To the Editor:

The Choir College is missing its most promising option for continuing its programs: creating a contemporary/popular voice program.

There’s a huge demand for popular voice programs — we saw that in touring colleges with our son, who’s now a senior at Belmont University in Nashville, studying commercial voice with an arranging focus. (He was also accepted at Berklee College for a similar program.) Voice is the top major of Belmont Music students and was certainly the most common interest of those who toured Berklee when we did. There’s no comparable contemporary voice program in our area — so why doesn’t Westminster create one? It already has classical voice staff and can draw other staff from New York City and Philadelphia to teach pop, jazz, rock, and other styles. Offering a cappella performance, arranging, choreography, and teaching — a natural fit. Additional income can also come from workshops, camps, and performances, partnering with local universities and lower schools, and offering songwriting classes as well.

A popular voice program could fund keeping Westminster where it is. Why not have Westminster remain a unique and prosperous center for voice teaching of all kinds?

Ruth Greenwood
Grover Avenue

The writer is co-coordinator of the Princeton Songwriters group.