ALFRED: You are invited on Friday, April 28 at 7:30 to hear
the Alfred University Symphonic Band performance. The band is full of interesting
people with several of them soon to graduate so this is your last chance to
hear them together.
One Senior
is Cheyenne Seymore. Cheyenne went to school in Elmira where everyone has to
join chorus or band in junior high. Most other students I’ve interviewed chose an
instrument in 4th or 5th grade and then stuck with it but
in Elmira everyone volunteers. In high school, students choose to continue with
music or have a study hall. Cheyenne said that about half the students choose
to continue, as she did.
Cheyenne
chose to play percussion for, one might say, interesting reasons. Her dad,
noted as a hippy-dad, took her to drum circles so drums were familiar. She also
felt that drum music is easier to read without the music staff making demands
on her.
At AU,
Cheyenne is a math and accounting major with plans to work as an accountant
after she graduates. The CPA exams (a series of 4 exams, 3 hours each) are in
her future. By taking full time studies on the AU campus and adding other
courses from Alfred State she has managed to get all the coursework needed for
the CPA while earning her degree. She
had an interview for a potential job the day we talked.
Cheyenne
has a strong work ethic that she credits to her first pony. She started riding
lessons when she was five and when she turned 8, her grandparents gave her a
pony. Her parents agreed to pay the cost of boarding the pony but if she wanted
to continue riding lessons she had to earn them. She agreed to work so, every
day, after school, she rode the bus to the barn to muck out stalls and feed
horses. Also, as a rugged 8 year old, she “helped the little kids” saddle their
horses.
Alfred
University’s Equestrian program brought Cheyenne here to study. As a member of
the Equestrian Team, Cheyenne took 8th place in the Intercollegiate
Horse Show Association Hunt Seat Regionals.
Cheyenne
is sorry that she didn’t join the Symphonic Band sooner. She took percussion
lessons from Dr. Foster in the Fall Semester and joined the band this, her
final, semester. The 3 years away from drums made her rusty so she is thankful
that the percussion section members are so welcoming and helpful.
Another
senior is trombonist and ceramic engineering student, Kade McGarrity. Kade is
from Angola, NY where in 5th grade he started lessons on saxophone. The best
laid plans of a fifth grader can be wonderfully flexible because when Kade couldn’t
get musical sounds from the sax, he traded it for his second choice, a
trombone. While those might seem miles apart, both are suitable for jazz.
He
joined concert band in sixth grade and in high school played in a Ska band,
Scallywags, performing at parties and in the fire hall. They wrote and recorded
a few songs in the drummer’s basement since he was the guy with the sound
board. Now, that drummer is now studying
music production program at Fredonia while Kade and his trombone are in Alfred-
always in Jazz Band, occasionally in Symphonic Orchestra, and regularly in
Symphonic Band.
Kade spoke
of the value of music in general. He is
concerned about the decreasing funding for school music programs at all levels.
Kade is certain that he wouldn’t be the person he is now without the many
academic and social experiences that music provided. Music is an essential in
one’s education.
He also
named his high school band teacher as his favorite teacher ever. This man cared
about all students and not just their music but their well being. He even gave
Kade his jazz trombone.
The
instrument teetered on the edge of beatten up and having character with a
distinct liability in that it didn’t work. After it was used as a prop in a
school play, Kade took it home and fixed it but when he returned it, his
teacher said he earned it. This is the trombone he uses in jazz band because it
has a smokier sound than his concert horn and it hits high notes more easily.
Kade
and his trombone may be at AU for a while. He plans to apply for advanced study
here and hopes for a PhD. He may like to work on materials in electronics or maybe
develop body armor or structural ceramics or explore heat resistant materials.
Kade
and Cheyenne both name Second Suite for
Military Band by Holst as their favorite piece in the concert. Kade particularly likes the fourth movement
because it brings together many melodies and intertwines them. Cheyenne likes
it because it reminds her of her high school music fun.
Kalene Strange,
a senior in Interdisciplinary Art from Wellsboro PA, plays alto sax. Her senior
show reception will be in the basement of The Brick on May 5 from 5-7 pm but
first come to hear her play in the concert on April 28. Her art involves using
sound waves within childhood photographs.
Kaylene
is from Wellsboro PA where she had her first music lesson on piano at age 3
with her grandfather. He got frustrated and walked away but she kept at it till
she figured it out. Her grandfather played by ear but which made sense to her
because she has near perfect pitch and can “hear” the music but she taught
herself to read music and began piano lessons with another teacher when she was
5.
 |
| Cheyenne, Rosalyn, Kaylene, Kade |
Kaylene
started singing when she started talking, or maybe before. Her family
gatherings always include a guitar and songs. She got a guitar in middle school
and taught herself. Not surprisingly, she borrowed instruments and books from
school and, as she says, figured out flute, piccolo, clarinet and trumpet as
well as French horn with a brief stint on oboe. Her mother said she sounded
like a dying duck and the oboe had to go, please. At AU she studied violin for
2 years with Dr. Lantz and would have had more music classes and experiences
but her schedule was packed.
Kalene’s
favorite piece is Endless Rainbows by
Brian Balmages because of the lovely, lyrical melodies.
A
fourth senior is Rosalyn Nardella, who began with baritone sax in middle school
in Loganton, PA and added viola in high school. As a freshman at Alfred, she began
taking flute and piano lessons and this year has played in student recitals as
a flute soloist and with Andres Garcia in a saxophone duet as well as with the
Pep Band, Symphonic Band and Orchestra.
During
her senior year she joined the newly formed Alfred University Flute Choir. This
busy student exercises her horse regularly and works to earn board for it. Some
days she travels to the Dansville Dental Practice where she takes xrays and
assists in patient room preparation.
Rosalyn
says that she has time for lots of things if she avoids studying but, knowing
she is a biology major, that seems a joke. At the time of our talk her future involves
dentistry at Temple University in Philadelphia. Four years at Temple will bring
true her childhood dream of being a dentist. For
many, a dentistry degree comes with student debt anchoring them to earth but
Rosalyn has a different anchor in mind. By enlisting in the Navy, she will
avoid $300,000 to $500,000 in loans. The Navy will pay for dental school in
exchange for her pledge of 4 years as a naval dentist. She will have the option
to stay in the Navy for her entire career if she chooses. If she is assigned to
a ship she will not be able to take her horse but she might take a ukulele
since she plays that too.
Rosalyn’s
favorite piece in the concert was Lightning Field by John Mackey. She was
playing the flute part and having fun with it but recently was assigned the
piano part instead so Shortcut Home by Dana Wilson is now her favorite. “It’s
really fast and technically difficult,” she said.
 |
| Christiana and Molly ignore Dr. Foster and his Alfred Sun |
Other
pieces in the concert are Gavorkna
Fanfare by Jack Stamp, Snowflakes
Dancing by Andrew Boysen, and The Promise
of Living by Aaron Copland. The concert is free and open to the public in
the Miller Performing Arts Center. Enter the campus at the traffic light, turn
left at the boulder near the top of the hill. MPAC is the building at the end
of that road with a glass front.
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