As graduation looms and senioritis begins to affect many students, seniors in the Bienen School of Music are busy preparing for mandatory end-of-year recitals.
“I have friends who are more or less done,” Music senior Jean Laurenz said. “They go out all the time and have crazy senioritis. In Music you can’t, because if you even stop playing for two days, it takes about a week to come back fully.”
Laurenz, a trumpet student, has taken a slightly different path and put preparations for her senior recital on hold in order to practice for another unique recital. She is a member of a cappella group Thunk; they will be performing during her May 28 recital, which will combine trumpet, choral music and a cappella.
Most Music students do not combine musical elements like this, which makes her recital new and exciting, she said.
“I have to wing it out of nowhere because it’s never really been done before,” she said. “I’m excited to do my own thing and it’ll be fun to have it be my last shebang.”
Music senior Margaret Cerjan completed her senior recital last week. She said it was not her best performance, but she wasn’t surprised considering the stress that accompanies senior year.
“I think the senior recital is pretty much like a thesis,” the violinist said. “It’s the culmination of all you’ve done in college. You put in the hardest pieces you’ve ever played, and it’s definitely the longest recital you’ve ever done.”
Cerjan has played the violin for 14 years, and she said recitals are nothing new. Still, part of what sets Music students apart is the practice time necessary to succeed, she said.
Most students in the School of Music practice between two and three hours a day, and that amount of time goes up to four or five hours when preparing for a recital, she said. Younger students should make sure they want a future as a musician before continuing in the school, she said.
“It’s definitely the hardest career to do, and there will be a lot of failure and frustration,” she said. “You need to make sure that you are willing to have that focus on practicing and that you want to make music your career.”
Andrew Haynie, a jazz saxophonist, is preparing for his senior recital on May 20. His primary professor Victor Goines has been instrumental in helping him perfect his repertoire, he said.
“We’ve been working on lots of music together in lessons,” the Music and theatre major said. “He decided that the pieces had to be a certain length, and he OK’d all my selections for it too.”
Some non-musicians assume Music students take fewer classes and do not work as hard, but that is not true, Haynie said.
“The difficulty in music is that you have to maintain a rigorous practice schedule, and the benefits of that practice aren’t automatic or immediately obvious,” he said. “I’m preparing for finals but I’m focusing on my recital – that means writing music, learning the music, assembling my band, rehearsing with the band. It’s a bit of work.”
Laurenz agreed that recitals can be a nagging concern for seniors.
“It’s the type of thing that is always on my mind,” she said. “You go out with friends, and it comes into your thoughts.”
