WP_Query Object
(
[query] => Array
(
[post_type] => articles
[posts_per_page] => 30
[tax_query] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[taxonomy] => issue
[field] => name
[terms] => September 1999
)
)
[meta_key] => _article_type
[orderby] => meta_value
[order] => ASC
[meta_value] => Cover Story
)
[query_vars] => Array
(
[post_type] => articles
[posts_per_page] => 30
[tax_query] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[taxonomy] => issue
[field] => name
[terms] => September 1999
)
)
[meta_key] => _article_type
[orderby] => meta_value
[order] => ASC
[meta_value] => Cover Story
[error] =>
[m] =>
[p] => 0
[post_parent] =>
[subpost] =>
[subpost_id] =>
[attachment] =>
[attachment_id] => 0
[name] =>
[pagename] =>
[page_id] => 0
[second] =>
[minute] =>
[hour] =>
[day] => 0
[monthnum] => 0
[year] => 0
[w] => 0
[category_name] =>
[tag] =>
[cat] =>
[tag_id] =>
[author] =>
[author_name] =>
[feed] =>
[tb] =>
[paged] => 0
[preview] =>
[s] =>
[sentence] =>
[title] =>
[fields] => all
[menu_order] =>
[embed] =>
[category__in] => Array
(
)
[category__not_in] => Array
(
)
[category__and] => Array
(
)
[post__in] => Array
(
)
[post__not_in] => Array
(
)
[post_name__in] => Array
(
)
[tag__in] => Array
(
)
[tag__not_in] => Array
(
)
[tag__and] => Array
(
)
[tag_slug__in] => Array
(
)
[tag_slug__and] => Array
(
)
[post_parent__in] => Array
(
)
[post_parent__not_in] => Array
(
)
[author__in] => Array
(
)
[author__not_in] => Array
(
)
[search_columns] => Array
(
)
[ignore_sticky_posts] =>
[suppress_filters] =>
[cache_results] => 1
[update_post_term_cache] => 1
[update_menu_item_cache] =>
[lazy_load_term_meta] => 1
[update_post_meta_cache] => 1
[nopaging] =>
[comments_per_page] => 50
[no_found_rows] =>
[taxonomy] => issue
[term_id] => September 1999
)
[tax_query] => WP_Tax_Query Object
(
[queries] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[taxonomy] => issue
[terms] => Array
(
[0] => September 1999
)
[field] => name
[operator] => IN
[include_children] => 1
)
)
[relation] => AND
[table_aliases:protected] => Array
(
[0] => wp_term_relationships
)
[queried_terms] => Array
(
[issue] => Array
(
[terms] => Array
(
[0] => September 1999
)
[field] => name
)
)
[primary_table] => wp_posts
[primary_id_column] => ID
)
[meta_query] => WP_Meta_Query Object
(
[queries] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[key] => _article_type
[value] => Cover Story
)
[relation] => OR
)
[relation] => AND
[meta_table] => wp_postmeta
[meta_id_column] => post_id
[primary_table] => wp_posts
[primary_id_column] => ID
[table_aliases:protected] => Array
(
[0] => wp_postmeta
)
[clauses:protected] => Array
(
[wp_postmeta] => Array
(
[key] => _article_type
[value] => Cover Story
[compare] => =
[compare_key] => =
[alias] => wp_postmeta
[cast] => CHAR
)
)
[has_or_relation:protected] =>
)
[date_query] =>
[request] => SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS wp_posts.ID
FROM wp_posts LEFT JOIN wp_term_relationships ON (wp_posts.ID = wp_term_relationships.object_id) INNER JOIN wp_postmeta ON ( wp_posts.ID = wp_postmeta.post_id )
WHERE 1=1 AND (
wp_term_relationships.term_taxonomy_id IN (527)
) AND (
( wp_postmeta.meta_key = '_article_type' AND wp_postmeta.meta_value = 'Cover Story' )
) AND ((wp_posts.post_type = 'articles' AND (wp_posts.post_status = 'publish')))
GROUP BY wp_posts.ID
ORDER BY wp_postmeta.meta_value ASC
LIMIT 0, 30
[posts] => Array
(
[0] => WP_Post Object
(
[ID] => 110235
[post_author] => 1000408
[post_date] => 1999-09-01 12:00:00
[post_date_gmt] => 1999-09-01 12:00:00
[post_content] =>
Less than a year shy of his upcoming debut as Alidoro in La Cenerentola at the Metropolitan Opera, John Relyea is doing a lot of preparatory work, including performing the role in New Jersey as a sort of rehearsal for the Met. It’s a fairly common approach, something that a number of singers might do–but most singers take a very different route getting there.
Born in Toronto, Canada, Relyea, the son of singer Gary Relyea, played many instruments instead of singing opera. For a time he considered the classical guitar as a career choice. When he was 17 years old, his father asked him, “Why don’t you try singing a few notes?” Relyea complied and found singing was a lot easier than playing musical instruments. “I took that as a sign,” he says. “And it was a lot of fun.”
Relyea decided not to go to a university for a bachelor’s degree, instead opting to study privately. What followed was a lot of intensive technical training from his father and the beginnings of a professional career. In this way, Relyea prepared himself to eventually audition for the Curtis Conservatory of Music.
“I in no way regret my decision to bypass bachelor studies,” Relyea says, citing the two years he spent readying himself for the notoriously intense Curtis auditions. “I wanted to focus on what I was doing–singing. Training at Curtis is very focused, with a teacher/student ratio of five to one. You could get lost at a university by the mere fact that there is a huge student body.” Relyea was one of seven applicants accepted to Curtis from an initial pool of about 650.
Relyea believes good technique, guided by a master teacher, is the key to a successful opera career. “Master teachers find very simple answers to lessons you can spend a lot of time learning. With singing, because it is such a specialized art form–opera–so much is based on the individual and a good teacher.” The baritone says his current teacher, Jerome Hines, believes there tends to be an imbalance sometimes between instruction and repertoire, with a teacher guiding technique versus a coach, stressing repertoire. In Hines, says Relyea, he has both a teacher and a coach.
