By Stephen Martin
Correspondent
The Department of Music here at the College presented their first performance of the weekly Tuesday Afternoon Recital Series titled “Embracing Student Achievement.”
Held at the Mildred & Ernest E. Mayo Concert Hall at 12:30 p.m. on Sept. 29, the recital was the first in a weekly series featuring student performances in both vocal and instrumental sectors of the department. The concerts start each year around a month into the semester, running weekly for its entirety. This installment of the series featured six performers: four instrumentalists and two vocalists.
Jarett Gaslow, a junior music education major, works backstage at the recital. “I work with all of the performers making sure that the stage is set up how they want it: if they need a stand, how they want the piano set up, and just communicating with the booth for when they go on and off stage and opening the door [when they exit],” he said.
Gaslow will perform at a Tuesday recital in November as part of his major requirements. “As any major related to music education and performance, you have to perform one a year. It's just part of your lesson—you prepare a piece,” he said.
Aside from those performing, the audience of Mayo was filled with students and families, all showing up for different reasons. For Allison Buchanan, a junior English major at the College, her appearance at the recital is routine. “My brother was a music major, he just graduated this past spring. So, I’ve been going to his recitals, his Tuesday recitals, for years—before I came to TCNJ even,” she said.
Buchanan sat in the first row at the performance, cheering for each one after they played or sang. She said, “Basically, I just try to squeeze it into the middle of my day, you know. I'm between classes right now, and I just go and listen to great music.”
Aside from a musically inclined pastime, the recitals also act as a job opportunity for many students not directly involved with the Department of Music. Katelyn Cunha, a sophomore education major, worked as an usher on Tuesday. “Since I’m an art education student I’ve always been surrounded by art and music my entire life. So coming to college I wanted to find a job that allowed me to continue to tap into that environment, so I became an usher,” she said.
Ushers like Cunha work many different events on campus including college theater shows, band and orchestra performances and with any outside organization that performs at the concert hall. Cunha added about the position, “It really allowed me to see all of the different parts of education and see people grow their passions while continuing to pursue education and teach young minds.”
While branded under one recital, the show displayed different facets of music education at the college with each performance. One of the most diverse was a vocal performance by sophomore music education major, Anoop Singh. He sang “Im wunderschönen Monat Mai,” composed by Robert Schumann, and “Le Charme,” composed by Ernest Chausson, with accompanist Astghik Sakanyan.
Singh noted the preparation process that goes into each of the pieces performed. “In the preparation aspect, a lot of it is just going through the basic rhythms, understanding the history of the piece, why it was made, and what's being sung,” he said. “The grunt of the work is really focused on the story and the expression of that. So I spent most of my time in practice rooms every single day, working through those two pieces and trying to see how, how can I best express myself through them.”
Additionally, Singh praised the College for its ability to incorporate performance into its curriculum. “Many other colleges and other schools don't do this,” he said. “It means the world to me that I'm able to still balance the educational aspect while also exploring my performance side of music.” Through the recitals, the College also promotes the department as a whole and allows students outside the department the opportunity to immerse themselves in an artistic campus culture.
With fall break coming up on Oct. 6, the Tuesday recitals will return to Mayo Concert Hall on Oct. 13. For more upcoming concert dates and additional details, visit the Department of Music’s website.
