My Last Masterclass

Tonight I sang at my very last masterclass at BYU. Before I sang, I was so excited to be done!! I was ready to celebrate! Now that it's over, I think I will miss it. I won't miss singing once a month, but I do think I'll miss listening to all of the amazing musicians that I've grown to love at BYU.

I had to sing tonight because at the beginning of the semester, my family went to California, so I missed my first performance. Tonight, was a make-up masterclass. Who would have thought that it would be the masterclass full of graduate students majoring in vocal performance????? All of these phenomenal singers sang before I did. My teacher then had me get up. The first thing I said when I got to the front of the room was, "You guys are all amazing!" They all tried to help me feel comfortable by saying they were excited to hear me perform. (instant look of terror inserted here!) "My name is Emilie Gardner and I will be singing Du Bist Wie Eine Blume by Franz Liszt" I began. The piano began playing the introduction and immediately my legs were paralyzed. I was so nervous! After I finished singing, my teacher told them all to think back to when they were freshman and imagine singing in front of the graduate students. All of the students gasped when they realized how nervous I must be. One even said he didn't even feel comfortable enough to look at the graduate students, let alone sing in front of them! he he.... little do they ALL know that I am actually a senior. I didn't really want to correct my teacher right there. I figured, it was better to have them think I was a freshman. :)

Anyway, my days of masterclass are done. My days in the school of music are numbered. I will miss this place a lot. As much as I have griped about the late hours of school, I really have loved it. It's amazing how grateful we are for what we have right after it's gone.