A vocal studies degree is a great option for those who want to study voice seriously and pursue a career as a professional artist.
This article provides a helpful overview about the most important things you need to know about pursuing a vocal studies degree, including the different kinds of vocal studies, inside look at classes and career options.
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The degrees you can get in singing are usually voice performance degrees in which you're focusing on developing the voice.
You can get an undergraduate, graduate, and doctorate degrees in voice performance.
The major vocal studies degree is performance and learning how to perform well. Any teacher who wants to teach well in the future needs to learn how to do that.
All vocal studies degrees will go through theory, vocal specialization and will include ensembles like singing in bands.
A vocal performance degree is very helpful if you want to become a singer because you have weekly meetings with a skilled vocal teacher.
Most professional singers at least have an undergraduate degree and many have a master's degree for a performance career.
Another aspect of performance is teaching, also called voice pedagogy because it's a one-on-one type of teaching degree.
Those are usually graduate degrees in which you learn how to be a teacher.
I have always been captivated by vocalization. I find that the most interesting classes (and for students) are the vocal specialization classes.
This is where you learn about the voice itself and how to grow it. It’s an opportunity to grasp the technicality and physics of the voice. It’s understanding what God has put into your body and then learning how to practice effectively and sing efficiently.
Other things that are learned include how to perform and read poetry - by drawing meaning out of text because the voice is the only instrument “that carries text.”
The final vocal specialization class is when you'll be actively teaching. In this class you're being taught to teach, and students proceed to give vocal lessons for free.
Thanks to Beethoven, we've learned that there are three different routes that musicians usually take: performance, teaching, and creation/composition.
Vocalists typically make a living performing and teaching. A modern vocalist should be making a living performing by gigging or singing in a church or teaching - privately or with an organization.
Styles also determine what jobs are offered to you.
If you're an opera singer then you'll go through opera or classical music channels for jobs. If you're into musical theater then you'll want to find theater troops to fit in with. Pop singers or modern artists can create their own music and get it out there by doing covers and gigging.
Many schools offer some type of vocal studies degree.
So any college of music will offer singing as an instrument of choice to pursue. But it’s often what sets these schools apart from each other matters most.
Visible Music College is a Christian school and focuses on modern music. They have the recording technologies to execute more modern avenues.
Other schools will have an older style of music (such as conservatories) and they focus on mostly acoustic, piano, or voice type studies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N78Hh8fJNv8
If you can afford to get private voice lessons, then get them!
It’s going to help you understand your voice the most the more you focus on your voice as a solo instrument - not necessarily part of a choir.
The more you practice those individual ideas, the quicker you’re going to grow when you get to a collegiate level.
Know your audition piece inside and out.
Learn what the texts mean because instructors are looking for students with more than a pretty voice, but are they saying and expressing something. Do you know what the meaning of the song is? Are they speaking poetry or biblical truth?
Learn how to play the piano because it helps you see music the best out of any other instrument.
Voice and piano go together and the quicker and more time you spend learning how to play the piano, you’re gonna be better equipped to any person seeking musical pursuit.
When choosing a college degree, most students are eager to find out everything possible about their chosen field. However, when it comes to the topic of vocal studies degrees, many people do not know exactly what they should be looking for in colleges.
This article will help guide you through some of the top questions you might want to ask, such as:
Learn more about Vocal Performance offered at Visible Music College, and talk to an advisor today to explore options.
Music Performance tracks in guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, vocal, songwriting commercial strings, brass and woodwinds. Request more information about Modern Music and Performance at Visible.
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