Key Change
It’s almost been a month since I graduated as part of Shenandoah Conservatory’s class of 2025. In my time there as a transfer student, I gained so many valuable lessons that helped me grow confidence as a singer and performer. Like many students, of course, managing classwork and busy rehearsals could be a challenge. I found myself worrying about how a semester would turn out, or what the results of an audition would be. There were times when it felt as if my entire life depended on a single performance.
Though as I look back on my college experience as a whole, I wonder what my eighteen-year-old self would think. The girl who looked at the world with so much fear, and so little hope for the future.
I graduated from Shenandoah with a GPA of 3.8, something my younger self would have never thought possible. I overcame performance anxiety and had the honor of performing in my first fully-staged opera. I got to collaborate with talented, passionate singers, and gain work-study experiences that taught me skills I’ll be able to use in the professional world.
I’m twenty two years old, and though certainly don’t have all the answers to life, I wish I could tell my younger self to let her fears go. Every fear I had, every anxious thought, would work itself out. We’re all human. We will all face challenges and find ourselves battling self-doubt, but all we can do is give the very best we have.
I have come to find that being a musician is not about being perfect, it is about being human. As singers we get to share a part of ourselves that is vulnerable. We get to portray the parts of being human that are chaotic and messy, but also beautiful and hopeful. When we step into an opera, we get to show our audiences someone they can relate to, or have empathy for. We get to share stories that move people, or give them another world to escape to for a few hours.
To my fellow young artists, I invite you to join me in this challenge as we face the future: Find something in every opportunity to learn from and have gratitude for. Through every struggle we may face, every “no” we may receive, remember why you started in the first place and have love for your voice and yourself.
Congratulations class of 2025, we did it!