teachers: will one mediocre grade in private voice effect my

Question:

Attn. voice majors/teachers: will one mediocre grade in private voice effect my chance of teaching/performing?

I'm a senior voice performance major who has always done well in college music classes, never receiving a grade less than an A- in private voice...In October I gave an excellent senior voice recital. Then, before my final performance the last week of school I had bronchitis which temporarily effected my voice quality when I sang for my final...today I received my final grades and ended up with a B+ in private voice this semester. (I've heard before that in order to teach on a college level, one has to have earned only A's in that particular field which they desire to teach. Teaching on a college level, and performing, is what I plan to eventually undertake.) When other colleges see my transcript someday, will one B+ impact their decision to hire me? I'm also planning to attend grad school. If I receive A's this coming spring semester, and in grad school next fall, will only one bad grade matter, even if they see that I coincidently received it the same semester of my recital?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: The grade means next to nothing in comparison to your actual voice; the grading for any performance is so subjective, considering you've had all A's up until now, people looking to hire you will want to hear you first before they judge. Also, grad school makes a much bigger impact than undergrad work does. Go to a good grad school and no one will say a word about one B (and a B+ at that!) in undergrad.

Will it affect if you get into grad school or not? I doubt it will be the deciding factor; if you don't get in somewhere, the B+ may not have helped, but it won't have been the only reason they rejected you. Still, your audition will be much more important. If anyone asks what happened, why the B+, tell them the truth: you were sick, things happen, you tried to work through it, c'est la vie. I can't imagine them thinking less of you for it.

For performance, the fact that you are a vocal perf major will be a plus, but they'll want someone with the voice, stage presence, chemistry with other performers (for opera/musical theatre) or the audience (for solo gigs), and the general desired look before they cast you. Grades won't mean a thing.

For teaching, I've never heard that you needed all A's to teach at the collegiate level. I'd guess experience will count more than grades anyways. If you graduate with a composition major, but never get a piece published or performed, it won't matter if you had all A's, you won't get hired because you haven't shown that you can perform/produce. It will also depend on where you want to teach. It will be harder overall to be hired at Julliard or Curtis than at a small local state school without a particularly reputable music department, so your grades might be more important in getting hired at the former.

Please don't sweat a B+. Make sure you rock your grad school auditions and you'll be fine. Break a leg!