Vocal Arts Graduate Program
Master of Vocal Arts Curriculum
The vocal arts curriculum is divided into three main components: core seminars, private instruction and workshops.
Core Seminars
Core Seminars meet three hours a week for each of the student's four semesters at Bard. These seminars introduce and tie together the historical and cultural perspective, the analytical tools, and the performance skills that distinguish vocal and operatic performance at the highest level. At the same time, the shifting focus reflected in the sequence of core seminar topics provides for intensive training in fundamental skill areas: working with text, expanding expressive and vocal resources, and career development.
The core seminars draw on the expertise of a variety of specialists, including Bard faculty and guest artists. As the student progresses through the program, the order of seminars is either I, II, III, IV or I, IV, III, II, depending on which year the student enters the program.
Core Seminar I
Dickinson, Goethe, and Verlaine
Fall semester, each year
All first-year students
Core Seminar I views text as a central point of departure for all vocal performance. It introduces and develops an essential range of workshop skills, in working with text and understanding its realization in song. The choice of poets becomes a means of connecting with primary bodies of established repertory, with works by lesser-known composers from past style periods, and with music by contemporary and active composers.
The seminar is designed so that each poet is the principal subject of a five-week unit, beginning with a study of the poet's life, work, and style and continuing with a detailed examination of an appropriate musical exemplar (e.g., Fauré's La Bonne Chanson, Copland's Twelve Dickinson Songs). Workshop skills are further refined as the student works independently to find, prepare, and perform related repertory.
Core Seminar II
Singing and Song in the Global Era
Spring semester, alternate years
All students
This seminar explores the idea that the intersection of diverse musical traditions can be the means to a broader sense of repertory and expression. Students look at selected instrumental and vocal pieces by such composers as Bartók, Stravinsky, Ives, Berio, Golijov, and Björk. A survey of the work of selected singers and singing styles is designed to broaden the student's range of expressive possibilities. The study of folk songs and folk song settings lays a foundation for working with less familiar languages and cultivating directness in communication.
Core Seminar III
Expanding the Workshop
Fall semester, of each year
All second-year students
This seminar helps students appreciate the full range of career options and possibilities available, in order to recognize the ways in which their individual strengths and skills relate to these possibilities and to better understand the practical steps to realizing career goals.
Much of the work of this seminar is independent, including preparation of the graduation recital, exploration of personal areas of interest through courses elsewhere in the College, and community outreach projects. Building on skills and understanding acquired in the Workshop on Constructing a Career, students learn to develop working relationships not only with fellow musicians (as exemplified in the Singer-Composer Workshop), but also with those involved in other essential roles in the industry, such as promotion, grant applications, and recording.
Core Seminar IV
The Singer and the Stage
Spring semester, alternate years
All students
Recognizing the inherent theatricality of all vocal performance, this seminar enhances theatrical skills and culminates in a fully staged operatic production. In close coordination with the Acting Workshop, the seminar surveys and applies dramatic skills to repertory encompassing 18th-century vocal music, songs from musical theater and cabaret, and opera.
Private Instruction
Voice Instruction
All students in the program receive private voice instruction each week.
Vocal Coaching
All students receive regular individual sessions with a vocal coach.
Workshops
Acting Workshop
The Acting Workshop brings directors to Bard three times each semester to work individually and in a master-class setting with each student on a work the student is studying. The Acting Workshop is offered every semester and is incorporated into Core Seminar IV when that seminar is offered.
Alexander Technique Workshop
The Alexander Technique Workshop meets weekly each semester in the second year of study. Instruction is both in a classroom setting and in individual lessons.
Movement Workshop
This class offers basic training in movement and dance and the Alexander Technique. A variety of dance styles and techniques are studied with a focus on development of the skills necessary for fluent stagecraft. This class is offered in the first year of study.
Diction, Phonetics and Language Workshop
A workshop in phonetics and diction meets once each week for two hours (three semesters required) and includes some attention to the physiology of the voice, for a better understanding of how diction relates to the production of sound. An additional two-hour class, given by a professor from the Bard College faculty, addresses issues in grammar and conversation and provides the tools for translating poetry and texts. Additional remedial instruction is required for those students needing knowledge in the basics of diction.
Vocal Chamber Music Workshop
Vocal Chamber Music Workshop is offered in connection with the chamber music component of the Conservatory program. Two semesters of vocal chamber music is required and at least one chamber work is required as part of each student's graduation recital.
Workshop on Constructing a Career
The Workshop on Constructing a Career is held each spring semester for two hours each week. Topics include finding and working with colleagues, finding and creating performance opportunities, career development and promotion, and working with the broader community. Special guests from the professional artistic and business world are also brought in to speak on their various areas of expertise.
Summary of Requirements
| Studio Instruction (4 credits per semester) | 16 credits |
| Core Seminars (4 credits per semester) | 16 credits |
| Vocal Chamber Music Workshop (1 credit per semester) | 2 credits |
| Diction, Phonetics and Language Workshop (3 credits per semester) | 9 credits |
| Alexander Technique (1 credit per semester) | 2 credits |
| Movement Workshop (1 credit per semester) | 2 credit |
| Constructing a Career Workshop | 2 credits |
| Acting Workshop (1 credit per semester) | 3 credits |
| Vocal Coaching (2 credits per semester) | 8 credits |
| Graduation Recital | — |
| Total | 60 credits |
Students must be in residence at Bard for two academic years.
