liberal arts vs. conservatory

dancersmom
Wed, 07 Jun 2006 15:08:09 +0000

MusThCC,

It is true that Aaron Lazar earned an MFA in MT from CCM. However, there is no “official” MFA program for MT in place at the school. Mr. Lazar conivnced the faculty to put together an individualized MFA for him after he had received a BA from Duke. He had quite a bit of vocal training as an undergrad, but very little actor training and no dance training. My understanding is that he took classes with the BFA MT students, but was granted a graduate degree.

I have an acquaintance who asked the faculty to put together a MFA in MT program for her several years ago. She was turned down because of her “advanced” age (she was over 30). There is no formal graduate level MT program in place at CCM. I just don’t want readers to think that CCM is a wonderful option for graduate school. Their MFA in MT students are very few and far between.