In retrospect, Relyea is glad he chose the path he did because if he had gone to a university, “I think I would have lost ground. I knew it was up to me to find a good teacher, build up my voice, and build my repertoire.”
[post_title] => "Home Schooling"
[post_excerpt] =>
[post_status] => publish
[comment_status] => closed
[ping_status] => closed
[post_password] =>
[post_name] => home-schooling
[to_ping] =>
[pinged] =>
[post_modified] => 1999-09-01 12:00:00
[post_modified_gmt] => 1999-09-01 12:00:00
[post_content_filtered] =>
[post_parent] => 0
[guid] => https://www.csmusic.net/content/articles/home-schooling/
[menu_order] => 0
[post_type] => articles
[post_mime_type] =>
[comment_count] => 0
[filter] => raw
)
[1] => WP_Post Object
(
[ID] => 110236
[post_author] => 1000409
[post_date] => 1999-09-01 12:00:00
[post_date_gmt] => 1999-09-01 12:00:00
[post_content] => I have the distinct impression that nobody in the real performing world cares where you went to school, or even if you went to school at all. What they want is someone who can fill the shoes of a working opera singer. Qualifications: a working voice with the necessary strength and powers of expression, real presence on the stage, the ability to move and take direction, and basic (preferably excellent) musicality. In addition it’s nice if the singer knows languages, but many performers sing phonetically (and flawlessly) without speaking a language. The theater bosses will forgive that, as long as they can talk to you. You should be reliable, learn fast, and be a good colleague.
It isn’t easy to find people who embody all this, and the theaters would be working against their artistic purposes by restricting themselves to singers with certain schooling. When you arrive in a theater or an agency and fill out their forms, you are sometimes asked for information about your education. But if you have none and still sing and act like a god(dess), any reservations are likely to evaporate.
A musician friend once joked that the only worthwhile thing he learned in conservatory was to always have a pencil handy. One can make many jokes about the conservatory and college education of musicians, but of course one learns useful things there. I never went to a conservatory. I’m not very good at transposing on sight or reading moveable clefs, and I don’t know the rules of voice leading. I would have a hard time getting a teaching position at a college.
But onstage I don’t need that kind of material. I have a master’s degree in physics and worked for many years as an engineer. However, I was always a musician. I have been a pianist all my life and have also learned to play guitar, cello, and recorders, along with several other instruments. I played in chamber music groups and orchestras, sang in choirs, and did some amateur acting. My parents sent me for summers abroad at an early age, and I picked up English, French, and German before I was 20 (besides my native Norwegian). I could always spin a phrase. I never had to learn that.
In some ways, all I had to learn when I finally decided to become a singer was to sing well and to comport myself effectively on the stageóand that I could do most sensibly with private teachers, master classes, and workshops. I spent 10 years with my voice teacher, went to Wesley Balk’s summer course, took acting lessons, and just jumped in and started swimming.
I sang in opera choruses and did smaller roles at first. All along it was like being a sponge, soaking up stuff I had been wanting to learn. I felt like a fish finding water.
It wasn’t all that easy, of course. Learning to sing well is a chore. But I really wanted itóI believed in my dream and never looked back (much). There are more than a few people who remember my first years of training and didn’t share my optimism at the time. It was probably good that I didn’t know how bad I was.
Did I need a conservatory? No, not for being a working opera singer. Was I a typical prospective opera singer? Probably not, and therefore my path wouldn’t work for everyone. Most of my colleagues had a more traditional music educationóbut most also say they donít need everything they learned. Thatís an easy thing to say, of course. If you havenít, as I did, learned to be a musician before embarking on the singing path, music school must be a help. When youíre 18 or 20, it may be the only option these days, unless you want to study physics or something else crazy, in which case you should! There aren’t many who are groomed to be singers like in the old days.
I am generally impressed with my colleagues; they're intelligent, musical, and dedicated. Did they learn that discipline in music school? Probably not. But they learned roles, got to know the repertoire, and did many things that I never did or have had to scramble to learn later. Twelve years ago I didn’t even know who composed Tosca.
Music schools and conservatories can be sensible ways to enter a musical career. For an instrumentalist who needs so many hours in the practice room, that training is probably indispensable. For a performing singer, Iím not sure itís critical in every case. If you have the talent, there are definitely other ways to enter the operatic world.
[post_title] => Different Roads
[post_excerpt] => I have the distinct impression that nobody in the real performing world cares where you went to school, or even if you went to school at all. What they want is someone who can fill the shoes of a working opera singer.
[post_status] => publish
[comment_status] => closed
[ping_status] => closed
[post_password] =>
[post_name] => different-roads
[to_ping] =>
[pinged] =>
[post_modified] => 1999-09-01 12:00:00
[post_modified_gmt] => 1999-09-01 12:00:00
[post_content_filtered] =>
[post_parent] => 0
[guid] => https://www.csmusic.net/content/articles/different-roads/
[menu_order] => 0
[post_type] => articles
[post_mime_type] =>
[comment_count] => 0
[filter] => raw
)
[2] => WP_Post Object
(
[ID] => 110237
[post_author] => 1000241
[post_date] => 1999-09-01 12:00:00
[post_date_gmt] => 1999-09-01 12:00:00
[post_content] =>
In terms of education, Susan Graham has experienced just about every different type of program available. The mezzo attended a state university for her undergraduate work; a major conservatory for graduate studies; and later participated in the Merola Young Artist’s Program in San Francisco before embarking upon a major international career, a Sony Classical recording contract, and credits in most major houses and festivals.
