Senior Recitals

by Annabelle Smith

I sat down with five of the senior instrumentalists to find out about the senior recitals. Over the course of four days, all twenty-one of the senior instrumentalists (the largest class to date!) performed solo and in ensembles as the culmination of their time at BISFA. Andrew Bushey, Mae Crews, Keira Johnston, Te’a Thompson, and Luke Woody shared their experiences, both of the performance and their time at BISFA.

ANNABELLE: Hello everybody! I’m here to interview you all about the senior recitals. So to start, would you go around and introduce yourselves and tell us what instrument you play?

MAE: My name is Mae, and I play flute.

LUKE: My name is Luke, I play trumpet.

ANDREW: My name is Andrew, I play violin.

TE’A: My name’s Te’a, I play saxophone.

KEIRA: My name is Keira, I play violin and viola.

ANNABELLE: Ok, so for our readers who weren’t able to attend our senior recitals, could explain what they are and how they work?

KEIRA: They essentially take the place of our spring jury for our senior year, which is like a graded performance. We prepare three solo pieces and one group chamber piece—duet, or a quartet, something along those lines—and we… we prepare our pieces for the performance, and our friends can come, our families can come, and it’s kind of like the culminating experience of our four years at BISFA.

ANNABELLE: Alright, thank you for the explanation? Here is the big question: how did your performances go?

MAE: I think I speak for everyone in, like, that it could have definitely gone better, but honestly I'm really happy with how mine turned out. I made a whole bunch of mistakes for sure, but I think the biggest thing, like Keira said, was just having friends and family there. Like, I don't know, the mindset for me at least was “if I mess up the people out there will still love me, so who cares?” Um, yeah, it was good!

LUKE: I was happy with my last solo performance of my career at BSIFA. I picked some hard pieces and they were pretty challenging, and it is very satisfying to get up there and play in front of people and play at a level I was comfortable at. I thought it was a very nice experience, and… yes.

ANDREW: I think my performance was fairly good… obviously there's mistakes when you perform live, everything… you might forget a note or stumble over some little passage, but overall I think my performance was alright. I picked a pretty challenging last piece that went fairly well. Everything could have gone better like I said, but it was a fairly good performance—and our ensemble piece went really great.

TE’A: Um, I definitely did better this time around than my junior recitals. This time around I definitely picked songs that I knew better and liked, because this way I wasn't frantic at the last minute… because everything's frantic here. But this way, you know, you enjoy it. There’s things to always improve on, but it’s okay because it was fun.

KEIRA: Um, I thought mine went pretty well overall. Just like everyone else already said, there were some mistakes, obviously that happens, but I felt like I played musically for the most part. Funnily enough, I was expecting my first piece to go the best, but I actually think my first piece went the worst. I think my nerves got to me and, um, it's also a different kind of piece. That piece is a Bach sonata and that piece has a lot of chords in it, which can sometimes be hard to make sound nice, um, on the violin when you're playing solo, and have a good tone quality, versus some of my other pieces. They have chords, but it was a little different. Um, yeah, it was a really fun experience, and like Andrew said our chamber piece, which had Andrew, Kendall, and I, and then some juniors who helped us out, and Christian on bass, that went really well. I really felt the energy. It was the best we ever played that piece, and it was a really fun time.

ANNABELLE: That’s great to hear. So how did you all go about preparing for these performances? What was that process like?

LUKE: Well, we have accompaniment rehearsals to rehearse our pieces with a pianist and we have about three or four, sometimes two, and the whole entire recital date, but…

MAE: So what they try to have us do… I picked out my pieces, I want to say in February, March-ish? We didn’t have a date set for the recital, so you knew generally that it was in May, so you had your pieces definitely finalized in April. And so you’re supposed to practice on your own, and then the week or few weeks before you have accompanist rehearsals. You’re supposed to have at least two, I think I got three or four. I stayed after school with our accompanists, or before school, or whenever they were available. Yeah. Prepared it, it was all good.

KEIRA: Yeah, so it depends on the person how we individually prepare for it, but it’s all very similar processes. I know for me, some of the pieces I was playing was stuff I did for my college auditions so I didn’t have to start from scratch but there still was a lot of work to be done to make them sound as best as possible, but, um, one of my pieces though I didn’t have picked out until probably a month before. That was my viola concerto because viola’s not my primary instrument, so… depends on the person.

ANDREW: I think the practice varies by person. Most of my pieces were fairly a simple accompaniment part, I had three pieces that were accompanied. And I think most of it was individual practice, and a couple rehearsals just helping us get ready.

TE’A: Yeah, um, sometimes it’s hard to put your piano part together with, like transitions and tempo and style, and um… after a while you kind of realize how it fits together, and sometimes there’s no accompaniment part to that specific song you’re doing on the internet, or YouTube. So, usually you’d use a YouTube recording as a reference for how things work, but sometimes it’s not in the right key, not in the right tempo, it’s not the same arrangement, so it’s a lot easier to just have your accompanist record their piece so you can work with that after your first rehearsal.

