Whether or not you are currently enrolled in a university or conservatory, education has at one point or another been a consideration for you. Today singers have more options on the education front than ever before–but that very breadth of possibility means deciding what’s best for you can be a difficult process. CS conducted an online poll of our web visitors, asking them what their own educational experiences had been and what opinions they had on the subject. Here’s what you told us.
It’s extremely important that every student of the voice do as much as they can while still in university–audition for a community group, begin your own performance troupe. I found that summer apprentice programs were a wonderful way to both prepare for the professional stage, and allow me to meet and work with others who are already established in the world of vocal music.
The best advice ever given to me came from Jessye Norman. I had asked her what advice she might have for a 25-year-old who had ambitions to sing professionally, and her response was a simple one that had a great impact on my choices: “Just get out and show what you have to offer as often as you can.” –Gerald J. Blanchard, Artistic Director
Oberlin was the only place that offered a seamlessly integrated liberal arts college and professional conservatory of music on one campus, which made it the place for me. Having access to both was the aspect of my education that helped me the most. I have found that real-world challenges regularly require a range of strengths and talents combining business with art. –Douglas Frank
I chose schools based on my needs. Everyone needs different things when they prepare to move on. I needed a good voice teacher when I went to graduate school, and I also needed something that I could afford. Luckily, there was a public school in-state that I could attend and fulfill my requirements.
I stumbled into singing at the undergraduate level. The size of a school can determine your mental outlook about yourself. I went to a big school for my BM, and it helped keep the competitive juices flowing. When I went to a much smaller school for my graduate studies, the competition was almost gone. A person has to decide where they need to improve. If I could lose the political correctness for a moment–not every school is strong in every area. Some schools have better teachers than opera directors and coaches. Some are weak in the language areas.
One area all schools need to improve upon is music business. All of the training in the world will do you no good if you are not taught to network, read contracts, professional etiquette, negotiation skills, and money issues in this field. These are totally different skills from what your average worker needs. Most people learn life skills from their parents, but if your parents are not singers, then you have to wing it.
Master’s programs should put more emphasis on language. I looked around and did not find many schools with language requirements at that level. Either that, or they should eliminate the master’s level by combining it with the doctoral level. Not many singers are ready after they’re finished with their undergraduate degree anyway. This gives the singers more time for polish–to really learn their craft before hitting too many auditions. –Name withheld
When I graduated and went to grad school at a conservatory, I felt like I was in some other world because the curriculum at my undergraduate program was so balanced with other courses that it made me always have to put things into a healthy perspective about music and competing, and what this business is actually about. At the conservatory, kids were ready to slit their wrists if they did not get a lead in the opera. I can only say that when choosing a program, try not to think so much of the “name” but how you feel at the school. They are not doing you any free favors–you are paying to be there. Take advantage of every aspect of your program wherever it is and enjoy it! –Name withheld
I believe the first thing that all colleges must do is start teaching more opera roles to their students. Art songs are fine, nothing wrong with them, but there is almost no market for an art song singer in today’s classical music world. I think some teachers are possibly scared of harming young voices by giving them material they feel is too tough for them, but there are certainly roles suited to young singers in any voice category. I also think there are probably some collegiate teachers who shy away from teaching opera roles because they don’t know how to sing them themselves.
The real problem is this: Personally, I came out of college as a baritone who had learned two roles and had performed only one. This is just inexcusable. I had no chance to get decent jobs in the opera field with that kind of handicap. I learned some on my own after college and it began to help, although I still had vocal things to work out (I have since become a tenor). However, after becoming a tenor, I became involved in a young artist program where I spent three-and-a-half years. In that time not only did I work on vocal technique as I had in college, but I learned 24 roles. Twenty-four. Needless to say, I left that program far more prepared to make a stand in the opera world than when I left college.
I believe that if colleges are genuinely interested in helping their students grow into careers in the performing arts, they have to teach them the repertoire, possibly even including roles they don’t think they should tackle for several more years (giving said students that advice as well). Get these students a head start and some tools to begin to succeed. Decide what roles show their vocal strengths and which do not–which roles they are likely to be growing toward in the future and which roles they should concentrate on now with an eye towards performing them. This is the best way the collegiate world can help its students have an impact on the classical music world in their future.