“It really depends on the individual’s background...most people from Europe don’t even know about the university experience, and I would guess that Americans are split pretty evenly,” says Graham. She did her undergraduate work at Texas Tech University before earning a master’s degree at Manhattan School of Music. “There are the great music schools like Indiana, Northwestern, USC–and their supporters are devout. And then there’s the Juilliard, MSM, Eastman, NEC route, whose supporters are equally enthusiastic.
“When I was 18,” Graham says, “I thought I would prefer to be in a more multi-disciplined environment, and I really just wanted the ‘college experience.’ I wasn’t so sure at that point which direction I wanted to take. Plus, I really wasn’t ready to go far away from home, so I opted to stay in Texas and go to the nearby Texas Tech University. I did go to Manhattan School of Music for a master’s degree. So I did both.”
Graham enjoyed Texas Tech, and found the numerous large-scale opera and musical productions rewarding, but there were missing links as well–the language study, she felt, was not as good as it might have been, and there were few opportunities to observe great singers in performance. She doesn’t regret her undergraduate experience, however, and her conservatory education and New York experiences filled in the blanks.
“It wasn’t until I came to New York and MSM at age 25, that I managed to shed my old inhibitions and ‘re-invent’ myself in a new place,” she says. “It inspired me to go beyond myself and actually see what the possibilities were, and tap my potential for the first time. However, I would not have been ready or able to do that at an earlier age, as an undergraduate.”
[post_title] => The Best of Three Worlds
[post_excerpt] => In terms of education, Susan Graham has experienced just about every different type of program available.
[post_status] => publish
[comment_status] => closed
[ping_status] => closed
[post_password] =>
[post_name] => the-best-of-three-worlds
[to_ping] =>
[pinged] =>
[post_modified] => 1999-09-01 12:00:00
[post_modified_gmt] => 1999-09-01 12:00:00
[post_content_filtered] =>
[post_parent] => 0
[guid] => https://www.csmusic.net/content/articles/the-best-of-three-worlds/
[menu_order] => 0
[post_type] => articles
[post_mime_type] =>
[comment_count] => 0
[filter] => raw
)
[3] => WP_Post Object
(
[ID] => 110238
[post_author] => 1000410
[post_date] => 1999-09-01 12:00:00
[post_date_gmt] => 1999-09-01 12:00:00
[post_content] =>
It’s a hard truth, but one every singer must know: Even if you’re convinced you’re the next great success around the corner, life may have other plans for you. Sometimes you will hear about a graduate degree being something “good to fall back on,” or that you can always teach if your singing career doesn’t take off. This is a regrettable turn of phrase, since it implies that teaching music is less worthwhile or fulfilling than performing music.
Graduate school involves a commitment of time, money, and energy, and may or may not help you to achieve your performance goals. Recently, one performer criticized the trend of keeping singers in the classroom during years in which they might be learning roles and performing them. However, the amount of classroom time depends on the grad school and what it offers.
Singers often perform and then use their degrees to teach later. If you are an internationally acclaimed singer, you may be approached for teaching jobs without any necessity for academic credentials. This can be a rewarding second career when your professional performing winds down. But glance through the job listings in the Chronicle of Higher Education, and you’ll see that most positions require not just a master’s degree, but a doctorate. Teaching jobs don’t fall from trees, any more than performing contracts do. Graduate school may open up ideas or pathways you haven’t yet considered, or make you more determined to make your livelihood solely from performing. Either way, it’s better to think of a graduate education as a means to continue your training and develop complementary skills than as anything to fall back on. The world does not need more teachers who feel no passion for teaching, but it always needs teachers who are dedicated to sharing in the classroom and studio what they’ve been privileged to learn.
At what point is graduate school a good idea?
I recommend graduate school when a singer’s voice needs time to develop, or their technique is not established enough to serve them on less-than-perfect days. When a singer has even the slightest inclination toward teaching, a master’s degree with a pedagogy emphasis is well worth pursuing. If the singer is more suited to art song than opera, or wishes to combine a performing career with teaching, graduate school is also a good choice. Lastly, it can be a good use of time while deciding what to do next with your life. Many singers begin graduate school for less than noble reasons, but later find their interests expanding alongside their skills.
Tips for selecting and attending graduate schools.
If your technique isn’t developed to a competitive level, finding an outstanding technical teacher should be a higher priority than attending a school with constant performance opportunities. If you want conservatory-style training within a university setting, look for a graduate program that emphasizes practical training and plenty of performances. Don’t rule out smaller schools or those closer to home in favor of “name” schools, especially if funding is a concern. A prestigious program can add luster to your credentials, but rarely does an auditioner ask where you went to school. Ultimately what you learn is more important than where you learn it. You’ll also learn and live better if you’re not preoccupied with tuition you cannot afford, no matter how fine the school is.
What would I learn there?
Graduate school is far more focused on your primary area than undergraduate work, whether your major field is performance, pedagogy, music therapy or education, or some combination of these. Good graduate schools make singers feel like they are living, eating and breathing music. It won’t be all vocal music at most grad schools–classes are also devoted to musicianship, theory and history. The idea is to help each singer learn critical thinking and an awareness of the history of the art form, in addition to increasing performance skills. There are also some required courses outside of music, typically within the fields of language, art, dance or drama; many times these so-called electives are as formative to the singer’s growth as any music class.
Someone once told me that the mark of having an undergraduate education was knowing things, while the purpose of graduate education is learning to know what you don’t know. You won’t learn everything there is to know in graduate school, but you should leave with a strong concept of what remains for you to learn.
How long does it take?
Most master’s programs take two to three years, although some can be completed faster. Specific requirements and options vary by school, but in addition to classes, there is usually studio training and coaching, a variety of performances, and a research or performance-based project to culminate your studies. A doctorate in voice performance, most often pursued by those who intend to integrate teaching into their performing career, generally takes two to five additional years, and features a large-scale research or performance project designed to give you an area of expertise.
Is it just more time away from reality?
