Today we woke up early, had a quick continental breakfast at the hotel, and arrived at Southeast Missouri State University River Campus by 8am to check in for Music Major Day!
It was so nice to be greeted by Dr. Lamont, and because she had said so many good things about Annah, all the rest of the voice and music education faculty was excited to meet her! After a quick greeting by the music faculty and students, the event attendees were taken to another building (There are only 3 buildings on the River Campus--all for students of the arts!) to take their theory placement exam. I chatted with Dr. McFarland and Dr. Lamont for a while, then walked with Dr. McFarland over to the recital hall.
I sat in the back and watched the voice faculty work with some of the students who were there to audition in a masterclass.
It is such a beautiful space, and acoustically it is a fabulous space in which to perform!
Voice faculty, current voice majors, and auditioning voice students warming up together...
After the masterclass, Annah had 7 minutes before her audition. She chose not to go downstairs to a practice room to run through her songs, because she didn't want to be late or to be winded after having come back up the stairs and straight into her audition. So! She waited outside the door of the recital hall, excited for her opportunity to sing!
I was glad there was a professional accompanist for her, and Annah said he asked the voice faculty to give her a gold star and extra credit for the way I prepared the music for him. I got to stand outside the door and listen to Annah sing beautifully and confidently. I could tell she was struggling a little bit because of the swelling in her throat, but she didn't falter. I heard the voice faculty applaud and cheer her, and the head of the department said to me as he came out of the room with her to get the next auditioned, "SHE DID AWESOME!!!"
Annah said they told her she has had a lot of really good instruction and training, and that she sings very intelligently. We sat in a nearby lounge while the others auditioned, and chatted about the experience. After about an hour and a half, Annah said, "Oh yeah, I forgot. After I sang, they said, 'You are DEFINITELY admitted to the Music Department! (Scholarships will take a little longer to figure out.)' I cracked up! Such a funny thing for her to forget to tell me! I love that she wasn't nervous at all, and that even though this was the only audition she's done that was actually for admission into a program, she was just happy for the chance to sing and didn't get all worked up about it.
After auditions, we attended an Honors Recital of current music majors, and it was very nice. We had lunch in the dining hall with Dr. McFarland, and really enjoyed her company. She answered a lot of questions for us, and was so curious about Annah and encouraging to her as she heard about her experiences.
Next, Dr. McFarland facilitated a great student panel. They answered some great questions, and said a lot of things I was glad Annah could hear from current music majors!
Our final adventure on campus was what we had been looking forward to all day--sitting in on University Choir rehearsal with Dr. Lamont!
The choir is the top choral ensemble at the university, and Barb said they are working really quickly to prepare for a concert called Child's Play. This is just a few seconds of a crazy atonal nursery rhyme piece with constantly changing meter they were working on for it...
Annah enjoyed the rehearsal so much. It was a GREAT DAY at SEMO!!!
But, she was incredibly exhausted! We said goodbye to Dr. Lamont and thanked her, then went to the car to get more comfortable clothes for Annah to change into.
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