One week ago today,  the full-time Carthage music faculty was gathered in Siebert Chapel to be regaled by nineteen of our most talented music students – all vying for the opportunity to perform in our upcoming Honors Recital.  Talk about a lavish banquet of great music and impressive talent!  And when it was all done, more than one of my colleagues pronounced this to be the best assemblage of talent we’ve ever had in our auditions-  which also made it the toughest choice we’ve ever had to make.   In other years,  there have been a certain few performers who were clearly the cream of the crop and who decidedly distanced themselves from the rest of the field –   but that distinction (at least in my mind)  was not nearly so clear this time around.  Excellence abounded …. more than could possibly be accommodated on one honor’s recital ….  which meant that we had some tough choices to make about who was in and who was not.

Really tough choices.

I think it would be a hard enough task if we were listening to 19 singers-  but in fact we were listening to singers,  flutists,  pianists,  violinists,  oboists,  percussionists, and more ….  and this wide array of musicians somehow had to be ranked.   Whenever I am confronted with such a task – be it Honors auditions or NATS competitions – I always rank them as they go rathe than waiting to rank them at the end.  (Former Kenosha Unified Fine Arts Coordinator Larry Simons taught me this trick many years ago for the Kenosha Symphony Youth Auditions.)   So here’s how it works:  The first musician performs and I rank them “1.”  The second musician performs and I immediately rank the two of them (either 1-2 or 2-1, depending on who I think was better.)   The third musician performs and I immediately slot them into the mix.  And so it goes-   as each musician performs,  I decide right then and there where to slip them into the rankings- rather than waiting until the end and trying to make sense of 19 performances all at once.  (I can’t imagine how I would do even attempt to do that!)   This process of ranking-as-I-go works wonders-  but that doesn’t mean that the process is simple or painless.

And there’s no question that the hardest part about the process is having to disappoint a musician who has come in and delivered a sterling performance –  especially if it’s someone  who has demonstrated tremendous improvement or just sung or played better than you have ever heard them perform before.   It’s not that I’m a fan of Every-Competitor-Gets-A-Ribbon-So-That-Nobody-Goes-Away-A-Loser …. far from it …..  but I really do regret those instances when more than anything you want to give encouragement to a particular musician and acknowledge their excellence but cannot go so far as to name them among the “winners.”   And I felt that acutely this time around-  as I’m sure most of my colleagues did, as well.   Of course,  there are also those rare instances when a given musician appears to be ill- prepared or for whatever reason has not performed anywhere close to their potential,   and in those cases it is our responsibility to convey (as clearly as possible)  “You can do better.  You should do better.”

On the other hand,  it feels great to say to a musician “Well Done-  You Represent The Music Department At Its Very Best!”   And I was especially glad that the musicians we ended up choosing for the Honors Recital included one of my private voice students,  Austin Merschdorf …. one of my former voice students,  Sean Kelly …..  and one of my opera students,  Olivia Wallace –  plus a number of excellent instrumentalists.   It’s nice that just about every facet of our department will be represented (keyboards, strings, winds,  voice) and that musically the program should offer up a lovely mix of music.

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(Here is one of our flutists,  Taylor Kloha, in her audition.)

Just a quick word about Austin.   He auditioned with three songs by the great British song composer Gerald Finzi (1900-1956) that each deal with some facet of death.  “Come away, Death” features a famous text by Shakespeare.  “To Joy”  is actually a heartbreaking song about the sorrowful loss that a man and woman experience with the death of baby daughter, whose name is Joy.   Last is “Clock of the Years,” in which a man persuades the supernatural ‘Clock of the years’ to turn back time so we can be reunited with the woman he loves,  whom has died –  but the intervention brings about unanticipated tragic results.   Austin had to sing his audition at 10:38 in the morning,  which was far from ideal –  so the fact that he delivered one of the best performances of his life was especially gratifying.   I could not have been prouder of him.

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(This is Austin during the opera “Black September.”)

But beyond my own delight over Austin’s superb performance was the pleasure of seeing such clear and dramatic evidence of our department’s robust health and overall excellence.  It was especially exciting to hear more violinists compete than in any previous auditions – and to see them play with such assurance and skill.   Our orchestra conductor,  Etsui Kawakami , has taken our orchestral program to a new level in just the last couple of years,  and it was thrilling to have so many string players in the thick of this particular chase.   And we heard terrific pianists and instrumentalists and singers as well deliver one fine performance after another.  Considering how high the stakes were,  it was neat that so many of the competitors performed so very well rather than succumbing to nerves.   And for the few musicians who didn’t manage to do their best,  one can only hope that they learned something from the attempt and will manage to deliver a better performance next time around.

And as usual,  it was also nice to be able to spend most of the day together with my colleagues and to be reminded of what a blessing it is to be part of such a strong group of dedicated, caring teachers.   We care about each other, our students,  and our department,  and that is never in doubt –  even in those relatively rare instances when things turn a bit contentious.  Of course, for someone like me who is almost pathologically averse to conflict,  I prefer those moments to pass as quickly as possible.  But on the other hand,  I always appreciate those moments when we argue-  because we learn so much about ourselves and each other ….  and once we’re on the other side of it we almost always find ourselves in a better, healthier place.

I hope that all nineteen of our competitors emerged from the auditions in a better, healthier place as well  –  but especially those who did not quite manage to score a place on the honor’s recital.  May they carry away from this all kinds of lessons they have learned that they can embrace from here on.

(Pictured above:  one of our freshmen,  Charles Julius,  plays his honors recital audition. He did a terrific job.  That’s Fumi Nakayama at the piano, accompanying him.)