This depends on what you consider reality. Graduate school can become a microcosm, a little environment that temporarily blocks out the pressures of supporting a professional career and withstanding constant competition. Unfortunately, it can create its own financial strains and internal competition. The singers I know who have become the most professionally successful were the ones who balanced this smaller collegiate world with the larger. They took advantage of the classes, coaching and performances offered in graduate school, but they also pursued off-campus roles and performances whenever possible. Their summers were spent working to fund their education, taking classes to speed their graduation, or singing in everything from workshops and young artist programs to recitals and shows. Clearly they used graduate school as a steppingstone toward their long-term goals.
Enjoy the opportunity to meet other singers and instrumentalists, to expand your mental and musical horizons, and to perform classic repertoire alongside works you may never perform again.
As artists we bring our life experiences and knowledge to the stage. Graduate school can be an excellent place to increase these experiences, or add depth to current knowledge. But how much of your performer’s “package” will be based on college, graduate school, conservatory training, young artist programs or workshops and performances is up to you.
[post_title] => Meistersinger
[post_excerpt] => Graduate school involves a commitment of time, money, and energy, and may or may not help you to achieve your performance goals.
[post_status] => publish
[comment_status] => closed
[ping_status] => closed
[post_password] =>
[post_name] => meistersinger
[to_ping] =>
[pinged] =>
[post_modified] => 1999-09-01 12:00:00
[post_modified_gmt] => 1999-09-01 12:00:00
[post_content_filtered] =>
[post_parent] => 0
[guid] => https://www.csmusic.net/content/articles/meistersinger/
[menu_order] => 0
[post_type] => articles
[post_mime_type] =>
[comment_count] => 0
[filter] => raw
)
[4] => WP_Post Object
(
[ID] => 110239
[post_author] => 1000241
[post_date] => 1999-09-01 12:00:00
[post_date_gmt] => 1999-09-01 12:00:00
[post_content] =>
In addition to vocal technique, singers need to be knowledgeable about languages, music history and theory, drama, business, publicity, and marketing, and a host of other widely varied fields of study. Where can a young singer acquire this bewildering array of tools? A liberal arts college with a good music program offers many of the advantages of a conservatory, while offering a veritable smorgasbord of knowledge to enrich a performer’s soul and skill.
In his 1950 book, On Studying Singing, prominent pedagogue Sergius Kagen wrote, “He (the singer) ought to be a well-read and generally well-informed person…He ought to be well acquainted with other arts and have a general conception of disciplines of knowledge not pertaining to the arts and humanities….Let us, therefore, set no maximum requirements for any branch of study necessary for singing, since every branch of such study is almost limitless.” 1
Becoming a Renaissance Singer
In today’s parlance, a “Renaissance man” (or woman) is one who is “…cultured, knowledgeable, educated, and proficient in a wide range of fields” (Random House Dictionary of the English Language, 2nd ed., 1987).
In the living room of Taliesin West, the winter home of Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous architecture school, sits a bust of Wright, carved by an apprentice who had never previously sculpted. The master architect ordered her to make the attempt to enrich her understanding of art and by extension, architecture. Art and music were inseparable from architecture in Wright’s view. Taliesin West boasts a small concert stage and a dinner theater, where the architects are required to assemble in black tie every Friday night for a film or a live performance by entertainers of every genre.
Sergei Diaghilev, the great ballet and opera impresario, insisted that his artists enhance their work through visits to museums and art galleries. Konstantin Stanislavski, the renowned teacher of acting in drama and opera, demanded that students constantly feed themselves with a wide range of experiences. “An actor who observes life from a distance or experiences its joys and sorrows without trying to understand their complex causes simply does not exist so far as true art is concerned,” he wrote. An actor, he insisted, must lead a “full, interesting, beautiful, varied, exciting and exalted life” and possess “an infinitely wide horizon.”
What would they have to say about the educational choices facing today’s singers? The well-rounded education demanded by artists like Frank Lloyd Wright, Diaghilev, and Stanislavski is perhaps the best argument for choosing a liberal arts university education. These universities expose students to a great variety of learning with special emphasis on a particular discipline.
The high pressure and heavy competition that conservatories are famous for are not everyone’s style. While it is true that competition to get into a top conservatory is usually more intense than for a liberal arts university, or a particular studio may not be as competitive as it would be at a conservatory, it does not mean that conservatory students are universally more talented. The golden throats of college are not always the ones who end up with big careers–history is full of so-called “ugly ducklings” who turned into famous and successful swans. Remember Jessye Norman, who was told she didn’t have a chance because she was “fat, black, and had a scar on her face?”
“My undergraduate school was highly rated and quite competitive. Imagine my surprise when I went to a different highly rated grad school and time after time, no one volunteered to sing in opera class,” says one singer. “So I did. Every class. Everyone, including the conductor, was heartily sick of me, but I got more coaching than I’d counted on and was allowed to present a full act of an opera at the year-end scenes program instead of an excerpt. The next semester, I left school because I was accepted into the apprentice program at Lyric Opera Chicago.”
In addition to performance opportunities, liberal arts universities allow a student to pursue multiple courses of study at the same time–courses that may lay the groundwork for better ways to pay the rent while the singing career is getting off the ground. “School in general doesn’t prepare you for a career, whether it’s music or writing or business or anything else,” writes “Contrasoprano,” a singer who responded to a questionnaire on the Classical Singer website. She minored in music and worked in marketing after graduation, studying with a private teacher who did more for her in 14 months than six years of high school and college combined.
“I think a degree or extensive study in something other than music can really help build both personal depth and professional flexibility, while giving you access to take from the music and other departments what will ultimately help you grow as a singer. It gives you a different perspective on your art…Your whole world isn’t at the mercy of what that particular music department or professor approves of. If you have no limits, you defy categorization.”
