The Applied Music program is a program in which students receive one-on-one instruction. This class is directed to vocalists and instrumentalists, and one of its steps is to have them perform in front of their peers.
The Applied Music program held a recital during music professor Christine Lopez’s class on Wednesday, Nov. 5, at BC-51.
“Students who are learning to grow as musician, one of the skills that they have to develop is performing. So that’s what this class does,” Lopez said.
According to Lopez, the classes are divided into five classes, the lowest being the beginners and the highest the more experienced students.
“It’s for themselves; to perform for themselves because this is the best place to learn before we start putting them on a stage with a huge audience,” she said.
The three students preforming were Cynthia Castro for voice, Hao Le for classical guitar and Ralph Malonda also for voice.
Their separate instructors choose three pieces for them to perform, and these pieces were specifically chosen for them to help them grow as a performer and person.
Cynthia Castro, business major, said, “It was nerve-wracking but it had to look pretty good.”
Castro had been practicing since summer and has been singing since she was little.
“She [her instructor Ann Gresham] chooses our songs by our personality. The songs that I have are about love. This semester, there was a lot going on with me and she said, ‘I’ll give you these songs and you put your own interpretation.”
Castro sang three pieces; one by Felix Mendelssohn, Giovanni Paisiello and Lionel Bart.
Hao Le performed pieces by Fernando Sor and Heitor Villa-Lobos.
Music major Ralph Malonda sang pieces by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Felix Mendelssohn and Joe Primrose.
Malonda said, “I was nervous at first, but once you get back into singing and you go ahead with it and just perform, it feels really good.”
His instructor, also Gresham, chooses his songs to fit his personality and his skill level.
“When you spend all that time practicing, all you focus on is the technique that goes into it, making sure your posture is right, and making sure that you’re doing everything that our teacher tells you to do,” he added.
The Applied Music program holds these recitals every Wednesday, one at 11 a.m. to noon, and the next at 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.
