Vocal Performance

Choral, opera, and song performance are the opportunities which form the foundation of the vocal program at Hartt. By balancing these, Hartt prepares students for the next step in their singing journeys, which could include graduate study, private teaching, or a performance career. All students study privately with a member of Hartt's eminent voice faculty, enhancing their technique and knowledge of the repertoire.

During the first two years of study, a strong foundation in movement and acting helps create well-rounded singing actors. Third- and fourth-year students enjoy coaching privately with the esteemed Vocal Coaching faculty, creating well-polished performances through intensive work on language, style, and musicality. This nurturing, yet thorough, ecosystem sets the Voice BM apart by providing the most comprehensive training for the next generation of world-class singing actors.

The Master of Music in Vocal Performance provides the mature student with advanced vocal training and academic study in preparation for careers as professional twenty-first century musicians. The core of this training includes intensive private vocal study and coaching, advanced lyric diction training, graduate vocal seminars and literature courses, invigorating academic classes, and numerous solo opportunities in recital, choral, and operatic performances.

Learning Outcomes:

Students will be able to: 

1. Demonstrate advanced knowledge of art song, opera, and choral literature from a variety of stylistic periods. 
2. Perform art song, opera, and choral repertoire with professional-level artistry and technique.
3. Demonstrate advanced lyric diction competency in English, German, French, Italian, Latin, and the International Phonetic Alphabet.
4. Demonstrate advanced understandings of vocal technique and vocal pedagogy as it applies to a variety of professional teaching situations. 
5. Meet current vocal industry business standards, including advanced skills in audition techniques, self promotion, portfolio management, and private teaching. 
6. Complete a culminating recital by successfully selecting, preparing, and performing professional-level repertoire. 

Hartt’s graduate-level diploma programs provide emerging professional artists with advanced-level study to further their career goals in the vocal performing arts. The core of this training includes intensive vocal study and private coaching, movement and acting, and numerous solo performance opportunities. With fewer academic requirements than other advanced degrees, the remainder of the curriculum is designed to allow for participation in areas that speak to the artist’s professional interests.

Learning Outcomes (GDP):

Students will be able to: 

1. Compose works in a variety of media and genres including a work of substantial scope. 
2. Use music technology for a variety of purposes, including the notation of scores, creation of electronic and multi-media works, and pedagogy. 
3. Employ practical music skills to effect their successful performance of their compositions, whether through coaching, conducting, or performance.

Learning Outcomes (AD):

Students will able to: 

1. Perform in a highly professional and artistic manner. 
2. Be proficient in reading comprehension and highly proficient in diction of foreign languages (French, Italian, and German).
3. Demonstrate a high level of professional musicianship. 

The Doctor of Musical Arts degree program is designed to develop the complete musician, emphasizing both the highest level of musicianship and practical scholarly insight. Each curriculum is intended to prepare the respective candidate for a career at the most advanced level of performance, teaching, or composition.

Learning Outcomes:

At the completion of the program students will be able to: 

1. Have mastered vocal technique and be able to perform operatic, art song and oratorio literature with deep understanding and accomplished artistry.
2. Have a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of opera, art song and oratorio literature from all historical periods. .
3. Have a comprehensive and thorough understanding of the history of vocal literature and the ability to relate the development of solo vocal music to other major genres of Western art music. 
4. Have a thorough understanding of performance practice issues from diverse historical and stylistic genre as well as good working knowledge of primary and secondary vocal sources. 
5. Have an ability to write with a deep understanding and insightfulness about vocal music for any medium, including non-refereed and refereed professional journals. 
6. Demonstrate mastery of the International Phonetic Alphabet and lyric diction in Italian, German, French and English.
7. Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of vocal technique and vocal pedagogy as well as a high-level of ability to teach private voice in a variety of teaching situations, including the university level. 
8. Plan and implement artistic vocal programming in a variety of settings.
9. Demonstrate familiarity with all bibliographic tools to carry out scholarly research in solo vocal music.  

Graduate students may pursue the advanced study of choral conducting on the master's or doctoral level. These two programs offer rigorous training that includes private conducting lessons, languages and diction, voice study, musicianship, score reading and preparation, performance practice, and an array of academic studies to prepare choral directors for conducting and teaching careers in community, school, and university settings. Students work closely with Hartt choral ensembles and both degree programs have required choral performances as part of the curriculum.

