Dear Editor: I read Classical Singer from cover to cover each month and find the articles informative and of interest. However, in the October 2009 issue, I found the article “Loosening the Purse Strings” ridiculous. Perhaps Classical Singer could make better use of space by including articles that are helpful to singers rather than something that should have been submitted to “Handbag Monthly.” —Art Joslin, via e-mail
Dear Editor: I was delighted to read your most recent “From the Editor” column. I don’t know many other singers who run. I recently started a blog called “Running and Singing” (elissaweiss.wordpress.com), because I learn so much about singing and life on my runs.
Unlike you, I speed up a little going uphill, but I slow down on the downhills because they scare me a little. I wonder whether I could learn something about people by asking them how they handle hills.
I enjoy reading Classical Singer. . . I intend to enjoy it for a good long time! —Elissa Weiss, via e-mail
Dear Editor: I am behind on my reading and I just finished the September issue. I would like to thank you for providing the entire issue, but especially for your editorial and the round-table discussion on “What a DMA or PhD Says about You.” These were both very helpful, and I appreciate that you started a dialogue on these subjects.
I am of two minds on the comments in your editorial. I thought that the comment from the NYC manager was fair and on target. I chose to go into university teaching because it fascinated me and because I wanted to connect with young people by teaching them how to sing. When I made this decision (in my 30s), my singing was going very well and my teachers, directors, and coaches at UT-Austin strongly urged me to go into performing.
However, teaching is something that gets into your bloodstream. I was drawn to it almost as a calling, rather than just a “day job.” When you have a neural network filter set to “How can I use this information to teach my students to sing better?” you know you’re a teacher.
As for Darren Keith Woods’ first quote, “I think it would be much more beneficial to the entire field to make it possible for people to teach that do not have terminal degrees,” I would respond both “perhaps yes and perhaps no.” I have been teaching in higher education full time since 1993, and I have many thoughts on the subject.
First, many conservatories and large universities, such as my alma mater Indiana University, do accept performing experience in lieu of a doctoral degree and have done so for decades. In my college career, not one of my voice professors has had a DMA or PhD, and I never felt like I was getting less of an education.
By the same token, small liberal arts institutions like mine need to have strong voice teachers who have gone through a DMA program, because jobs like mine also require classroom instruction. In addition to private voice, I teach Singer’s Diction, Vocal Literature, Vocal Pedagogy, and Vocal Skills for the Actor—and have also often taught Music Appreciation to get through the lean economic times that befall smaller universities. I used to direct opera and opera scenes at NWU. I have friends with DMAs in voice who also teach theory, ear training, music education courses, or even core courses in music history, if their institutions are not fortunate to have a musicologist on faculty.
I have had to supervise hundreds of student papers. The DMA was invaluable to me in that respect. Undergraduate students need so much work in writing, and the voice teacher in this type of institution is expected to provide that. I . . . write recommendations for students, as well as grant applications. Additionally, I have had to write and design my own academic website.
There are other things that graduate school prepares you well for, such as committee work. Smaller institutions expect faculty to serve on committees and take on leadership roles. Graduate school also trains teachers for academic advising and career counseling.
So, I agree with Darren Keith Woods and I disagree with him. This gets a little more nuanced or complicated in higher education than some may realize. I am in complete agreement with the comments later on in the article that academic work may not ultimately prove useful in the casting process. As Timm Rolek said, academic work isn’t “necessarily a stamp of approval” as a performer.
For the graduate students who intend to pursue a singing career, masters and doctoral programs provide training centers for voice lessons and stage time. This training helps transition them to a professional life, where résumé building begins in earnest. DMA students utilize the same lessons and stage time, in addition to their academic work, to pursue a successful college teaching career.
I hope this has shed some light on what you shrewdly called “the generalizations that exist around advanced degrees.”
—Jana Holzmeier, Nebraska Wesleyan University,
Lincoln, Nebraska
