liberal arts vs. conservatory

soozievt
Mon, 05 Jun 2006 14:12:07 +0000

Fishbowl, I can’t speak for the “intensity” at other Tisch studios, just the one my kid is in, CAP21. She doesn’t find it too intense for her, though it is demanding and challenging. She was used to a very full schedule all day, night and weekend before she ever got there. Some find a BFA to be more than they can handle and at all programs, there are often some who switch out.

I agree with you that Theater Studies courses are INTEGRAL to the professional conservatory classes and are connected! I was simply saying that they are academic in nature compared to studio/conservatory classes. Thus when talking about percentages of time in professional training conservatory style classes vs. academically oriented classes, I think of the Theater Studies classes (which at Tisch require 7 semesters) as part of their academic load and in fact, take place on non studio days. Those classes are akin to ones a person would take in a BA theater degree program, whereas the conservatory style classes in a BFA program are not normally part of a BA liberal arts program. That’s all I meant. When you were going to list percentages, therefore, it would not be the full picture because at some schools, theater studies may mean just 2-3 courses (as you indicated) and at some, like Tisch, it may mean 7 courses and again these are academically oriented and not performance oriented…though I fully agree that they CONNECT in a major way to the performance studies.

As you say, each person is going to enter a BFA program with a varied background from the next person. Many are used to the intensity of the process and the time, as well. Some, perhaps less so.

I think you can get your butt kicked at a conservatory BFA that also includes some academic classes. Since you are counting the Theater Studies academic classes as part of the professional training, that would mean that a Tisch student, for example, only takes ONE liberal arts course per semester. That is not much more than at a place like CCM. For instance, my kid has studio three full days per week. On the other two days, she has one Theater Studies course (which you count as part of the conservatory training) and one Humanities/Sciences/Writing course, plus private voice. That proportion of the liberal arts part (not counting Theater Studies since you don’t categorize that as part of the liberal arts component) is not too different from BOCO…at BOCO there is a humanities course every semester too. I just don’t know if they have as many of the Theater Studies courses, which was a point I was making when you get into wanting to list percentages.

In any case, each person, from varied backgrounds, skills and levels of preparation, needs to investigate every school on their list. They should not compose a list because the schools are so called MT “Ivies” but find ones that match their individualized list of college criteria. I would say that to ANYONE applying to ANY kind of college, not just for theater. It amazes me when I see students on the other forums who have college lists with all 8 Ivies on them…each of those schools are VERY different from one another and so it appears as if there is a mentality of “Ivy or bust” whereas the only way I can see formulating a college list (and is how my kids did so), is to first arrive at one’s college criteria/preferences and then find schools that are a good match. For example, CCM is a top school in the field of MT but my own kid opted to not apply because the school did not fit her criteria, even though it is a fine fine program! As you say, there are OVER 30 BFA in MT programs and so one person’s list need not and should not necessarily match the next person’s list. However, there are still a finite number of BFA programs compared to someone selecting regular colleges where there are hundreds to choose from.

Susan