ANNABELLE: Okay, well thank you for sharing. I was able to come to a couple of the senior recitals and one of the things I noticed was how different all of the pieces you all picked were. There were lots of different time periods, lots of different styles, so I wanted to ask, individually, how did you all come up with this sort of repertoire you all performed at your recitals?

MAE: For me I was just trying to pick pieces that I enjoyed. They weren't necessarily the hardest pieces. I know people who chose grade fives, sixes, but I was kind of in the four-ish range. So I just wanted to pick pieces that I genuinely enjoyed, that I could play musically and well, instead of pieces that were going to be hard and stressful. So that’s how I picked mine. I think I reused one of mine from my juries from the winter.

KEIRA: We are encouraged to pick contrasting pieces from different time periods and just different styles, so that played a role in it. And, um, we work with our private lesson teachers in selecting our repertoire, and we do get a lot of say in it, depending on who your lesson teacher is. I know for the violins we’re able to come to her and say, like, “I really like this piece, can we work on it?” I had had dreams since I was a freshman of what I’d play at my senior recital, and while I didn’t actually end up playing one of the pieces that I thought I wanted to play when I was a freshmen, I ended up playing a major concerto that I was super excited to perform, so that was kind of like achieving a dream. That was how I picked that one. I also reused a piece from my, um, winter juries since that was a college audition piece. Stuff like that.

ANNABELLE: Yeah, that’s really great!

LUKE: I tried to pick four very contrasting pieces to each other, and I definitely knew I wanted to play my piccolo trumpet in one of my songs, so I picked a baroque piece. I had a jazz piece, um, I had a more contemporary piece, and I had a classical piece. I just had a lot of different pieces to kind of portray my time at BISFA and the things I worked on that I really love to play, and I had a lot of fun doing it.

ANDREW: My music selection was more current to what I’m working on. I didn’t try to really highlight what I worked on at BSFa. But I selected—the piece I knew that I was working on for sure was a piece from Bach’s First Sonata, which is very challenging, and I just kind of picked it because it’s a hard piece and I just thought I could get something out of learning the piece. And then my second piece was a faster piece that I played for Solo and Ensemble. So I kind of recycled that one and did touch ups to play it a little better than I did at Solo and Ensemble. And then my other piece, kind of just thrown in last minute. But I definitely think I could have thrown in a more lyrical piece to have more contrasting pieces, like everyone is saying, because I had two fast pieces and a slower, choral-type harmony Bach piece.

KEIRA: I felt the same as you about, like, more contrasting pieces because my violin concerto and my viola concerto were similar time periods and similar styles. Um, they were different in the fact that the violin concerto is one of the major repertoires for violin… and it’s also two different instruments, so they were different in that fact, versus the viola concerto is a student concerto since I’m newer on that, but the style and the form of it was very similar so I was kind of, like, not the happiest about that. But it’s two different instruments, so I hope it balanced out, and it’s fine.

TE’A: Um, I liked the two pieces I did. They were from similar time frames and they were both cello suites, so it wasn’t really contrasting, but I liked it because they were both expressive and they had a fast and a slow section, so it kind of balanced out well. I could have done a jazz piece but I liked the more expressive, slower parts of the songs, so I picked those instead.

ANNABELLE: So one of the things that I really wanted to ask you all is in what ways have you really seen yourselves grow as performers? You all have spent significant time practicing your instruments, growing through the program, so I just want you all to reflect a little bit on this performance and how you’ve seen yourselves evolve as musicians.

LUKE: I think for everyone’s first jury, they cried. (laughter) Like, I have not seen a single person not cry after their first jury. But you kind of get used to juries, and once you get used to juries you get thrown into recitals. Junior recitals are only two pieces and they’re accompanied, plus you get a chamber piece or ensemble piece, and it kind of prepares you for your final recital, your senior recital where you pick three pieces and a fourth for your ensemble. All the performances kind of help you grow as a solo performer instead of just a classical, maybe orchestral performer where you perform in a group. It helps you grow as an individual, and it also helps your growth in a group—for your chamber group. But I think that juries and recitals beforehand have really helped me grow as a performer for my final performance, because when I got up there—I was a little nervous, but it kind of just felt like nothing new, something that I’ve already been doing.

KEIRA: Yeah, jumping off that, I felt a similar way that over my time at BISFA I’ve gotten a lot better at performing in general, and especially in solo or chamber groups when your part is much more exposed. Um, like you said I also got a little nervous, but I wasn’t that nervous, and I think a big reason for that is over my time at BISFA the way I approach music has changed a lot. The way I looked at it when I was younger was you play all the notes right, so that’s good, and that’s good enough, and you have to play all the notes right. Now that I’ve gotten older and grown musically, I think I look at it as bringing something emotional to the table and truly making music instead of just getting all the notes right. And, yeah, I want to get the notes right, but I know now that if I mess up a little bit that’s honestly not that big of a deal as long as I convey actual emotion and leave people with an experience rather than just, like—rather than just, like, an etude.

