Music Ed - Choral summer programs

VicAria
Sun, 21 Dec 2008 08:23:23 +0000

I’m not sure summer programs geared toward HS kids get into the conducting/music ed area all that much.

In your neck of the woods, Appalachia State U in Boone, NC has a 6-week program called Cannon Music Camp. Your son would be working with the full-time ASU music educators, and ASU has a well-respected Music Ed component during the school year. Their vocal instructors also have a good reputation for training young singers, with a sincere, “no drama” commitment level.

If a child of mine wanted to go into Music Ed, someone I’d want them to learn under would be Judith Willoughby at Oklahoma City University – such a dynamic presence, into the kids and into the music. We visited last April, and we happen to be too NorthEast for OkCU to be a comfortable fit for our D … but Willoughby left us mightily impressed. They do have a vocal performance summer program, and tend to use that as a “pre-screen” for fall applicants. But definitely visit before you commit – if OKCU turns out not to be a good fit for a kid, I would think it would be a pretty miserable place to be.

Further afield up to NJ, Westminster Choir College has a summer program – and as their name says, it’s all about vocals and choirs and choruses.