As part of the requirements to graduate from Union’s the Department of Music, each member performs a senior recital.
Madelyn Carson performed her senior music recital April 10. Carson is a senior vocal and general music education major from Presque Isle, Maine.
Carson began singing for fun and in choirs at a very young age.
She sang in her high school choir and her church choir in Maine. While in high school, she sang for the All-Aroostook Choir and the All-State Choir.
Carson did not begin studying voice until she enrolled in classes at Union.
“I have always wanted to be a teacher, and when I first started looking into colleges, I planned to be a math teacher,” Carson said. “However, I realized that combining my love for music and my desire to teach people was what I wanted to do.”
After deciding to teach music, she began taking voice lessons at Union and classically studying music.
Carson is a member of the University Singers and Proclamation choirs. In addition, she is singing with the Jazz Band for the semester.
“It brings me so much joy to be totally immersed in something so important to my everyday life,” Carson said.
Carson said that as her senior year approached, she began thinking about her senior recital. She said there is quite a process to go through before performing a recital.
First, she had to pick her repertoire, which is a list of pieces that a singer is prepared to perform. She worked together with her voice teacher to select music for an hour-long performance.
She chose pieces that varied in genre, style and time period. The process of choosing music began in the fall semester and ended about two months before her senior recital.
After selecting the music, Carson began practicing everything she picked out to perform. Carson practiced for 10 hours each week for the two months leading up to her recital.
When Carson was not in class, she was working with her voice teacher and accompanist. She worked hard to fix issues to create an excellent musical performance.
The week of her recital, she had two dress rehearsals and the show was on.
“There is no way to put on a successful recital without a monumental amount of practicing,” Carson said.
She said the easiest part of preparing for a music recital is learning the notes and rhythms.
And the hardest part?
Learning foreign languages to memorize the pieces, she said.