TE’A: So, I think I have definitely grown when listening to other, because as an underclassman—when I’d listen to band—it was just like “it’s here, it’s a performance, it’s great” but now you can listen and say “well, things you can improve on are bringing out other parts that are more important, or you can be more musical with this phrase, or shaping this line, or the balance or intonation,” things I could not hear as an underclassmen. So now I think it’s a lot easier to pick out even more musical ideas that are contrasting to each other.

ANDREW: I am—back to what Keira said—I kind of thought as musical performances were playing notes. We had a great masterclass this year that kind of helped confirm that a performance is more expression, like it has to have a conversation to it if you’re in, like, a small chamber group or something like that. And solo performances also, like putting your idea out. It’s more about musicality than the notes.

MAE: So, I’ve only been at BISFA for a year and my experience here has been a lot different than my experience at South. I would say here it’s definitely a lot more intense, I felt a little, like at the beginning of the year, a little like getting thrown into the deep end, especially when that first jury hit. I didn’t cry. (laughter) But, um, yeah, definitely a little thrown in the deep end. But it’s been a really nice year. I wouldn’t say I had the full growth experience as all of you guys, because you guys are here for four years and I’ve only been here for one. But, no, it’s been really fun to just kind of grow as a musician and my time playing in high school the way I played at my senior recital.

ANNABELLE: Yeah, that’s all really great to hear. Um, so this is sort of… more of a theoretical question, but you also can feel free to do this if you’re feeling extra, like, “passing on the knowledge” today. But if you could give one piece of advice to our current juniors and underclassmen instrumentalists, or even the incoming freshmen, what would that be?

KEIRA: For the current juniors going into their senior year… I’m going to give them two pieces of advice. One, um, practical, and that’s to start preparing your senior recital pieces early either because you’re doing your college audition pieces and you know you’re going to play this for your recital or you just know you really want to be able to play this piece, you need to start working on it early. Even if you don’t focus on it as like the main thing in your lessons, having it in your folder and focusing on it from time to time really helps to get more comfortable with it, because if you’re not comfortable with the technique of it you really can’t bring the musicality to it as well as you could if you were comfortable with the notes. But then my more theoretical advice would be just enjoying your time at BISFA. It can get stressful and I know people say this all the time, like “it’s stressful but enjoy it,” but I really mean it. Now that my time at BISFA’s starting to come to an end, I don’t want to say I’m sad because I’m excited for what’s coming in the future but it is definitely hard to be leaving such a special place behind, so I think juniors—but even freshmen—just need to go each moment at a time and savor each experience they have at BISFA and get the most that they can out of it instead of just going through the motions. Really have gratitude for it in that moment.

TE’A: My advice would be the pieces you pick do not have to be the hardest thing you've ever played or looked at, because you have concerts on top of concerts, music on top of music. It's constant on the go. You do not have to pick the hardest thing you see. As long as you do it well and musically, you'll leave the experience being happy with what you did.

KEIRA: Yeah sorry to jump in here again but I 100% agree with Te’a, because I feel like it's really easy for your senior title to be, like, “it has to be the hardest thing ever and everyone has to be so impressed” but like, people aren't going to be impressed if you play it wrong (laughter) because it’s too hard! And so I agree with that.

LUKE: I would just say enjoy the time you have. Make friends with the people around you, especially people that share the same instrument as you. I've made lifelong friends here who I will definitely stay in touch with.

ANNABELLE: Anyone else?

TE’A: Going off of that, I definitely agree, because the music community is a lot smaller than you think it is. The connections that you build off of just lesson teachers, people knowing other people, and working off of that, or like being in touch with others that other people know… it's a lot smaller than you think it is, so make good friends now, make good connections now.

LUKE: Yes.

TE’A: Because you’ll never know when you’ll need them.

LUKE: Jumping off of that, making connections with your lesson teachers can also help bring gig opportunities. I've had multiple paid gigs and they are a lot of fun—not just for money, but for the experience as well. I love playing at the church that I play at. (laughter) What?

KEIRA: I also—just from being close to Mr. Hollin and him knowing me well, me knowing him well, and having that good relationship with him—I've also gotten a gig out of that. This weekend I have a gig and so that's another piece of advice. Like Te’a said, it gets me so busy and so stressful. I have three performances just this week, and that’s just what life is like at BISFA. Especially your senior year. And it can be overwhelming and easy to be like “oh I just want to be done with this because it's so much and I'm just so overwhelmed.” But yeah, savor the moment, but don't overwork yourself and don't put too much on your plate.

