Jameson, the top five schools were Julliard, Eastman, Indiana, Cincinnati,
and Florida State. Other schools I remember in the top were Michigan,
Peabody, Manhattan, Mannes, Cleveland and LSU. If you are smart, your
first requirement should be to find a master teacher at the best school that
will accept you (and believe it or not, all the big schools have more mediocre
teachers than they do great ones). Master teachers are rarer than hen's teeth,
no matter what you may have heard.
Go sit, not for a lesson or two, but for several hours in the studio of
teachers in whom you are interested. Hear students at every level of
development and listen not for simply pretty or big voices, but for
developed free fluid voices with good technical foundation. If a teacher
doesn't allow this, be suspicious. Ask for a lesson: I know of no great
teachers who will not do this if they are interested in teaching you. Great
teachers like to work with great talent. Talk to as many students who
attend those schools as you can. Certain teachers will begin to repeatedly
pop up in conversation and you will be able to get a feeling for a great
teacher. Find out where a teacher's students are singing. Any teacher can
have one or two students at the Met: after all, talent is everywhere. But
a master teacher has students in all levels of performance, in apprenticeship
programs, fellowships to Tanglewood, competition winners, and most importantly
for an undergraduate, top graduate money at the big schools. And when you find
the teacher with whom you want to study, make sure you have a place in
their studio before you show up at the school in the fall.
Whew! That really was not a run-on sentence. Best of luck, Jameson. If
you decide to consider FSU, let me know and I'll give you the skinny on
the teachers there.
Mark Montgomery
|
|  |
