Our Terms & Conditions | Our Privacy Policy
Photo by Francesca Nemati |
The Rice Thresher
Shepherd School of Music students gather in the school’s hallway. Many music majors balance their practice sessions and recitals with other majors or minors.
Francesca Nemati / Thresher
Cirdan Vonnahme began playing the cello at 4 years old. After winning his first competition at 11 and debuting with an orchestra, he realized he wouldn’t mind playing the cello for life.
Now, as a cello performance major, he spends most of his waking hours at the Shepherd School of Music, moving between aural skills and theory classes; orchestra and chamber rehearsals; and studio classes. Also pursuing a minor in business, Vonnahme briefly crosses campus in the afternoon for an economics class.
“It’s nice to have opportunities to study academically and pursue other things along with the music conservatory experience,” said Vonnahme, a Will Rice College sophomore.
Vonnahme said he is overloading on credit hours this semester to also take an orchestral repertoire class taught by Chris French, associate principal cellist for the Houston Symphony. Vonnahme is one of many Shepherd students gunning for an orchestra job after graduation, with starting salaries as high as $200,000.
“If I can somehow win an orchestral position before getting a master’s [degree], I would love to play for an orchestra,” Vonnahme said. “[The class] is super helpful because he helps you prepare your excerpts for auditions.”
Karl Blench, a lecturer in music, teaches music theory and aural skills at the Shepherd School. Often called ‘ear training,’ aural skills are a core requirement for music majors where students improve their ability to recognize pitches, melodies and rhythms without relying on written music.
Enjoy what you’re reading?
Sign up for our newsletter
“We teach students how to look at a piece of music and sort of hear it in their head, so that they can perform it better,” Blench said. “They can hear errors, hear things that are out of tune. Overall, it’s sort of like a ‘how to make you a better musician’ type of class.”
Ana Howland, a piano performance major in her final year, balances her musical studies with medical school prerequisites. According to her, balancing music with biochemistry classes creates a busy schedule.
“My schedule varies a lot, depending on what I have coming up,” said Howland, a Baker College senior. “Sometimes I have heavy academics and exams coming up, and I’m not practicing quite as much, but if my senior recital is coming up, then I’ll be practicing several hours a day.”
Despite her unpredictable calendar, Olivia Gonzales, a Lovett College junior, said she makes an effort to stay involved with her residential college and activities outside of Shepherd.
“I don’t really know what my week will look like until the weekend before,” said Gonzales, a vocal performance major. “I need to have Monday through Thursday from 4 to 7 available if I’m called for rehearsal, and they release the rehearsal schedule right before the week starts.
“I still try to show up at events and FITQs, even if it’s only for half an hour,” Gonzales continued.
Music performance majors study their instruments with one main instructor throughout their four years. Shepherd professors teach cohorts called studios, and studiomates bond as they perform in front of and support each other over the course of their study.
“I really love my individual professor, Ana María Martínez,” Gonzales said. “She has not only helped me grow in my voice, but she’s also been a mentor and someone I aspire to be like.”
Each performance major must also complete junior and senior year recitals to graduate. One of the most significant milestones in a Shepherd School education, these recitals require countless hours of devoted preparation and often draw crowds of family and friends from across campus.
“Finishing my junior recital was a special moment because my whole [Orientation] Week family was there — all my kids,” Howland said. “It was really fun to have them there, and a big relief to be done with it.”
Ryan Clever, a flute performance major, said preparing for his junior recital was intense.
“It was the first time I was diving into pieces that deep in a while, and I’d never actually given a solo recital before,” said Clever, a Duncan College senior.
Clever said he hopes to play for a professional orchestra after graduation. For the past three years, he has been a flute substitute for the Houston Symphony, filling in when a regular member cannot perform. Clever said he auditioned with the Houston Symphony in his freshman year and got a spot on the list.
“I’ve played a couple live movie concerts, and this summer, I did my first subscription classical concert with them,” Clever said.
Blench said the Shepherd School not only prepares students for a professional performing career but also for other avenues outside of performance.
“As the students get older … you see them become much more comfortable musicians, but also much more comfortable adults,” Blench said.
Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.
Aggregated From –
Comments are closed.