<p>I could be completely wrong about this, but it seems to me that singers do not have their education in their biographies in performance programs and the like as much as instrumentalists. Is this true? If so, why is it the case?</p>
<p>I know my son, who just did his first professional role, put his education/teachers in his biography, and they took it out, apparently it is not done.</p>
<p>Srw, congrats on your son’s first professional role! Now that I know it is not done, I wonder the reason behind the tradition.</p>
<p>Bios are interesting, aren’t they? I get annoyed at all the awards composers feel compelled to list. It’s not something I think is particularly important, unless it’s a huge international award, or a domestic one like a Pulitzer… Who the composer studied with I do find really interesting, on the other hand. And where, and by whom, the composer’s music has been performed. As for performers, again I think who they studied with is of interest, and with whom else they may have performed. And, I guess if they’ve won some significant International prize that interests me, too.</p>
<p>So the history behind singers not listing their teachers is intriguing.</p>
<p>It depends and on many different things. First, singers who have been out of school for a while won’t rountinely list schools and teachers while younger singers entering competitions (even major ones) and performing recitals will indeed put everyone they’ve studied with, including those who have taught Master Classes they’ve been in.
Also, singers will usually have more teachers and coaches than instrumentalists, and some don’t even decide to study classical voice until grad school (voices mature later so there is a bigger window of opportunity). When a singer is younger, most of the time, they will move around to other teachers after 2-4 years to experience what others have to add to their technique. As the voice develops and matures, new repertoire comes into play so it may be time to find another vocal coach or a teacher who specializes in working with certain voice types or rep. All of that can add up to a bio which becomes ungainly!
When you look at bios of singers performing in undergrad or grad school operas, they include their teachers, summer programs and roles played. Instrumentalists sitting in an orchestra, of course, are not defined individually other than by name and section, but those I’ve seen in even high level competitions do list their higher education and their primary teachers.</p>
<p>A lot of instrumental students create these bios that amaze me, they list every thing they have ever done, any master classes they have been in (often stretching the point, like saying “studied with X” when they may have had a master class at some point), the CV often comes out the size of a small town phone book…I especially love the “made my carnegie hall debut at 10” and then you find out they were part of some group that rented out Carnegie Hall, like a music school recital or something…my S reads some of them and shakes his head, because he wonders who they are trying to impress, anyone who knows music would know the difference between real accomplishments and so forth and listing everything they ever did…</p>