Service Learning Reflection

For this project it was difficult for me to set up performances because I do not perform solo gigs

often. I decided to choose my church back home because I had sung a service called orthos

multiple times and I am family friends with a member of the church that organizes the calendar

for chanting. I did not have to choose repertoire for this performance as the service has specific

chants for every Sunday. I decided to choose my old high school as a venue due to its proximity

and my familiarity with the students, teachers and location. I chose to sing La Belle Au Bois

Dormant by Debussy to introduce the students to a piece that they were most likely not familiar

with. For my final performance I chose the Brookdale Senior Living facility in Harrisonburg

because I wanted to offer music for the residents who might not get to experience live music very

often. I also chose to sing La Belle Au Bois Dormant by Debussy due to its beautiful lyrical lines

and story. I did not find it too difficult to make contact with someone I did not know. I am not a

big fan of phone calls but it was not too anxiety inducing.

I think something I should keep in mind for building my network for future gigs is

planning. For my Brookdale performance I did not plan enough and I took way too long to set up

and I did not prepare enough pieces. I need to make sure that I am well prepared for each gig I

perform at and that I am always professional. I believe that it is also important that I reach out to

personal contacts more often in order to strengthen professional relationships. Building a

network of musicians and educators is something I can work on this summer when I have more

free time. For future gigs I think it is important that I incorporate the Baker studio mantra in my

line of thinking (no fear!). I should not be afraid to reach out to contacts I am not familiar with. I

should have been confident and professional in my approach and accept rejection with grace.
 My first performance at Woodgrove high school was an overall positive experience

because I was able to perform but also observe. I performed my Debussy piece for Woodgrove’s

Chamber choir and their a cappella choir. I had only intended to sing for one choir but Mrs.

Morgan (choir director) wanted me to perform for the higher level group as well. She was very

excited about my technical progress and asked me how I was able to finally sing with vibrato. I

explained to her and her students how working on breath control and support was the key to

freeing my sound. The students had a positive reception and some asked me questions about

studying music in college and about vocal technique.

My second performance at Brookdale was an overall negative experience due to my lack

of preparation and circumstances out of my control. I had planned to perform with two other

students at this facility so I had only prepared one piece and had planned to sing a combined

piece with the other students. I called my peers two hours before the performance to ask what

they were singing and they told me they were actually going to sing next week. I arrived at the

facility and it took me way too long to get set up. I sang the Debussy piece as it was the only one

I had an accompanist track for. I left and while I was in my car an employee came out and asked

why I did not sing any other songs and said that the residents were very disappointed. I told her

that I could go and sing more pieces but as I was about to walk in she said the residents all went

their separate ways. This experience was very disheartening and my lack of preparation led to an

underwhelming performance and disappointed residents.

My third performance at my church was fine but I think I underestimated how much I

needed to warm up. I sang with two other women and sometimes I was not clear on who would

sing the next chant or read the next text. My voice was not warmed up enough and I cracked a lot

in the beginning. I had not sung that service in a while but I think I was still able to sing most of
the melodies correctly. Since I sang in a church service I did not address the audience in any way

but I did have to adjust when the priest skipped around the order of the service.

An important take away I have from this experience is that I need to make sure I am well

prepared for every performance. I need to make sure not only is my music prepared but that I

also prepare how I introduce myself and logistical things such as music stands and

appcompanist. I think rehearsing these things would ensure that everything runs smoothly.

Another important thing I learned during this experience is that confidence is necessary. I am not

the most confident solo performer and I do not like organizing gigs for myself, but if I have to do

it then I have to have some confidence even if it’s fake. The most fun moment was when I sang

for my high school choir teacher and she was so excited at my improvement. She loudly

exclaimed “You have vibrato!”. I talked about how I developed my technique and she wanted to

know how I worked on breathing so she could teach her students new techniques.

Performances

March 17th @Woodgrove High school jessica.morgan@lcps.org

April 8th @ Brookdale Senior Living Harrisonburg 540-574-2982 (new contact)

April 17th @Dormition of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox church singing.tarrant2004@gmail.com

I scheduled each event

Notes

Woodgrove performance
● It was cool but also weird to perform at my old high school
● My choir teacher was very impressed with my technique and even exclaimed “You have
vibrato!!”
● It was nice to see people that I hadn’t seen in a long time (people I was in choir with, theatre and
field hockey)
● It was great to be able to observe a high school rehearsal since I want to teach high school
Brookdale Performance
● I feel very awful and sad that I disappointed the residents
● I did not prepare enough repertoire and the reaction did not go as planned
● I was going to sing with two other peers but they didn’t come so I was stressed to bring other
material

Church Performance
● I haven’t sang this service in a while but I was able to remember some of the tunes but I sight
read a lot
● I should have warmed up more and drank more water beforehand, it was hard to sing at 9am
● I had to get into the swing of it and it was difficult to sing this service with two other people, I
usually sang it with only one person

links: https://youtu.be/RT3LToSzmMU

https://youtu.be/7k2fUS5tFIs

https://youtu.be/yTngMtPs4uw