there too. Amazon has a few good books on guidance for music careers that are well worth looking at.

Here’s hoping that all the young artists who are on this board, or whose parents are on this board, find their way! And that their years in school, at whatever level, are indeed “magical” as one quote in the article put it- even regardless of outcome.