All Rise Before the Judge (Or the Jury!)

It’s that time of year for every college student: the end of the semester, which means FINAL EXAMS. Final exams are probably the most stressful part of the year for most college students, and at this point, everyone is freaking out. For music students, the problem is not trying to memorize formulas or trying to remember conjugations, but memorizing translations or trying to remember all of your words. That’s right, it’s time for Music Juries.

If you are not a college student or a music student, you probably don’t know what Juries are, so I’ll let you know. Music Juries are a music student’s version of final exams, where we are brought in before a number of music faculty and asked to perform works (the number depends on age) before all of them. This is a huge part of your grade with your applied music lessons and is super scary for most people.

I’m not going to lie, I’m scared out of my mind for my first Jury, but hopefully I have some good tips for anyone having to go through a Music Jury this year.

• If you are a voice student, vocal rest is your best friend. Not saying that you do not need to practice, but when it is possible, try not to talk. You want to be in your best voice for your Jury.
• Other than vocal rest, get lots of actual rest. Being well-rested is extremely important as it will help you with nerves and with the whole process in general.
• Talk to your teacher! Know how the process works before you go in there so you can be super prepared.
• Pick your songs carefully. Try and choose the ones you are most confident with so you can start off strong to give you that extra confidence boost.
• Eat well. Eating well will make you feel more calm and confident when it comes time to get on stage.
• Dress the part. I always feel more confident if I love the outfit I’m in. Just make sure you’re comfortable as well as fabulous.
• Don’t stress too much! Practicing too much can actually mess you up because you might get so obsessed with being perfect that you overload yourself.

Break a leg to anyone who has a Jury this year, or just needs some luck when it comes to exams!

Kat Myers

On the Road Again!

Hey everyone! I’m sorry I missed my last post, the life of a college student never stops, and sometimes things are forgotten. But hopefully this week I will be able to make up for it by posting about our wonderful Meredith Music Department tour to Charlotte and Burlington!

Along with the Meredith Chorale that I am a part of, five other performing ensembles from Meredith came along with us. The first was Sinfonietta, a small chamber orchestra; The Four Winds, the flute ensemble; Octavia, a four-hand piano ensemble made up of four members; and Encore!, the ten to twelve voice acapella group from Meredith. Along with all of these ensembles, we also had two soloists sing a piece from their NATS repitoire. (If you don’t know what NATS is, here’s a link: http://nmtc.nats.org/)

Our first stop was St. John’s Baptist Church in Charlotte for our first concert that was given for Meredith Alumni. This concert was given formally and like any other normal choral performance in our formal dress, with a program set out and specified seating. All of the ensembles performed (except for our soloists), and afterwards we attended a reception that our President, Dr. Jo Allen, attended as well. We got to meet some Charlotte-area alumnae and some perspective students from the Charlotte area and talk to them about how Meredith College life is for us. I especially loved meeting a woman who graduated Meredith in 1941, who told us how much she loved the performance. Meeting someone who still has such a strong connection with Meredith after all these years really warmed my heart.

Yesterday and today, all of our ensembles traveled to different high schools in Charlotte and Burlington. Our first stop in Charlotte was at Ardrey Kell High School, where we performed on the fly, not knowing what order or which songs we were performing. Starting at Ardrey Kell, we had to start adapting to our surroundings and having to change around orders and performances based on what we had available to us in terms of equipment. However stressful that may have been, I really enjoyed traveling to different high schools that I had never seen before and making an impact on their days.

I think traveling is one of my favorite parts of being part of a Meredith Performing Ensemble, because we are able to spread our love of music to people that may have never heard of us before, and now know our name. Meredith Music has a wonderful ability to bring people together, even if those people are from far away.

Have a great week!

Kat