Brandon Snook was on his way up in the opera world when disaster struck – puberty.

In 1995, when Snook was only in seventh grade, he got the title role in a production of “Amahl and the Night Visitors” with a professional opera company in Dallas. After two months of rehearsals, he woke up the day after opening night with a squeaky changing voice and a sinking feeling in his stomach. He struggled to control his hormonally-charged voice during the show’s run, and when he could finally let go, he went from boy soprano to tenor overnight.

Snook, Dallas senior, is one student among about 560 in the University’s School of Fine Arts, which includes the departments of art, design, and music and dance. But there are only 40 undergraduate vocal performance majors. John Stephens, director of the department of music and dance’s voice division, says about 100 students each year audition to become vocal performance majors and only 12 are accepted into the program. The program accepts so few students because there are only four full-time voice teachers to train them, not because the talent of those auditioning is limited. He says the school sees a huge amount of talent during auditions from all over the United States and other countries.

“We end up taking the top of the top,” Stephens says.

Once accepted, students in the program follow a rigorous schedule of classes to graduate. Snook says some people tease him about never having homework because he’s studying music. But in addition to basic education requirements such as English, Western Civilization and foreign language, performance majors take voice lessons, music history, music theory, diction and perform in productions outside their classes. Many students struggle to graduate within four years.

“A lot of people don’t think it’s hard,” Snook says. “Music is half talent and half work, though. And once you get here, everyone has the talent – so it’s all work.”

One of the biggest differences between vocal performance majors and other students is the lifestyle adjustments associated with singing full time. Stephens says that most students can still write papers when they’re under the weather, but singers who get colds and lose their voices can get in big trouble academically. On weekends when other students are going out to the bars, Snook says he has to constantly check himself, even though he loves to party. Screaming over a bar crowd or drinking too much beer can affect his performance the next day. It’s easy enough to take a test with a hangover, but performing well after a long night out is another story. During vocal juries, when performance students are judged on their vocal progress for the semester, a bad night out can mean a failing grade.

“What people don’t realize is that there actually is kind of a science – an art – to singing,” Snook says.

In his last semester at the University, Snook is enrolled in 20 hours of classes, auditioning for graduate schools and performing in two shows before graduating. He gets to campus at 8:30 in the morning and doesn’t leave Murphy Hall until as late as midnight on his busiest days. His rehearsals for “Cosi fan Tutte,” which opened on Jan. 28, lasted until midnight or later with only a short break for dinner. He has had fewer classes outside Murphy every semester, and as a senior has all music classes and spends all his class time in the same building. But Snook says he tries to avoid being one of those music students who spends every waking hour in Murphy. He’s a fourth-generation Jayhawk and says he hates the thought of being on such a great campus and never getting to see it.

Whether it’s walking up to Wescoe Beach just to pick up the day’s fliers and read the paper or going into Watson Library to pretend he actually has a reason to check out books, he says he tries to walk up the Hill every day just to say he’s done it.

When he graduates in May, Snook says he plans to join the majority of vocal performance majors who enroll in graduate schools to make professional connections and finish their training. After that, he’ll hit the job market like any other graduate and look for a job in opera and maybe musical theater. He says he has a good chance of succeeding because good tenors are in such high demand. But after fighting puberty to be the best performer he could be, chances are he can cope with any challenge that comes his way.