CAREER IN VOICE

Voice Department

For you, music is not a hobby; it is going to be your career.

Many successful vocalists began their careers at Berklee—Tracy Bonham, Stacy Campbell, Paula Cole, Lynn Fidmont, Juliana Hatfield, Lalah Hathaway, Lauren Kinhan, Tim Owens, and Tierney Sutton. They came to Berklee because of who we are: the world's largest independent music school and the premier institution for the study of today's music.

The Voice Department at Berklee offers you the most comprehensive voice education to be found anywhere. We provide individualized instruction in all contemporary music styles, including jazz, pop, rock, and theater, and prepare you for both concert performance and studio work. We offer you professional faculty who are specialists, course work specifically designed to enhance your talents and abilities, and myriad performance opportunities. We know how voice fits into today's music world, and we give it the respect it deserves.

We know that the vocalist is a powerful musical leader. Whether on stage or in the studio, voice is one of the most flexible and expressive instruments, no matter the musical style. Studying at a college that offers you the broadest range of styles is the best way for you to take your singing and turn it into a career.

Studying Voice at Berklee

At Berklee, you will discover your range and develop your own style. You won't be limited to one direction. We encourage you to experiment with other styles that interest you, so that you can challenge yourself, improve your skills, and develop your craft. We will help you to become a vocalist with a strong musical identity.

Berklee prepares you for today's music by building on traditional aspects of learning. In all instruction offered in the Voice Department, emphasis is placed on achieving a solid foundation in the standard technical challenges of professional performance, including improvisation, reading, and interpretation. Also included is intensive training in sight-reading and in building repertoire as well as an acute awareness of vocal health.

Private Lessons

In your first week at Berklee, you will be given a placement audition by a voice faculty member, and the chair of the department will match you with the teacher best suited to your needs for private instruction. Every student will take at least four semesters of private lessons and must pass a final exam at the end of each semester on the skills learned.

Vocal Labs and Performance Studies Courses

These specialized voice classes bring together vocalists of similar performance levels and provide training in specific aspects of vocal performance. Many of the teaching materials used in these classes are created by the very Berklee faculty who will be teaching you. In addition to the required labs—Sight-Reading Techniques, Elements of Vocal Technique, and Vocal Styles (jazz, pop/rock, and r&b)—the elective labs include:

• Advanced Vocal Performance Labs 1 and 2
• Beginning Improvisation for Singers
• English Diction
• Guitar Accompaniment Skills for the Vocalist
• Microphones, P.A. Systems, and the Singer
• Musical Theater/Opera Scenes Workshop
• Practice Skills for the Studio Singer
• Performance Skills for the Live Background Singer
• Rehearsal Techniques for Vocalists
• Seminar on Latin American Music
• Stage Performance Workshop—Jazz
• Stage Performance Workshop—Rock and Pop
• Studio Techniques for the Lead Singer and Background Vocalist
• Survey of Vocal Styles
• Vocal Improvisation in the Jazz Idiom
• Vocal Lab—Jazz Fundamentals
• Vocal Lab—Reading 3
• Vocal Skills for the Self-Accompanied Vocalist

Course Work

The courses at Berklee are continually reviewed and evaluated so that they are up-to-date and consistently reflect today's musical needs. In classes such as Survey of Vocal Styles, you will learn the history of voice, analyze its present-day challenges, and participate in an in-depth study of styles and techniques.

Ensembles

Through ensembles, you will hone essential performance skills and techniques. They help you to broaden your stylistic range, to expand your network of musical friends and colleagues, and to gain diverse group-playing experience.

Berklee offers an ensemble experience for every entering student. Based on your placement audition, you may be eligible for the Rhythm Section and Vocalist Ensemble.

Ensembles are offered in multiple sections for varying levels of ability. You choose the group and style that appeal to you. Your eligibility is determined by ongoing auditions that measure your growth as a performer. This system enables you to move into higher level ensembles as you develop your skills.

More than 350 ensembles rehearse weekly at Berklee. These ensembles reflect nothing less than a full range of musical expression:

• African Pop Ensemble
• commercial pop/rock recording ensembles
• country music ensembles
• funk bands
• Gospel Choir
• jazz ensembles
• Jazz/Rock Ensemble
• Latin ensembles
• Musical Theater/Opera Performance Ensemble
• r&b ensembles
• Rhythm Section and Vocal Ensemble
• rock ensembles
• Vocal Jazz Ensemble

Visiting Artists

Through our Visiting Artist Series, you will be exposed to valuable first-hand career insight from some of the finest performers, songwriters, film composers, music business experts, and music professionals from every sector of the industry. Visiting vocal professionals have included: Oleta Adams H'94, Patti Austin, Cheryl Bentyne H'93, the Bobs, Carmen Bradford, Kurt Elling, Nnenna Freelon, Natalie Jackson, Billy Joel H'93, Kevin Mahogany, Richard Marx, New York Voices, Rebecca Parris, Smokey Robinson, Nancy Wilson H'94, and Trisha Yearwood.

