Sitting in a clinic in Nepal, I picked up the only newspaper that was in English and stared at the section dedicated to the Grammy Awards. There by the headline was Sam Smith, standing with a grin, cradling his four Grammys. I turned to my friend and stated, “I want to win a Grammy.” As I sat there, hearing myself vocalize a hidden dream, I waited, expecting some sort of encouraging spiel on how I could accomplish anything I wanted if I worked hard enough. Instead, she tilted her head as she said with a smile, “Well, you’ll have to sing in front of your friends first.” She was right. In order for me to be on that stage, thanking my mother for her endless encouragement, I would need to set aside all those drive blocking reasons I couldn’t be a musician. It is scary, realizing my dream and knowing that it will not be easy. When I think about singing, composing, spreading my message, sharing my voice, I am filled with excitement and anxiety. …show more content…
I joined the South Bay Children’s Choir at, traveled with the choir to Hawaii and England to perform, and decided to move on to solo singing at the age of thirteen. The evolution of my voice from a soft blendable alto during Choir blossomed into a strong high soprano after years of training. My voice teachers worked with me to perfect my higher range, and as such, I am now comfortable and happy with the soaring embellishments found in many of the classical pieces I learned. Though I never want to forget my foundation in classical training, I long to expand my range and style to incorporate more than traditional soprano
We had finally done it! We were good enough to play on stage. We had practice so long for the concert. We could play the Christmas songs we practiced for in front of our parents.
Music has always been an important part of my life. Upon entering the fifth grade, my parents bought me a flute, at my insistence. After moderate success playing the flute, I saw greener grass on the other side of the musical fence. Singing just had to be easier than making music with a long metal pipe. My perception and reality did not exactly match. Singing has its own subtleties and complexities which are not readily apparent to the casual observer. Abandoning the flute for singing, I began taking voice lessons in the tenth grade. My voice teacher was very experienced and encouraged me to pursue my interest in music beyond high school. After much deliberation, I decided to major in voice during college. This path would be fraught with unforeseen difficulties and exciting challenges.
Do you know what it feels like to give everything you have into one performance and then get first place, because I do. The West Branch show choir competition provided me with the life lesson of perseverance, determination, hard work.
The spring choir concert that I went to was like the percussion concert just with singing. I enjoyed listening to the singers as they sung the different melodies. As I was sitting there listening to the different singers sing I could not help but to think about how strong there voices are and how strong they must be to get over the big space of the performance center. Voice is just lost in such a big space like the one in the Price performance center, they have to work on their voices and make sure that they can sing loud, clear and strong to get it across to the audience. Also, while trying to do that they must make sure that the quality is not lost while trying to increase the loudness of their voice. I could also tell the different voices such as the tenors the sopranos and the altos. I could not help but to realize how these different voices interacted with each other and how without one set the sound would not be the same and would be lost. I don’t understand how some people can sing as high as they do, such as the alto section. They must have some hard exercising for their voice to get as high as it does and to sound just as good.
Ever since I started band in fifth grade, I’ve always had the capability to achieve what was given to me: a hard song, solo, or other musical challenge that most kids wouldn’t want to do. I was always the one in my section to volunteer to play the solo of a song, try out for honor bands, and play the first part. My band director looked to me when there was an issue that wasn’t being resolved in my section because he trusted that I would fix it in the correct way so that it wouldn’t happen again. Today, that still happens, and I’ve continued to grow in my musical abilities.
As a background singer, I’ve sung with gospel artists: Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Donald Lawrence, Cece Winans and Marvin Sapp, as well as R&B vocalists: Stephanie Mills and Aaliyah. As a choral singer, I’ve sung with the Brazeal Dennard Chorale, Renaissance Singers, University Chorus, Sacramento Gay Men's Chorus, Oakland-East Bay Gay Men's Chorus, and The Fourth Choir in London. Recently, I sang the tenor solo in Mozart's Regina Coeli and Franz Schubert's Mass No. 2 in G Major, D. 167 at the Mondavi Center. I have studied voice with American Bach Soloists tenor Jonathan Smucker and soprano Christa Pfeiffer, I currently study with Vox Musica soprano Anne-Marie
Ever since I was a kid I have been surrounded by music, which has caused it to have a bigger impact on me than anything else in life. Although I will be majoring in strictly Business, my dream career is to work in some part of the Music Business. I hope to graduate college with a deep understanding of management, finance, and marketing. I plan on auditioning for the choir, joining clubs, and when sophomore comes along, applying for internships at record labels in NYC and LA. Since music has always had an extreme impact on me, my dream is to simply make an artists dream come true. I have seen many people surrounding me either be positively or negatively affected by music, so I plan to find the next hit superstar and help them make a positive
Nine instruments reside within my repertoire. One of these instruments is not one that requires me to pack it up and carry around with me: one everybody has, occasionally fails to recognize, and therefore neglects-- the human voice. Singing is a passion of mine, but few know about. Otherwise, the majority of the population has never heard me vocalize. Even so, I was a songbird from the moment I learned to use my voice. Innumerable hours have been spent in my cozy music room at home, enjoying the freedom of expression and warm, enveloping embrace that follows music wherever each note may lead. However, the fact that I sing never pops up in conversation-- I am not in the school choir, only ever was in sixth grade. My
Leading into my sophomore year of high school, band was the center of my life. Providing acceptance and a sense of purpose, I could always count on the fine art to get me through the hardest of days. Everything seemed to effortlessly go right while encompassed within the band world. I was convinced that my desires would invariably be provided for, as I was somehow the special (albeit, shy) exception. With this entitled mentality, I felt invincible going into my first serious audition.
Today was the day, months and months of practice and rehearsals leading up to today. The advice my mom had given me still running through my head, whatever happens it's part of the show, the audience does not exist, live the show. I was ready, as the opening music number was just starting up i walked on to the stage and the show began!
From the first time I could talk, I could sing. With that being said, when a two year old begins to sing, of course it's not the greatest but it was in that moment that my love for music and specifically singing began. Growing up in church I sang in "Kidz Praise" which was the name of the children's choir, from there as I began to get older I moved up the ranks from kids choir to the youth choir which I am currently a member of. Youth choir gives me such an amazing opportunity to travel in the summer time on our yearly mission choir tour. On these tours we go to cities such as Atlanta, Myrtle Beach, and Rock Hill. During these trips I am privileged to meet new people from the local communities from all different types backgrounds, start conversations
On a recent Wednesday evening, in a Williamstown hall, about a dozen women are warming up. After stretching and breathing and humming, some burbling and trilling and little bit of waggling, leader Steph Payne gives the signal, and the Willin Women’s choir begins to sing:
around to see who it was, it was my friend Mark. He wanted the game he
Ever since I was a small child, I have loved music. The strong, steady beats, the
As the dark stadium filled with fire, with the sounds of guns and bombs exploding everywhere, the crazed fans yelled at the top of their lungs. The enormous stage was rumbling with the sound of a single guitar as the band slowly started their next encore performance. Soon after I realized that I was actually at the Sanitarium concert listening to Metallica play "One", I thought to my self, "Is this real, am I actually here right now?" I had a weird feeling the entire time because I had worked all summer to simply listen to music with a bunch of strangers.