<p>Why exactly are you interested in vocal performance? Are you interested in an operatic career? Are you more of a legit singer who doesn’t dance?</p>
<p>Just to add to the list above, Shenandoah University will also work with students interested in both classical and MT. MTs have held leads in the operas and this spring several vocal performance students held leading roles in Into the Woods. JMU, NYU, Arizona, Oklahoma City University, Florida State, Baldwin Wallace, and Sam Houston all have strong voice faculty that I have seen produce great results in both classical and MT. Northwestern is outstanding for theater and voice, they just hired a new MT person for voice and I’m not sure who that is or how its working with their structure. I would add IU to that list, but I recently worked with a student from there who said there was hardly any interaction between the music school and the theatre department. The others listed I’m not so sure about.</p>
<p>Yes there are classical people who cross over into rock, but I just got back from SETC accompanying a masterclass for a top level NYC pop/rock coach and I must say there was a huge difference in the performance level of the students from schools with pop/rock styles training and those from schools without. The clinician was very clear that you need pop/rock specific training to compete in NYC. </p>
<p>On the legit side, speaking from personal experience, I have a former student who was trained almost exclusively as a pop/rock and contemporary MT singer, who has worked non-stop since graduation the last three years as a pop/rock singer, and just booked an Equity tour of West Side Story as Tony. Legit is not the same today as it was in the past. The same clinician mentioned above pointed out that Laura Osnes in Cinderella on Broadway right now just finished Bonnie and Clyde. She is a mix belter. Compare her to Julie Andrews and there are definite differences.</p>
<p>VT</p>