Meanwhile, colleges also should definitely let students know how difficult it is to get started and suggest short-term financial solutions (getting job skills in computers, marketing, management, education, and so on) that will give them the opportunity to make a decent living while they hone their craft. –Drew Alan Slatton
My biggest advice to young singers today would have to be–don’t go to school to study voice. If a college degree is important to you, by all means go to college, but choose a different major. I spent four years at a very reputable music school, and at the end of them I discovered that, yes, I got a decent education, yes, I learned a lot of beautiful song repertoire, diction, staging, yes, I discovered how to put up with all the politics–but I did not learn how to sing. Even worse, there was substantial damage done to my voice, which previously had been healthy and natural.
I discovered as a freshman that no one on the faculty will take you seriously when you start to question your teacher’s technique. Semester after semester I was brushed aside as someone who didn’t have the “experience” to really understand my teacher’s “expertise.” Only after I completely lost my top range did they decide to let me change studios. And even then it was a big political mess. It seemed that keeping harmony among the faculty was more important than helping one of their students (whose tuition dollars were paying their salary.)
Of course by the time I switched studios my voice had been irrevocably damaged, and then, ironically, I was very nearly kicked out of the program, because I didn’t have a voice anymore. I was then told I was a mezzo, which obviously was not the case either, but they had no idea what to do with me. To make a long story short, I have spent the past three years relearning, re-training, and essentially undoing everything I ever learned at college.
Aside from the trauma of losing the voice that had once been so natural to me, my teacher, in all his wisdom let me know in so many words that I would never have a career and should pursue a different career path. After all, since he wasn’t able to help me, who could? I wish my experience at music school was unique, but too often I talk to other singers whose experiences have been similar. It leads me to question the level of teaching going on at conservatories and colleges. It seems like the focus these days is on the “package” (acting, diction, musicianship), but the teachers either don’t know how, or don’t care to teach a singer how to SING. (Which is why we are there in the first place, isn’t it?) Certainly, no one I ever encountered at college really understood the craft of singing.
I think there is a problem in the system when the majority of teachers are, to put it bluntly, “failed” singers. I think there is a problem when, as my voice was failing, I was given advice to get a master’s, or a doctorate so that I could “at least teach” if I “never made it as a singer.” Certainly my teacher at college fell into this category. He had never really made a big name for himself singing, so he got his master’s, and then landed himself a job at a school. I’m not implying that all teachers at universities are like this, but it certainly wouldn’t do any harm to take a good long look at the way vocal training is progressing these days. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the level of singing these days has taken a sudden drop. When the most identifiable opera singers today are a mezzo and a bass-baritone, maybe it’s time to question where all the good singers have gone. Where are the Rosa Ponselle’s, Amelita Galli-Curci’s, Helen Traubel’s, Joan Sutherland’s of today?
I would have to mirror the advice Beverly Sills gave a while back. Young singers today should seek out a good teacher and study. Take more than one lesson a week–take three or four. Learn languages, learn repertoire, but above all learn to sing. And do so in an environment that is conducive to good vocal health. These days it seems like music schools are the least concerned with a singer’s voice. They’re too busy dressing them up for this performance, or that choir, or this benefit dinner for trustees, or–I think you get the picture. –Name withheld
I attended a liberal arts college and a conservatory, and in both cases, I think the key element was the voice teachers! I had a great relationship with my undergraduate voice teacher, and she made the difference. Without her I would not have made it to the conservatory. And now I continue to study with my teacher from the conservatory because she has so much to offer and has helped me improve my technique beyond my own belief.
My educational experience was varied. I received a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance and Music Education from a liberal arts college with a small music department. I wish they had had more career counseling in the music field when I was there, but they did their best. I decided to get my Master’s degree in Vocal Performance while also participating in the opera department at a conservatory. I feel the conservatory was the best education decision I had made. The courses were great and I found wonderful teachers who take the time to get to know you and offer sound advice and counseling.
Let’s put it this way–when I got there I didn’t get into the opera studio, but my last semester I was Pamina in the conservatory’s production of The Magic Flute–how’s that for improvement? I feel the conservatory gave me the push I needed to be competitive in the business. And the students were equally supportive and friendly. In most schools the competition is so high that singers don’t really become friends, but not here. The teacher and friends I met will be friends and contacts forever–they were wonderful.
I think all schools offering a degree in voice/opera should require not only vocal diction but also one year of German, French, and Italian. My undergrad did not and I was terribly behind when I got to grad school. Also, there should be a greater stress on musicianship–I can’t tell you how many schools just push the singers through musicianship courses. It’s a shame!
Also, I feel there should be a requirement of at least two recitals for undergrads. If they want a performing career, then they better get ready for it!
