Major: Music, with concentrations in Piano Performance and Composition
Hometown: North Stonington, CT
Q. What makes the College of Arts and Sciences at URI unique?
A. To me, a huge part of an education has to do with who you are learning from, and I think one of the URI music department’s greatest strengths is in its faculty members—in each class I have taken here, from my private music lessons and choir rehearsals to all the various music history and theory classes, I have had the opportunity to experience a wide range of approaches both to teaching this material and to integrating it into one’s daily life. Having such frequent access to all these different perspectives is a great opportunity to figure out how you want these ideas to function in your own life and how you eventually want to pass them on to others.
What accomplishments and/or activities at URI are you most proud of now?
When I think about the things I will take with me when I leave URI, I am most proud of the scores I have written with the guidance of Dr. Eliane Aberdam (I have come to realize how valuable it is in any work like this to have someone to challenge your creative thinking and hold you accountable for your artistic intentions), the music history research papers I have done for Dr. Vilde Aaslid, and the solo piano works I have learned and memorized throughout my lessons with Dr. Manabu Takasawa.
What research projects, internships, experiential learning, and/or study abroad programs did you participate in at URI? How did they enhance your education?
During the summer between my sophomore and junior years, I had the opportunity to play at a classical music festival in Maryland. I was assigned three vocalists to accompany, and over the course of two weeks we presented various opera/art song/musical theater repertoire in concerts open to the public and in masterclasses given by the program’s faculty. I suppose that, like any good internship experience, this program allowed me to “step out of the classroom” for a moment and put what I had learned so far to the test—find out what is working really well, where I still need to improve… looking back, I think that was a great opportunity for me to evaluate what my education had given me thus far and figure out what I hoped to work on in the following two years.
What do you value about your liberal arts education?
All of this sort of material makes you engage with the viewpoints of others, I think, in a way that is not so much about “right” or “wrong” but about the experience of working to understand. In music especially there is a very strong connection with the past and an opportunity to be part of a conversation which spans hundreds of years and manifests itself in all the various scores, essays, newspaper clippings and so on that all the composers/performers/listeners of the past have left behind… it really invites you to reflect constantly on what is important to you and why it is so important.
How did the COVID-19 pandemic impact your senior year?
Making music this past year has had to look very different, indeed! Fortunately, though, our concert hall’s AV equipment recently got a tremendous upgrade, and we are now able to livestream our recitals for family and friends watching at home, including those who before would have lived too far away to attend. Our department has also been very in touch with the current research on instrument masking, distancing requirements, and all of the considerations musicians have to make right now to make music safely during COVID, and they have been implementing these practices as they have come into existence.
What’s next for you?
A summer filled with working in a bakery, composing, and hopefully accompanying others at the piano as it becomes safer!