Voice Lesson Time at Schools

EmsDad
Mon, 09 Jan 2017 23:59:41 +0000

At Western Michigan you get a one hour lesson each week with a full-time MT Voice Faculty member, you have the opportunity to sing in at least one or two recitals in front of the assembled MT faculty and students each semester, and you have formal vocal juries at the end of each semester in front of the faculty.

At the beginning of each semester, each student has to develop a set of songs to work on with their voice teacher that meet specific criteria, such as, “a classical/art song, a pure pop belt number, a belt/mix from recent Broadway, and a legit soprano song from the Golden Age.” I believe the criteria varies from semester to semester. The juries follow a professional audition format where you have to prepare two songs from your rep for that semester to use for simulated auditions for specifically designated shows, such as, “pick a song from your rep to use for an audition for The Scarlet Pimpernel and a song to use for an audition for On the Town.”

During the first semester students do not have private lessons, but, instead, they take a group voice course wherein they are evaluated for placement with one of the voice faculty. Students also sing in MT studio courses that are included in the curriculum beginning in the Sophomore year.