Promoting A Successful Transition To A Professional Career For Vocal Studies Graduates
A successful opera singer must complement their artistic talent with entrepreneurial and business skills (Daniel & Daniel, 2015; Storen, 2014). Therefore, educational institutions must teach their graduate vocal studies students to expand their talent and learn how to market themselves as a product. Little research has been conducted from the perspective of opera singers’ academic experiences in higher educational institutions and how well their institutions prepared them for the transition to the professional world. The purpose of the study was to determine if current core curricula are sufficient or should curriculum development focus on the entrepreneurial and business aspects in the vocal arts, particularly careers in opera. Entrepreneurial bricolage theory was used to examine the educational experiences of 27 survey participants (nine of these participants were randomly chosen to be interviewed) who graduated from a higher educational institution within the past 10 years, to determine if their institutions prepared them to transition from a student into a professional opera singer. Interpretation of the data determined that networking, marketing, and budgeting knowledge and skills were lacking in development based on curricula from higher education institutions. However, high education value with voice faculty, vocal technique, and institution name recognition were experienced among the participants.
Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research, Educational Leadership, Educational Methods
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