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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