Learning Outcomes (MMusic in Choral Conducting):

1. Demonstrate advanced conducting technique, including communicating musical ideas through clear and expressive conducting gestures.  
2. Apply graduate level score analysis and musicianship skills—including aural skills, structural analysis, and stylistic interpretation—to score preparation, conducting and rehearsal decisions. 
3. Integrate knowledge from supportive musical fields (e.g., orchestration, history, literature, performance, composition, musicology, instrumental (orchestral and/or wind band conducting) to enrich artistic and interpretive choices, including an understanding of choral literature and performance practice.
4. Demonstrate proficiency in vocal pedagogy, diction across major choral languages, and phonetic/linguistic skills (including IPA) sufficient for accurate pronunciation and textual communication. 
5. Demonstrate professional competency through regular, supervised conducting experiences leading appropriate ensembles with effective rehearsal techniques and in performance settings. 
6. Plan, rehearse, and conduct a public, concert length culminating performance that reflects graduate level mastery of repertoire preparation, interpretation, and ensemble and artistic leadership. 

Learning Outcomes (DMA in Choral Conducting):

1. Communicate musical ideas through conducting and other expressive gestures. 
2. Demonstrate a high level of musicianship, with advanced tonal and rhythmic recognition capabilities. 
3. Analyze a variety of choral music and choral/orchestral scores and implement effective rehearsal strategies as well as demonstrate oral accountability. 
4. Understand the history of choral literature from the beginning of polyphony to present day. 
5. Write effectively about choral music for the purpose of writing detailed program notes as well as non-refereed journals. 
6. Demonstrate familiarity with the performance practice traditions from diverse historical and stylistic genres. 
7. Demonstrate competency with the International Phonetic Alphabet, lyric diction in the basic European languages as well as reading competency in German.
8. Demonstrate competency in singing as well as a superior understanding of vocal technique as it relates to choral ensembles. 
9. Plan and implement balanced choral programming in a variety of settings.
10. Demonstrate administrative responsibilities of a conductor, as well as preparing scores and rehearsal schedules.  

The Hartt Choir is an SATB ensemble comprising 45-60 singers, performing a broad range of a cappella and accompanied multicultural repertoire, spanning from the Baroque period to the present. The ensemble presents four to six concerts each year, performing both independently and in collaboration with the Hartt Chamber Choir as the Hartt Concert Choir.

The Hartt Chamber Choir is an SATB ensemble of 24-28 advanced choral singers, focusing on a diverse repertoire that ranges from Medieval to contemporary works, primarily performed a cappella. Admission is by audition, assessing vocal ability, musicianship, stylistic sensitivity, and vocal versatility. The Hartt Chamber Choir performs at select university events, in the wider community, and collaborates with other vocal ensembles. The Hartt Chamber Choir performs both independently and in collaboration with the Hartt Choir as the Hartt Concert Choir.

As the Hartt Concert Choir, the combined choral ensembles (Hartt Choir and Hartt Chamber Choir) perform major choral and orchestral works annually, both within the university and in the broader community, as well as SSAA and TTBB repertoire. The Hartt Concert Choir has also undertaken several international tours, performing in Italy, Spain, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Austria, and Germany.

Each year, Vocal Studies students may participate in fully-staged opera productions, in addition to various smaller productions and scenes programs. The Hartt Opera Theater curriculum is designed so that, through a variety of repertoire covering diverse styles and eras, students have a complete educational experience in learning and preparing a role, cultivating stagecraft, and working with professional directors, conductors, and production staff.

Unique to The Hartt School is the undergraduate and graduate-level track of specialized song seminars. These courses provide in-depth study to help master the languages, styles, and performance practices specific to songs from countries throughout the world. Separate from diction and vocal literature courses, these seminars provide opportunities to build valuable skills through performance. Each year, The Hartt School hosts its Festival of American Song, featuring concerts with students, faculty, guest artists, and often living American composers.

• 2 art songs
• 1 piece which may be a third art song or a selection from the opera, oratorio/cantata/mass, or musical theater* repertoires.

• 1 art song
• 1 piece which may be a second art song or a selection from the opera, oratorio/cantata/mass, or musical theater* repertoires.

• 3 art songs
• 2 arias, 1 of which may be from an oratorio/cantata/mass

• 1 Italian or Spanish art song
• 1 French mélodie
• 1 German Lied
• 1 English art song
• 2 opera arias in 2 different languages
• 1 oratorio/cantata/mass aria
• 1 art song or aria of the applicant’s choice in any language