Voice Rooms

The Voice Department has three amplifier-equipped rooms for private or small ensemble instruction and rehearsal. In addition, there are larger group instruction rooms complete with audio-visual learning aids. MIDI equipment, compact disc players, digital phrase samplers, videotapes, and audio tapes are used extensively for performance analysis classes and musical accompaniment. Voice Department performances and recitals are often videotaped for faculty and student analysis.

Voice Faculty

One-on-one faculty/student interaction is crucial to your Berklee education. As preparation for a career in the music industry, it is essential that you work intensively with men and women who have been living that career already. Berklee's voice faculty are innovative educators as well as experienced professional musicians. Their expertise in contemporary vocal techniques and technology make them invaluable as teachers.

The diversity of styles and experience of our faculty mean you will be exposed to the best education possible. You need not be restricted to one teacher throughout your education. You can work with any number of faculty during your time at Berklee, giving you the ultimate educational experience.

Our voice faculty includes:

Chairs

• 

  Bob Stoloff, Interim Chair

  Title: Interim Chair

  Department: Voice

  • B.M., Berklee College of Music
  • Jazz vocalist and instrumentalist
  • International festival appearances with Bobby McFerrin's Vocal Summit
  • Internationally recognized adjudicator, clinician, and jazz choir consultant
  • Author of Scat! Vocal Improvisation Techniques and Blues Scatitudes, Gerard/Sarzin, and Body Beats, Advance Music

View all Voice Department faculty...

Berklee College of Music

Berklee was founded on two revolutionary ideas: that musicianship could be taught through the music of the time; and that our students need practical, professional skills for successful, sustainable music careers. While our bedrock philosophy has not changed, the music around us has and requires that we evolve with it.

For over half a century, we've demonstrated our commitment to this approach by wholeheartedly embracing change. We update our curriculum and technology to make them more relevant, and attract diverse students who reflect the multiplicity of influences in today's music. We prepare our students for a lifetime of professional and personal growth through the study of the arts, sciences, and humanities. And we are developing new initiatives to reach and influence an ever-widening audience.

More than a college, Berklee has become the world's singular learning lab for the music of today—and tomorrow. We are a microcosm of the music world, reflecting the interplay between music and culture; an environment where aspiring music professionals learn how to integrate new ideas, adapt to changing musical genres, and showcase their distinctive skills in an evolving community. We are at the center of a widening network of industry professionals who use their openness, virtuosity, and versatility to take music in surprising new directions.

Performance Facilities

The Berklee Performance Center, our largest facility, seats more than 1,200 and is constantly alive with student and faculty concerts sponsored by the college or professional performances sponsored by independent music producers. In addition, Berklee maintains four professional-quality recital halls for smaller concerts and gatherings. All in all, more than 600 performances take place each year at Berklee. As you progress musically, you are sure to be part of many of them.

Learning Resources

The Stan Getz Library offers an extensive collection of printed materials, audio and video recordings, and other instructional media for student use.

The Career Development Center provides counselors to help students identify and assess their skills, locate information about specific music careers, expand and develop their career network, explore graduate school options, prepare a resumé and professional cover letter, discuss job search strategies, learn or refine interview and audition skills, and generally create a plan for mapping out their own unique career path.

The Learning Center offers small-to-large group instruction rooms with Apple computer workstations. As a complement to the training sessions, the software is further discussed in ongoing forums that cover popular software and hardware topics and are led by faculty, Learning Center staff, upper-semester students, and software company representatives.

Studio and Lab Facilities

To prepare for careers in music, students work in studios, labs, and classrooms that emulate the conditions found in professional environments Students learn the fundamental and enduring qualities shared by great music and explore music technology applications in the most up-to-date educational facilities possible in contemporary music education.

The Recording Studio Complex consists of 13 professional production facilities, which include multitrack digital and analog recording capability, automated mixdown, digital audio editing, video postproduction, 5.1 multichannel surround mixing, and comprehensive signal processing equipment.

The Synthesis Labs feature more than 250 different types of synthesizers, standard and alternate controllers, effects processors, recorders, mixers, and software. Students receive hand-on instruction and supervised development time in areas of synthesizer programming, electronic composition/production, audio for visual media (games, film, television, interactive), sound design, software design, and performance.

The Performance Division Technology Lab is a five-station lab designed to support students' study of new electronic instrumental controller techniques. Featuring Apple/Macintosh computers, various synthesizer modules, and the latest in guitar, bass, keyboard, percussion, and woodwind, and brass MIDI controllers, the lab enables students to learn to adapt traditional playing techniques to complex electronic setup and control environments.

The Professional Writing Division Technology Lab consists of 12 digital audio/MIDI workstations.

The Film Scoring Labs offer students the opportunity for hands-on study in the areas of film music composition, conducting, MIDI sequencing, and digital music editing, with two lab/classrooms, a self-contained scoring-studio complex, a 40-seat theater/classroom, and two DAW/screening rooms.

Berklee Summer Programs

In addition to Berklee's full-time course of study, the college also offers short summer programs focusing on a variety of instruments and music topics. In particular, the five-week Summer Performance Program covers all aspects of performance. It includes classes, workshops, and participation in ensembles as well as private lessons, lecture/demonstrations by faculty and visiting artists, and exposure to the latest innovations in music technology. You may read more about our Summer Programs online.

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