University students can choose the best of both worlds too, pursuing diverse studies during the winter and enjoying a conservatory-like atmosphere at a summer program or workshop. Singers can zero in on music without the distractions of the regular school year. At the same time they’re working with the greats, honing skills and networking–a capsule version of the advantages of conservatory study.
Crunching the Numbers
One of the most practical reasons to choose a university education is cost. Experts estimate that over the next few years, tuition will increase at a rate of 5 percent yearly for private universities and 6 percent for public. In-state tuitions for public institutions can cost as little as $2,100 per year, depending on the state and the school. According to the College Board, in 1998, a private college tuition, room and board averaged $18,184, while its public counterpart rang up on average at a modest $7,998 for in-state tuition. Out-of-state tuition is considerably more expensive, sometimes doubling in-state, though it can still be cheaper than private schools.
It isn’t uncommon for singers to pay upwards of $20,000 per annum for tuition at a conservatory–about what you’d pay for a private school. And some conservatories, such as the Curtis Institute and the Academy of Vocal Arts, offer full scholarships to every student. Still, if you can’t get into your trust fund until age 35 and you don’t relish the idea of leaving school burdened with a mountain of debt, a university education might be worth a look.
Making the Who’s Who List
How do university music schools measure up, perception-wise?
“It really depends on the individual’s background...most people from Europe don’t even know about the university experience, and I would guess that Americans are split pretty evenly,” says mezzo Susan Graham, an international artist with a Sony Classical recording contract and credits in many major houses and festivals. She did her undergraduate work at Texas Tech University, before earning a master’s degree at Manhattan School of Music. “There are the great music schools like Indiana, Northwestern, USC–and their supporters are devout. And then there’s the Juilliard, MSM, Eastman, NEC route, whose supporters are equally enthusiastic.”
Of the 16 top schools for graduate degrees in voice/opera, rated by U.S. News and World Report, nine are universities. The ratings are based on surveys sent to deans, top administrators, and senior faculty at each school.
Universities boast their share of famous alumni. Well-known singers who opted for liberal arts training include Leontyne Price (Central State University), Samuel Ramey (Wichita State), Simon Estes (University of Iowa), Ruth Ann Swenson (University of Hartford) and Jerry Hadley (Bradley University, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana).
Many universities also have at least one or two star teachers and coaches on board. The University of Texas at Austin has Gilda Cruz-Romo; Michigan claims George Shirley and Shirley Verrett. Mignon Dunn and William Warfield teach at Northwestern. Indiana University’s star-studded roster boasts Virginia Zeani, Martina Arroyo, Giorgio Tozzi, and James King. Celebrity itself does not ensure good teaching, and the lack thereof does not indicate poor quality. Keep in mind though that while star performers certainly have connections, some aren’t as successful in teaching as they are on stage.
It’s Not the School, It’s What You Learn
Of course, for an aspiring performer, technique is the centerpiece of the package, and technique is learned from teachers. Other skills and knowledge can be picked up in any number of places–books, backstage at the local community theater, in language immersion courses.
“I believe that it’s a bit more the teacher than the school itself,” says Darrell Murray, a composer and teacher. “I attended two state universities. I had excellent teachers who taught me how to both play and continue learning on my own.”
“Even so, one would hope that you are going to be a ‘person’ forever, and for that, I fervently believe that you are better suited for life with a well-rounded liberal arts education,” says a Vassar-educated musician with many professional credits. “Most of all, it depends on the person. If s/he is hell-bent on being a famous soloist, then s/he won’t want to be bothered with anything except endless practicing and will be the usual narrow and uninteresting person as a result. My vote goes to the university, preferably with a good music program.”
1 On Studying Singing, p. 23. Sergius Kagen, Dover Publications, NY, 1950.
[post_title] => The Renaissance Singer
[post_excerpt] => In addition to vocal technique, singers need to be knowledgeable about languages, music history and theory, drama, business, publicity, and marketing, and a host of other widely varied fields of study. Where can a young singer acquire this bewildering array of tools?
[post_status] => publish
[comment_status] => closed
[ping_status] => closed
[post_password] =>
[post_name] => the-renaissance-singer
[to_ping] =>
[pinged] =>
[post_modified] => 1999-09-01 12:00:00
[post_modified_gmt] => 1999-09-01 12:00:00
[post_content_filtered] =>
[post_parent] => 0
[guid] => https://www.csmusic.net/content/articles/the-renaissance-singer/
[menu_order] => 0
[post_type] => articles
[post_mime_type] =>
[comment_count] => 0
[filter] => raw
)
[5] => WP_Post Object
(
[ID] => 110240
[post_author] => 1000235
[post_date] => 1999-09-01 12:00:00
[post_date_gmt] => 1999-09-01 12:00:00
[post_content] => Amanda West* is what you might think of as a “typical” young music student–fresh out of high school, earnest, already determined to improve her art and craft, and ambitious. She’s excited, she’s tremendously nervous, and she sounds like any other prospective freshman anywhere.
“All through high school I felt like the cream of the crop. I got the impression that if I went to our state university it would be the same–and yet if I was already going to be one of the top players as a freshman, where would I go from there? I knew I wanted to go further.”
But Amanda isn’t going just “anywhere” to school this fall. Amanda will be attending the Eastman School of Music, widely known as one of the strongest music schools in the country. Eastman is competitive, grueling–and it produces a significant percentage of successful professional musicians.
Are conservatories really all that different from, say, a strong university vocal program? “Conservatory experience will give you a taste of reality more quickly than college.” Mezzo soprano D’Anna Fortunato is a product of conservatory training herself, with an excellent career in opera and recital, and is now on the faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music, her alma mater. “The conservatory is more pressured than a regular university, with very talented people in your category. The handholding aspect is not as great. Students have to develop a harder shell, and more quickly [than in college], so that sometimes they’re overwhelmed unless they have a very good champion, for instance in their voice teacher. Even many career counselors can’t cope. Also, many students don’t have a realistic picture of what the conservatory will demand of them.”