MAE: I guess… yeah, not to go off that, but something that I found really cool—I play flute, so I don't really get to play any jazz, I don't play in commercial, which is fine, but it's really nice to go and hear that kind of music and also go to like different departments—their little events as well, and I would… I guess, encourage others, or other students, to attend the other departments’ events or even within their own department, so to something that’s not your performance and see what your peers have to offer. Because it’s really cool. Jazz band is really cool, and I love listening to jazz and commercial, and I’m okay with not playing in it, because that seems really overwhelming, (laughs) but it’s nice to listen to.

ANNABELLE: Thank you all for sharing, these are really good pieces of advice! I wanted to ask you all… I know not every single BISFA senior will go on to do something in their discipline, but I said that last year and then literally every single senior was majoring in music. So I wanted to ask you all, what are your plans for after graduation?

LUKE: Did you want to know the college, too?

ANNABELLE: Whatever you’d like to share.

LUKE: I plan on attending Belmont University for trumpet performance.

MAE: Oh, I’m going to the University of Maryland and I’m not planning on majoring or minoring. I will probably join UMD’s lower tier wind ensemble, and that’ll be good enough for me. But yeah, I’m going to go on to, hopefully, law school after that.

KEIRA: I’m going to Catholic University of America to major in violin performance, so I am going on with it. I might also do… something else? Like a double major or a minor. I’m not entirely certain yet, but I know no matter what, I’m definitely going to be majoring in music.

TE’A: I'm going to go to Frostburg State University for math, and I… don't want to do this anymore. (laughter) It's very overwhelming, and sometimes you just need a break.

ANDREW: I'm going to be going to HCC and doing mechanical engineering further down the line… but I still plan on playing violin even though I’m not majoring.

ANNABELLE: Thank you all for sharing! One of the questions I asked last year, I got some very interesting responses. So I want you all to imagine if your freshman selves could have attended your senior recitals, what do you think they would have thought, what would their reactions have been?

LUKE: “Wow, you have that many trumpets?” (laughter)

KEIRA: “I could do that now. Why haven’t you improved more?” (laughter) I'm just kidding, although I was kind of arrogant as a freshman, and I, like, thought I could play better than I could. And I look back at myself as a freshman and I'm like, “oh my gosh, little Keira, take a step back.” But I think I would be proud of myself, I would say “you play viola?” I think that would be cool. I think it would inspire me to some degree. I think it would make me maybe work harder so I could do even better at my recital, but that's generally—I’ve always been kind of, like, perfectionistic, so yeah.

MAE: I would be very surprised. I wouldn't—I didn't think I would end up at BISFA, so if like freshman year me would see that I'm performing at BISFA it would be like, “what the heck? What happened Mae?” (laughter) No, not in a bad way though. She would also think I’m more in tune, so in that aspect.

TE’A: I think I would have been shocked, because freshman year I played alto sax not tenor, so I think I would have been shocked, a) that I was stateside and b) that I was playing a recital for my senior year and that I was doing it on tenor.

ANDREW: I think I would have been more like Keira too, I would have just been naive and thought that it was easier than it is.

KEIRA: Yeah, I think that’s a better way to put it, the word naive. I definitely think when I was a freshman I thought that these big pieces, like a baroque violin concerto or the Medelsson violin concerto was like, “yeah it’s hard, but how hard can it be?” But then you start actually playing it and you’re like, “wow, this is like, actually really hard.” (laughter) And then—and also, like I had said earlier, back then I didn’t, um… I didn’t always look at the musicality aspect of it, like if it’s in tune, it’s in time, then it’s good. But now I realize that there’s so much more to music, so… yeah.

ANNABELLE: For my last question—this is more of a technical thing—I know you all still, as always, have a couple of performances coming up, so what can we expect to see from the instrumental department before the school year ends?

LUKE: A lot of songs. (laughter) We have at least… five pieces for, just, everyone. Probably more.

KEIRA: Yeah, we have a spring concert on the 23rd and then a, um, small ensembles concert on the 26th?

MAE: 5th.

KEIRA: 5th, 25th. Can you edit that one out? (laughter) Um, small ensembles concert on the 25th, and both of those will be really cool. Mr. Hollin has his goodbye party on the… in June… (laughter) on the 3rd of June. Which, not everyone can go to that, but it’s still another performance that some of us are playing at. And then I know some of us have individual performances, like PVYO has a concert, I’m in a chamber group outside of school that has a concert, stuff like that.

ANNABELLE: Well, that’s great. And I’m sure—not all of you might be super excited because that is a lot of stuff, but I’m sure everyone else is super excited to come hear you. Thank you all for talking with me today, and that’s all the questions I have for you!

LUKE: Thanks for having us.

ANNABELLE: Of course!

KEIRA: Thank you!