Convocation honors music students

Written by Rob Ketcham

Wednesday, 28 January 2009 18:25

Graduate student Yu Zhang practices Lowell Liebermann’s “Gargoyles, Opus 29” in preparation for the music department’s Chair’s Honor Convocation. Andrew Fossbinder/Branding Iron

Eleven University of Wyoming music students will be recognized today at the Department of Music’s Chair’s Honor Convocation for their exceptional performances during the fall semester.

The recital, which is slated to feature five solo student performances, will begin at 1:10 p.m. today in the Fine Arts Center concert hall.

Dr. Theresa Bogard, interim chairman of the UW Department of Music, said today’s show will be a continuation of Jan. 22’s convocation, where nine of the 11 students performed four duet and two solo pieces.

The 11 students selected to perform for the convocation recitals is as follows: Sandy Collins (brass), Yu Zhang (keyboard), Meng Xu (keyboard), Sean Francis (percussion), Artur Tumajyan (strings), Alex Minier (strings), Jennifer Erickson (vocal arts), Brianne Roney (vocal arts), Erik Stratton (vocal arts), Anne Schatz (vocal arts) and Daniel Shineberg (woodwinds).

At the conclusion of the fall semester, Bogard said the faculty in each area of the music department (vocal arts, brass, etc.) chose the top music students to perform in the convocation based on either their jury score or other public performances during the semester, such as auditions or recitals.

Collins, the lone representative of the brass section, said each semester, all music majors are required to perform in front of a jury, which consists of four to six music faculty members.

For the jury session, which accounts for a whopping 50 percent of the major’s final grade, she said the students perform a number of pieces they had been working on all semester, ranging from solo pieces, orchestral excerpts or technical scales. She further explained that the jury usually consists of “the student’s studio teacher, the head of the instrumental section and other faculty members from the same section.”

Overall, Francis, who performed his snare drum solo during Jan. 22’s recital, said he was honored to be selected for the convocation simply because of who chose him and their reasons were for doing so.

“I think having instructors select me means quite a lot more than hearing one of my friends tell me that I did a really great job,” he said. “That sounds terrible, but I think the professors here are very honest, sometimes to a fault. To win their approval is certainly a huge accomplishment.”

Roney, who also took the stage Jan. 22 to perform a vocal piece, expressed many of the same sentiments as Francis.

“It was an honor to be chosen to sing in the honor’s convocation as I was chosen based upon my performance in my jury from last semester,” she said. “To me, if I was chosen, it means that I had a successful semester of lessons, which gives me confidence in my progress as a singer and musician.”

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