The Department of Music requires all seniors to perform a 30 to 60 minute prepared collection of pieces. These recitals showcase each student’s musical knowledge, talent and passion.
Senior recitals are graded, making them a graduating requirement for music department students.
Students prepare all semester for the all-encompassing recital. They dedicate hours to researching, practicing and perfecting their performance.
“Something that I will take away from this experience is the preparation,” said senior vocalist Hope Aldridge. “Yes, the recital is so fun and so rewarding, but the preparation process is hard work. 11-15 songs, in four different languages, memorized, in one semester. On top of preparing for this, we still had to manage other classes and schoolwork. It’s tough, but again, it’s so rewarding.”
After picking their respective date, students have to prepare for their “hearing.” The students get to choose a panel of three professors that listen to the entire program, determining whether the student passes or fails.
Essentially, the “hearing” is to ensure students have methodically planned out their performance, can perform the pieces well and make sure the performance adequately matches up with the individual’s talent.
Leah Pickering, senior vocalist, performed 12 songs for a total of 45 minutes on April 12. She planned a set entirely made up of female composers.
“Female composers are very important to me, and their stories deserve to be told just as much as the white male composers,” said Pickering.
Pickering dedicated her recital to her mother who passed in 2011, and her set explored the theme of memories. Her mother actually told her that ever since Pickering could talk, she began to sing. From that point on, her mother put her in voice lessons.
Pickering prefers to sing opera pieces because of her “strong, natural vibrato” that shines through in the opera world. “I’ve always just loved the drama of it all,” said Pickering. “I’ve loved all the big, wonderful costumes and the lights, and I’ve just loved all of that since I was a little kid.”
For her recital, though, she had to balance opera pieces and art song pieces. Art song pieces showcase more of the classical, educational side of music.
Pickering got to perform two opera arias, both from “Don Giovanni,” but the remainder of her pieces came from art songs.
For voice recitals, specifically, students are required to perform pieces in English, Italian,
German and French. Pickering tackled each of these languages, and she even sang a Creole piece to honor the Louisiana side of her family.
Emma Best, senior pianist, worked for months practicing and perfecting her pianist-flute recital that will take place on April 30. She will graduate with a bachelor degree in science in education, instrumental music.
Best will be opening her recital with a pianist piece from the Baroque Era, an era that places emphasis on the dynamic sound of the piano.
She is looking forward to the end-result of her senior recital, knowing she will be “proud” of the accomplishment.
“I view it as a cultivation of what you’ve spent your whole time here doing,” said Best. “Obviously, there’s more educational benefits, but for me, it’s me having spent four years here, learning my instruments better and progressing. This is like the end capstone project for all of that.”
Best plans on becoming a high school band director, so she is excited to take all she has learned and pass it on to future students.
The Department of Music is well-known for their unrelenting support for one another, and the senior recitals are a prime example of this notion.
“Especially leading up to our recitals, we’re all celebrating with each other. It’s so warm and welcoming to go into an environment like this because it’s not always going to be like this,” said Pickering.
Senior students utilize the recital as an opportunity to showcase the knowledge they have gathered in the previous years, using it as a final moment to perform in front of friends, family and peers.
