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From:  Trevor Allen <trevorjamesallen@y...>
Date:  Fri Aug 30, 2002  8:42 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] Music Performance degree?

Hi, Jennifer.
As a person who just graduated with a degree in
vocal performance this past May, let me tell you, it
will probably be rough for you. These are just a few
of my observations. They may or may not apply to you,
but these are just a few of the things I experienced
during my college years.
Be sure this is what you want to do. You have to
love this music and want to dig into it so bad that
you won't let anything stop you. I didn't love this
music as much as I should have. I had no interest in
so many aspects of the classes, like music history,
form and analysis, theory and a host of other things
that I did, but didn't want to do and therefore didn't
commit them to memory or practice. This is NOT a good
thing to do.
Take a good look at your voice and see if this is
the music you want to sing or really can sing. When I
went is a a freshman, I didn't know anything about
classical music. I auditioned at the school for the
musical theater program, which is what I really wanted
to get in. Auditions for the vocal performance
program were that day too, so I pulled out some things
I'd worked on in high school and auditioned. I didn't
get into the musical theater program, but the vocal
performance program did take me, so I thought getting
into the school was better than nothing, so I accepted
the offer. During my first voice lessons, I was told
to listen to several different opera singers and found
Thomas Hampson. I loved his voice, his
interpretation, everything and wanted to be just like
him. This didn't work either. Instead of finding my
own voice, I was trying to find someone else's and
force it into my body. I don't think the requirements
of the degree allowed me to "play around" with finding
my voice or experiment. Jury requirements, recital
requirements and other requirements kept me on a
pretty strict schedule of what I had to get done. I
just continued to do things that were really unnatural
for me to get through these requirements. Now that
college has been over for a few months and I've
continued to study with my teacher, but without the
requiremts of everything hanging over us, we've been
able to experiment on some things and I've improved so
much in just a few months. I think I've found my own
voice now and it's so much better than the one I was
trying to make myself get. I don't sound like Thomas
Hampson, but I sound like me and that's okay. I've
been working on musical theater and jazz and that is
where my voice should be. I can still sing legit, but
outside of the college environment I've found where my
voice is.
Don't hesitate to ask questions of professors,
other professionals, etc. and ASK WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH
THE DEGREE. I didn't know that my school would
emphasize either going into opera or being a voice
teacher. Those are both very noble professions and I
admire anyone who can do that or wants to, but that's
not what I wanted to do. Don't wait. Ask now. I
waited too long and didn't get everything out of
college that I should have. Do you like jazz? See if
you can do a vocal performance degree with a jazz
emphasis. See what personalizations you can do with
the degree. Just another thing on this point...it's
probably not the best idea to go in to a performance
degree if you just want to do lieder. I LOVE lieder
and people like to hear me sing it, but you can't make
a career doing it. There are many opera singers who
do lieder, but they've had to go through the opera
circuit first to make a name. As beautifully as a
singer does lieder, I doubt many people will come out
to see them if they haven't heard the name before.
I guess the whole moral of my rant is "find out what
you're getting into before you get into it." You
won't be able to teach public school without a degree
in education, so you'll have to get a master's in
education. If you want to be a teacher, you'd
probably do better as a Music Ed. major. As for grad
school, you'll probably have to go sometime. You can
learn a whole lot in the vocal performance degree, but
you can also come out without many prospects of
immediate employment. I'm sure you've also heard this
before, but it's true...Have a back-up. Maybe you can
double major in music and something more practical or
at least take classes to get some other sort of
vocation. I have a college degree now and I'm a
waiter at the Olive Garden. That's not what I'll do
for the rest of my life, but it's what I'm doing for
the time being. I'm moving to New York in a few weeks
and working at a national chain restaurant has proved
beneficial, because I can transfer to a restaurant up
there. I have come out better than some other people
I graduated with. I have a job that pays decently and
I have a plan of what I can do. I was lucky that my
voice teacher was still in town and I got to work with
he and make the progress I've made this summer or else
I'd be out of luck.
Well, that's about all I've got to say about that.
You can take these observations for whatever you think
they're worth. It's just what I've experienced. Good
luck with college. And just a bit of general
advice...College is what you make of it. Don't let
anyone else decide what you should do or be or what
your potential is. You can make the most of
opportunities or you can let them pass you by. You
also might have to make your own opportunities, but
the next four years are up to you.

Good luck,
Trevor
--- singingfan <singfan@m...> wrote:
> What are some possibilities for using a Bachelors
> degree in Music
> Performance for Voice after all through college?
>
> I'm hesitating auditioning and working my way
> towards the degree
> partly because I dont want to end up completing the
> degree and it be
> useless in helping me after I complete college in
> finding a job or
> even helping me to make ends meet... This kinda
> sounds funny I know,
> but it *is* a realistic worry.
>
> What kinds of options are available if I don't
> necessarilty want to
> go to grad school, which I am taking my Mom's advice
> that not to even
> think of going to grad school until a few years out
> of UnderGrad.
>
> Jennifer
>
>


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  Replies Name/Email Yahoo! ID Date  
19941 Re: Music Performance degree?Amanda Kelley mandasings Sun  9/1/2002  
19983 Re: Music Performance degree?Justin Randolph sneezy_1 Wed  9/4/2002  

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