Before transferring to NEC as a junior, Fortunato attended Bucknell University in Pennsylvania for two years. “I knew I wanted to be a professional singer by the time I was 14,” she said, “and I was determined to go to a conservatory. I had to battle my mother about it; she very much wanted me to get a more liberal arts education. Finally we hit on a compromise, and I went to Bucknell first. Bucknell had high musical and non-musical standards. I transferred to NEC after two years, and even then the conservatory was pretty pressured–and difficult. I had to say to myself, ‘Okay, you have to start at the bottom again.’”
How hard was it to transfer from university to conservatory? “I had had some confidence building at Bucknell, singing as an opera and choral soloist with orchestra within my first two years. Conservatory training is much more ‘conservative,’ if you will–they want you to sing and perform appropriately. It’s more structured and defined, or should be, at any rate. At a conservatory there is a very real sense of progression as to what you can handle at a certain point in your development, but I’m not sorry I followed my mother’s request.”
Beyond the issues of competitiveness and high stakes, the differences between a conservatory and a college music program can be distinct, and important. “I do say to young people, ‘Unless you are focused on one thing–with great passion and determination–you will not necessarily get the kind of background you might need to move up as a pro.’ I had to be ready for it. I had a very strong musical background beforehand, too. The beauty of the conservatory is that they are able to bring a combined experience–your musical academics and instrument study–together in a kind of pressure cooker. It forces you to exert yourself.”
Was conservatory study what she hoped it would be? “Yes and no. Let me say that I think a lot of people in conservatory have high expectations, but it is in the long run a human institution. There will also be human error–programs change, opportunities change, and there may be difficulties with money. Because students are paying so much money to attend, they should expect a very solid program.”
Richard Williams* is a jazz composer and graduate of the New England Conservatory. “A conservatory is often better, although it depends on the conservatory in question. Not so much because of the school itself, but because the students tend to be better and are better to be around. I went to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst before coming here. The faculty at UMass were excellent–but I was a lot happier with NEC because of the students (and because of all the “names”).”
Ben Schuman, a tenor who last year co-founded a new opera company in NYC, said of his alma mater, the Peabody Conservatory, “I can sometimes get a little bitter about my grad school experience, because I’m now so far in debt, and I didn’t get cast much in the opera department. But it really does have a very talented vocal department. Also, the voice teachers really get along, which is not something you can say about many conservatories. Usually there is competition between the teachers, causing competition between the students.”
Gerald Brown* wrote, “I can say that I am required to be more independent than I ever have been, at the conservatory. I’m getting nothing in the way of philosophy, literature, and not much in music history or theory. I do, however, have a great teacher, amazingly gifted peers in New York City, and the name of my school, which is very recognizable.”
“With regard to my career,” Fortunato said, “[conservatory study] was very helpful. I was more musically sophisticated than some of my professional peers–I had taken very complex solfege courses with incredible instructors; musical analysis courses that were very imaginative and engaging. And when I left NEC to begin singing professionally, I maintained relationships with friends and colleagues whom I count as a mutual support system to this day. And yes, that’s probably one of the reasons why people attend a conservatory. Conservatories have higher visibility than colleges, and if students have done well and been able to succeed, they may make contacts who can be very helpful over the course of their career.”
*Names have been changed by request.
[post_title] => The Pressure Cooker
[post_excerpt] => Amanda West* is what you might think of as a “typical” young music student–fresh out of high school, earnest, already determined to improve her art and craft, and ambitious.
[post_status] => publish
[comment_status] => closed
[ping_status] => closed
[post_password] =>
[post_name] => the-pressure-cooker
[to_ping] =>
[pinged] =>
[post_modified] => 1999-09-01 12:00:00
[post_modified_gmt] => 1999-09-01 12:00:00
[post_content_filtered] =>
[post_parent] => 0
[guid] => https://www.csmusic.net/content/articles/the-pressure-cooker/
[menu_order] => 0
[post_type] => articles
[post_mime_type] =>
[comment_count] => 0
[filter] => raw
)
[6] => WP_Post Object
(
[ID] => 110241
[post_author] => 1000317
[post_date] => 1999-09-01 12:00:00
[post_date_gmt] => 1999-09-01 12:00:00
[post_content] => My undergraduate music school was soooooooo small...” begins Ellen Moeller. I wait for the punch line, but she isn’t joking. “My school was so small that I was the only freshman voice major that year. Really!” By comparison, the 20 voice majors enrolled last year at Saint Xavier University in Chicago must seem like a bumper crop.
For mezzo soprano Moeller, the decision to accept a full scholarship to study voice at Saint Xavier was easy. “My high school voice and piano teacher, Pat Bickel, taught there. I visited the campus often and went to the operas and recitals. I was always being called to be a guinea pig for the voice and piano pedagogy classes, so I knew the staff and students. I was comfortable there.”
Comfort was also a consideration for Christine Thomas, who attended a women’s college only five miles from her home in Milwaukee. “Alverno College was a good place for the person I was then,” says Thomas. “I was a very timid person at that time–easily intimidated and very self-conscious.”
Thomas found the community of faculty and female students to be very supportive. “On the one hand, Alverno continued to shelter me, as small as it was. On the other hand, because there were no men in the classes, I learned to speak out freely without the fear of saying something stupid in front of a guy.” She adds (without a trace of shyness), “That may be something to consider when you’re 18!”
Knowing they would have plenty of opportunities to perform played a big part in both of their choices of college. Mezzo soprano Thomas was a frequent soloist, and sang regularly in student and community programs. As a freshman, Moeller was in a select vocal ensemble, and later sang leads in virtually every opera and musical theater production, along with “tons of choral solos” and outreach programs at local high schools. She tells of a good friend, who is now a successful regional opera singer, who spent four undergraduate years at Indiana University–passing out programs. “It was so competitive that she never got onstage–not even in the chorus!” Moeller says, incredulously. “How will I learn to be an opera singer if I never get to sing a role?” she asks. “How do I know I even want to be an opera singer?
