This senior recital presents a 50-minute performance consisting mostly of musical theatre pieces, organized into five thematic sections: Childhood Comebacks, Golden Age Musicals, Movie Musicals, Modern Musicals, & Japanese Folk Music. This recital is meant to bring people interested in musical theatre or people who care about me to listen to music and hopefully hear some new songs, but also some songs that they already know and love. As a double major in Theatre and Music, this recital is meant to showcase a combination of both my disciplines through diverse musical selections.
My mission is to use theatre and music to help bring people of the world together in joy and laughter. My success is measured in the number of smiles I can make happen in and past my lifetime. I hope to build a long-lasting career in acting to help people when I'm alive and long after my passing.
My primary audience is my family, my friends, my roommates, my teachers, my directors, my departments that I’m a part of (the music department, the theatre department, & the honors program), musical theatre lovers, Barbie lovers, My Little Pony lovers, Japan lovers, people who love unknown musicals, people who love well known musicals, and people who love me. My audience will hear songs that they have probably never heard before and could end up falling in love with. Hearing new music is always a great thing, but I also have some well-loved classics on my recital that will make people jump for joy in their seats just after hearing the first chord. My three observable indicators of success are smiles, laughter, and compliments. Smiles are easy to see, Laughter is easy to hear, and since my audience will all be lovers of something happening in my recital, I will probably get lots of compliments (at least on my song selection, at most on my voice and performance).
My project addresses the gap in accessible, joy-centered performance for surrounding communities. There are many people who don’t have access to seeing performances because of financial issues and lack of opportunity, so my concert will be open to all and free. I want to create a space that can do cool kooky songs like my Japanese pieces, as well as fun kiddy songs like my Barbie and My Little Pony pieces, while all still being connected by musical theatre pieces. All of my theatre songs are also a mix of well-known and not well-known, so I will also be imparting culture onto people by bringing them joy through means and songs they didn’t know existed. As for assets, I have quite a few because I have built a wonderful support system here and at home. My goal is being supported by Jaclyn, Ken, Alyssa, and Cailee by being a part of my recital. I am also being supported by my family, along with my friends, both at school and at home, who all have intentions of coming to see my performance. My mom is very excited and helped me pick out some songs; all of my teachers at home asked me to keep them updated, and my friends already have it marked on their calendars. My barriers are languages; unfortunately, I am not good at singing in different languages and often pronounce things incorrectly, so all the songs will be sung in English. I also can’t bring joy to the whole world through this one recital because it will not be livestreamed, so people have to attend in person. Having said that, not all of my family can come as some are living in Colorado, Washington, and Milan, and High Point is kind of far away from all of those places, so traveling here is not feasible for them.
Phase 1: Repertoire Finalization & Jury Preparation (Late January - Early February)
Memorize repertoire for faculty jury evaluation
Complete jury performance
Phase 2: Intensive Preparation (February - Mid-March)
Voice lessons with Jaclyn and Ken
Practice duets separately and jointly with Alyssa and Cailee (4-5 rehearsals per duet before recital)
Conduct memorization check-ins one week after fully learning each song
Rehearse full setlist in chapel (timing dependent on theatre rehearsal schedule)
Phase 3: Production & Publicity (February - March)
Design and print promotional posters (completed by January 31st with mother's graphic design assistance)
Print programs following handbook policy (by March 21st)
Finalize section order to integrate classical pieces cohesively with musical theatre selections
Phase 4: Performance & Documentation (March 28th)
Execute 50-minute senior recital in chapel
Record concert with equipment rented from library or Communications school
Jaclyn Surso (voice teacher, primary mentor)
Ken Davis (accompanist)
Alyssa Vogt (duet partner, sheet music resource)
Cailee Calabrese (duet partner)
Dr. Foster (jury member, program requirements oversight)
Recording team (Ella Marron)
Jury: Late January/Early February (preferred)
Posters printed: January 31st
Programs printed: March 21st
Final performance: March 28th
Weekly improvement documented in voice lessons with Jaclyn
Memorization accuracy tested one week after learning complete songs
Duet rehearsal attendance and progress (4-5 sessions per partnership)
Jaclyn's weekly feedback on technical and artistic growth
Ken's accompaniment in lessons and performance
Alyssa and Cailee's collaborative rehearsal participation
Faculty attendance at the jury and final recital
Qualitative: Observable smiles during performance, audible laughter at appropriate moments, post-performance compliments on song selection, vocal quality, or overall experience. A QR code on the program for feedback.
Completion: Successful 50-minute recital held on March 28th
Quality: Faculty evaluation against departmental rubric
Reflection: Post-performance debriefing with Jaclyn (week following March 28th), discussing technical successes, areas for improvement, and personal artistic satisfaction
The recital will be considered successful if it creates visible joy in the audience (smiles, laughter, enthusiastic responses), receives positive feedback from faculty and community members, meets departmental standards while authentically representing both majors, and provides personal artistic fulfillment as measured through reflective conversation with mentors.
This semester, I have learned that I can be a very good planner, but I just don't have the most time to plan things within. Next semester, I will be a little less busy, so I will have more time to plan distinct practice times rather than just when spontaneous free time pops up. I have always been a pretty good collaborator, as I have been working in group settings since elementary school with theatre, and have been building up numerous skills since.
I think a lot of this process came easily to me because I had a plan of exactly what I wanted to do for quite a few months before I even started this class. I think the parts that are going to require more growth before my senior recital are my comfort level performing. I've always been great at memorizing things, so I'm less worried about not knowing things and more worried about nerves throwing me off.
I will, of course, be implementing all the strategies that I have been talking about in my assignment ahead of time. I will keep a log of my practices so that I can track how much I have been singing as not to overuse my voice, so that I don't lose it before the concert. I will also keep track of my memorization to make sure I'm not forgetting things, but also make sure that I am spreading it out to not overwhelm myself.
I wasn't really surprised by anything relating to my project. I do think that my mission and logistics all make sense combined together.