My time at the conservatory can only be labeled as amazing. I feel the faculty and other students helped in my growth process and pushed me to a new level. The coaches, teachers and fellow students were wonderful to work with and as I have said earlier–amazingly supportive and knowledgeable. I wouldn’t trade my time there for anything.
Go to the school, check out the atmosphere, the students, the classes, the teachers. No school is perfect, but you have to look for the school that suits your needs vocally and educationally. Every person has different needs and some schools can meet them and some cannot. Remember–as much as the school is auditioning you, you are auditioning them as well. –Name withheld
I chose a state university for my graduate work. Not only was it in my home state (yes, I needed to keep tuition costs down!), but it also had, and continues to have, a highly respected music school and a very highly respected department of voice. It also has countless opportunities for operatic and concert performances, as well as constant involvement in competitions, so that its students are able to amass a resume of impressive performances while they are still enrolled in their studies. Since moving to the northeastern U.S., I have found that my alma mater requires more of its doctoral voice students than most of the prominent U.S. conservatories! That makes me very proud of this program and of the training I received there.
Regarding what would I recommend for preparation for today’s operatic market: Take some dance training–at least one semester of ballet and one semester of tap or jazz. This may seem incongruous with operatic training, but it isn’t. Dance training gives you more control over your physical motions, and gives you grace and balance onstage. And as you know, there are many instances in which an operatic role requires at least a tiny bit of dancing: Don Giovanni’s party in his castle, Prince Orlovsky’s ballroom, Violetta’s salon, etc. And since many of today’s operatic singers also cross over into the musical theatre field, that makes it even more important to have some ability to dance at least a little, and it does make you much more marketable in that field! This is usually an area that is never addressed in most classically-oriented vocal training areas, but it is one which results in positive effects for everyone concerned: singers and impresarios alike. – Sandra Boysen
I attended a conservatory, which is attached to the parent college. It was the best decision for me because I believe that an opera singer is not just a beautiful voice. He or she is a compilation of technical, theoretical, historical, literary, and musical knowledge. Sound alone does not make a complete artist–something that many people seem to forget. Intelligence and skill are every bit as important as raw talent: Probably more important! That’s why the combination of a fine liberal arts college and a conservatory marked for its excellence was a wonderful way to grow as an artist and a person. – Victoria Wolfe
I received my undergraduate degree from a major university. Thanks to my professors and academic advisors, I had a wonderful balance of intense musical/dramatic preparation and the opportunity to study art history, French literature, and computers. I also had the benefit of having friends in various fields of study who where as intense about their work as I was about mine. I attended their art openings, architecture critiques, poetry readings, and even a science lecture or two. I was able to be a sponge, which is exactly what a young mind should be. Today, I am well-read and well-rounded, and I bring all my experience onstage with me as tools for communication. – Lawrence E. Street
I chose not to enter any music program, but to study privately. I did a B.A. in languages, which has been a huge asset as a singer. Singers tend not to take their languages seriously enough. Besides making the learning of music much easier, languages have given me more insight into the poetry and culture of a particular country, and thus I am much more expressive.
I have studied theory, diction, and acting all separately, taking what I can from where I want, instead of being in a set program with requirements that I don’t find useful. This allows me to get the best of everything, and the price really isn’t any higher than being a part of a program.
Of course, first and foremost are my private lessons, in which I may work at an appropriate rate, and never be rushed or sidetracked by the pressures and requirements of a degree program. This requires a lot of self-motivation, but over time I’ve come to enjoy it so much that I can’t possibly miss any of my practice time.
The drawback is that I miss out on the student opera productions that take place in schools. This is the only thing that I feel I miss. I have created my own performance opportunities, but they are a lot of work and not always cheap (though I learn a lot about the business in this way!). Though I call myself a student, I lack official student status.
All in all, I still believe I’m giving myself a better education this way. But more and more people are looking for degree credentials when they look at resumes.
I was fortunate enough to attend grad school at one of America’s “Top Five” conservatories, and it was quite an education–I wouldn’t trade it for anything. In addition to my professional career, I also teach voice part-time privately and at a university. Without fail, I recommend that only my very talented high school students major in voice, and I recommend that they go to a smaller, liberal arts school for their undergraduate degrees, then tackle the “Biggies” for grad school. A nurturing environment is best for younger students; and at the larger “opera factories” usually the grad students get all the leads anyway. A smaller school allows developing talent a chance to do just that–to be nurtured and discover one’s own self-worth, and one can never have enough self-esteem in this business. –Name withheld