“Sure, a small college meant less competition,” continues Moeller. “But there were still challenges. There was often someone who got the role or solo I wanted. There was always someone better, which is healthy, but there weren’t 20 others who were better, which was a relief!”
Were there disadvantages? “Since Alverno is a women’s college, the choral literature we were exposed to was limited,” admits Thomas, a soloist with Bel Canto Chorus of Milwaukee and Milwaukee Choral Artists, and a supplemental chorister with the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Opera has its limitations, as well, at a smaller college. “With a small student body,” Thomas continued, “we were relegated to smaller works, such as opera scenes and Menotti’s The Old Maid and the Thief. We could never stage a full Mozart opera.”
“There is also the lack of reality in a smaller school that makes a singer think they’re better than they truly are,” cautions Moeller. “It’s really important to get away and to be aware of the level of singing outside the school.” Thomas recalls traveling to Northwestern University to attend a master class by Owen Brown. Moeller and other Saint Xavier singers frequently attended operas and recitals in Chicago, and competed in NATS and regional competitions such as The Park Forest Competition. “You have to know what’s out there.”
Both singers credit the close-knit learning environment of small undergraduate colleges with providing critical skills, experience, and self-confidence to help them in their professional careers and graduate study. “I learned to believe in myself,” says Moeller, “and to know that I was a good singer.”
Christine Thomas is an active performer in the Milwaukee-Chicago area. Recent performances include Dorabella in Cosi Fan Tutte with Plymouth Opera. She created the role of The Woman in Red with Washington Opera in the world premiere of The Dream of Valentino.
Ellen Kessie Moeller has performed roles such as Cherubino in Le Nozze de Figaro and Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus. She has a master’s degree from DePaul University in Chicago and is currently earning a D.M.A. at the University of Colorado-Boulder.
[post_title] => A big Fish in a Little Pond
[post_excerpt] => . “My school was so small that I was the only freshman voice major that year. Really!” By comparison, the 20 voice majors enrolled last year at Saint Xavier University in Chicago must seem like a bumper crop
[post_status] => publish
[comment_status] => closed
[ping_status] => closed
[post_password] =>
[post_name] => a-big-fish-in-a-little-pond
[to_ping] =>
[pinged] =>
[post_modified] => 1999-09-01 12:00:00
[post_modified_gmt] => 1999-09-01 12:00:00
[post_content_filtered] =>
[post_parent] => 0
[guid] => https://www.csmusic.net/content/articles/a-big-fish-in-a-little-pond/
[menu_order] => 0
[post_type] => articles
[post_mime_type] =>
[comment_count] => 0
[filter] => raw
)
[7] => WP_Post Object
(
[ID] => 110242
[post_author] => 1000317
[post_date] => 1999-09-01 12:00:00
[post_date_gmt] => 1999-09-01 12:00:00
[post_content] => There are more people in Sarah Davis’s school than in her entire hometown. Growing up in Sterling, Colorado (population 10,000), she already knew what it was like to be a big fish in a small pond. “My graduating class at Sterling High School had 157 students, and I sang leads in the musicals (Music Man, Mikado, H.M.S. Pinafore) and did straight theater.” She sang often in the community, including solos with the community choir, full-length junior and senior high school recitals, and duets with her voice teacher. “I still sing at church when I go home.”
Davis is beginning her senior year at the University of Colorado at Boulder (enrollment 30,000). She credits her high school choir director, Don Johnson, and voice teachers, the late Ivan Rundle and Charles Johnson, with helping her find the “right” school, the “right” teacher, and the scholarship money to pay for it. “CU was a little intimidating at first. I was concerned...coming from a small town where we were somewhat sheltered. But I really wanted the competition and needed the challenge. I also like the activities and the diversity that Boulder has to offer. There is so much going on all of the time!”
Like Sarah Davis, baritone Paul Marchegiani was attracted to a large university with a top-ranked vocal program. The Los Gatos, California, native is completing his last year of a five-year combined BM/BA program at Northwestern University, with degrees in vocal performance and history. “The fact that NU is close to a major cultural center is very important. The school has close ties with the Chicago classical scene.”
How competitive are the top schools? “Very!” Davis replies quickly, “but you do get to know the other singers, and that helps. At my high school, only a few of us were serious about singing, but here we’re all into music.” Marchegiani agrees that the selection process is very competitive, but “as far as competition goes after admission, I’ve found everyone to be extremely cooperative. We’re all motivated and talented, but we also realize that there is more to the college experience than locking ourselves in a practice room 24-7.”
While graduate students garner most of the principal roles at Boulder, Davis simply accepts that as part of “the experience.” “There are limited opportunities for certain things as an undergrad,” she admits, “but I’ve been able to be in the operas and musicals. I’ve done a lot of chorus, but last spring I got to play Miss Wordsworth in Albert Herring.”
“At Northwestern,” says Marchegiani, “there are more than 100 students in the voice program, and usually only a dozen or so are graduate students. Undergraduates routinely get leads and solos in all of the productions and concerts. There are three major operatic productions on campus each year and probably around 10 musicals.” Marchegiani has sung in numerous choral ensembles and operas on campus, and is making his debut as a member of the Chicago Symphony Chorus this season.
In an effort to expose students to the high level and expectations of professional artists, schools like Northwestern, UC-Boulder, Indiana University, and UCLA regularly import famous guest artists and alumni for concerts and master classes. “It’s great!” says Davis. “Last year, Cynthia Lawrence and Mark Caulkins [alumni] came to Boulder. This year it’s Marilyn Horne and Steven Weir.”
