Vocal Performance Majors- Soprano Advice?

Lulu_sMomma
Fri, 10 Aug 2007 20:35:17 +0000

Great information- you folks are really being so helpful, I really appreciate it since I do not have the resourses nor the stable health to permit me to make as many visits as we would otherwise like to.
Lorelai- you make a valid point- any school can label itself as it wishes.I actually am down to working up a sort of “spreadsheet” i order to try to compare programs. What I meant by a “conservatory” type school was one that stressed the music courses as opposed to one that also required a lot of courses selected from the general liberal arts areas.

I’d love to hear more about the undergraduate performance opportunities at Curtis. While their grad programs are legendary, what I know first-hand of the school comes from the area of string instruments.

Does anyone have any comments about Peabody? I have heard that they are etremely tight with financial aid and I think that I will follow RCMAMA’s idea of asking them- and NEC- about the percentage of students that actually receive financial aid. Their web site is pretty, but a bit intimidating since it makes me feel as though they really do not want phone calls. Those of you that have visited the campus- how are the facilities there and also at BoCo?

I am glad to hear the honesty about the conditions at NEC. My D encountered some terrible things while attending a well-known summer program and she really can’t take residing with cockroaches, not having working laundry facilities and the stress and hassle of repeated moves to different quarters. She actually became physically ill from insecticides used on the campus (we were never informed that the school used them liberally on a regular basis) and is on 30 days of antibiotics as a result of an allergic reaction that infected. It was a hard lesson to learn, but better now than when she was in her freshman year of collge! RCMAMA, why so many dorm moves for your D? I must admit I did love the story about her one room mate-thanks for the laugh!

BassDad- your Oberlin information and links were terrific- Thank you so much! When I perused their list of operas performed over the past years it seems clear to me that the school really considers the talents available to them and puts them to good use. The Italian program will be a big draw for my D, I know. How far is the campus from metropolitan Cleveland? Are the music student housed together or are they permitted to live in the other houses, such as they French-language house? My elder son has a couple of friends who are Oberlin grads and they can not say enough good things about the school so it will be interesting to see how my D likes the campus itself. Their web site gives an excellent overview of the place.

BoCo is still on our list and I am hoping that there is someone on these boards who has a connection there.
If anyone knows more about Crane, I would also love to hear from you. It is even colder there than it is here, but the cost is much less than the others since they are part of the SUNY system.

Thanks everyone!