Marchegiani believes that another important advantage to attending a large school is the abundance and variety of courses offered. “Not just music courses, but courses in history, science, and philosophy–courses that make us more intelligent and well-rounded people, but also more insightful, sensitive musicians. In general, the more intelligent the artist, the better the art. At a big school, full of smart people, there are endless opportunities to grow as a person.”
Sarah Davis is a senior at the University of Colorado-Boulder, where she studies with Robert Harrison. She has sung in master classes with Martin Katz and Martin Isepp, and is a three-time winner of the Anderson Voice Scholarship. She plans to attend graduate school in 2000.
Paul Marchegiani is completing his fifth year of a BM/BA program in vocal performance and history at Northwestern University, where he studies with Richard Alderson. Marchegiani was a contestant in the 1999 College Jeopardy Tournament and will begin law school in 2000.
[post_title] => A Little Fish in a Big Pond...
[post_excerpt] => There are more people in Sarah Davis’s school than in her entire hometown. Growing up in Sterling, Colorado (population 10,000), she already knew what it was like to be a big fish in a small pond.
[post_status] => publish
[comment_status] => closed
[ping_status] => closed
[post_password] =>
[post_name] => a-little-fish-in-a-big-pond
[to_ping] =>
[pinged] =>
[post_modified] => 1999-09-01 12:00:00
[post_modified_gmt] => 1999-09-01 12:00:00
[post_content_filtered] =>
[post_parent] => 0
[guid] => https://www.csmusic.net/content/articles/a-little-fish-in-a-big-pond/
[menu_order] => 0
[post_type] => articles
[post_mime_type] =>
[comment_count] => 0
[filter] => raw
)
)
[post_count] => 8
[current_post] => -1
[before_loop] => 1
[in_the_loop] =>
[post] => WP_Post Object
(
[ID] => 110235
[post_author] => 1000408
[post_date] => 1999-09-01 12:00:00
[post_date_gmt] => 1999-09-01 12:00:00
[post_content] =>
Less than a year shy of his upcoming debut as Alidoro in La Cenerentola at the Metropolitan Opera, John Relyea is doing a lot of preparatory work, including performing the role in New Jersey as a sort of rehearsal for the Met. It’s a fairly common approach, something that a number of singers might do–but most singers take a very different route getting there.
Born in Toronto, Canada, Relyea, the son of singer Gary Relyea, played many instruments instead of singing opera. For a time he considered the classical guitar as a career choice. When he was 17 years old, his father asked him, “Why don’t you try singing a few notes?” Relyea complied and found singing was a lot easier than playing musical instruments. “I took that as a sign,” he says. “And it was a lot of fun.”
Relyea decided not to go to a university for a bachelor’s degree, instead opting to study privately. What followed was a lot of intensive technical training from his father and the beginnings of a professional career. In this way, Relyea prepared himself to eventually audition for the Curtis Conservatory of Music.
“I in no way regret my decision to bypass bachelor studies,” Relyea says, citing the two years he spent readying himself for the notoriously intense Curtis auditions. “I wanted to focus on what I was doing–singing. Training at Curtis is very focused, with a teacher/student ratio of five to one. You could get lost at a university by the mere fact that there is a huge student body.” Relyea was one of seven applicants accepted to Curtis from an initial pool of about 650.
Relyea believes good technique, guided by a master teacher, is the key to a successful opera career. “Master teachers find very simple answers to lessons you can spend a lot of time learning. With singing, because it is such a specialized art form–opera–so much is based on the individual and a good teacher.” The baritone says his current teacher, Jerome Hines, believes there tends to be an imbalance sometimes between instruction and repertoire, with a teacher guiding technique versus a coach, stressing repertoire. In Hines, says Relyea, he has both a teacher and a coach.
In retrospect, Relyea is glad he chose the path he did because if he had gone to a university, “I think I would have lost ground. I knew it was up to me to find a good teacher, build up my voice, and build my repertoire.”
[post_title] => "Home Schooling"
[post_excerpt] =>
[post_status] => publish
[comment_status] => closed
[ping_status] => closed
[post_password] =>
[post_name] => home-schooling
[to_ping] =>
[pinged] =>
[post_modified] => 1999-09-01 12:00:00
[post_modified_gmt] => 1999-09-01 12:00:00
[post_content_filtered] =>
[post_parent] => 0
[guid] => https://www.csmusic.net/content/articles/home-schooling/
[menu_order] => 0
[post_type] => articles
[post_mime_type] =>
[comment_count] => 0
[filter] => raw
)
[comment_count] => 0
[current_comment] => -1
[found_posts] => 8
[max_num_pages] => 1
[max_num_comment_pages] => 0
[is_single] =>
[is_preview] =>
[is_page] =>
[is_archive] => 1
[is_date] =>
[is_year] =>
[is_month] =>
[is_day] =>
[is_time] =>
[is_author] =>
[is_category] =>
[is_tag] =>
[is_tax] => 1
[is_search] =>
[is_feed] =>
[is_comment_feed] =>
[is_trackback] =>
[is_home] =>
[is_privacy_policy] =>
[is_404] =>
[is_embed] =>
[is_paged] =>
[is_admin] =>
[is_attachment] =>
[is_singular] =>
[is_robots] =>
[is_favicon] =>
[is_posts_page] =>
[is_post_type_archive] =>
[query_vars_hash:WP_Query:private] => f05e6e904005930a86ceeca8543b96cd
[query_vars_changed:WP_Query:private] =>
[thumbnails_cached] =>
[allow_query_attachment_by_filename:protected] =>
[stopwords:WP_Query:private] =>
[compat_fields:WP_Query:private] => Array
(
[0] => query_vars_hash
[1] => query_vars_changed
)
[compat_methods:WP_Query:private] => Array
(
[0] => init_query_flags
[1] => parse_tax_query
)
[query_cache_key:WP_Query:private] => wp_query:6b01ea6bd77cf044da979d0a58a7767b:0.57135000 17517504280.56197300 1751750428
)