Exonians Perform in Fall Student Soloist Recital

By MARVIN SHIM, GRACE YANG, ANNIE ZHU, SELASIE AMEMASOR, and CAROL LEE

The last students streamed through the doors of the Bowld, searching for a place to sit in the bustling auditorium. The atmosphere was abuzz with excitement and anticipation as the stage was set and the lid of the piano propped. Lights dim as the doors slam shut, and the first performer stepped onto the stage to thundering applause. 

On Oct. 15, roughly a week after the Annual Music Assembly, students listened to about a dozen of their fellow Exonians take the stage of the Bowld in the Student Soloist Recital and perform a variety of pieces. Students submitted a form and went through an audition process for their performance. Once selected, they began to rehearse their piece in the few weeks they had to prepare; if their music required a pianist, they met with collaborative musician and adjunct music faculty Jacob Hiser several times a week to practice for the concert. 

“Dr. Sakata, my piano teacher, told me to restrain myself from trying to be impressive or to be showy for the judges. Just try to feel the music, feel every moment of it,” lower and pianist Han Yan shared.

Exonians had returned to campus only about a month and a half prior, and the Music Department and the performers did not have much time to prepare for the performance. 

Senior and soprano Emma Sordi said, “It happened really quickly. I’ve never tried out for a student soloist concert before at Exeter but my voice teacher, right when I got back to school this year, told me that I had to try out because it would be fun and it was my senior year.”

“I was incredibly nervous when I started my piece, and honestly, I think I was nervous even after playing my piece,” upper Andrew Su, who played the bagpipes, reflected. “No matter how prepared I am, I am always nervous when performing in front of a crowd. That nervousness will always remain, but that doesn’t stop me from performing.”

“I have performed countless times as a cellist, but always in some form of an ensemble. Either in an orchestra, a Suzuki class, or chamber group, etc. but never as a soloist. I knew that I would not have the support of other musicians around me as I played, if I made a mistake, it would surely be heard by the full audience. This made me feel anxious about performing in the showcase, and I tried to practice as much as possible to help myself feel better about appearing on stage alone,” upper and cellist Mansa Awuah shared.

“I’ve never [performed solo] before at Exeter. I have been in an acapella group my all four years here and concert choir for three years. It’s always been chamber music or chorus where there’s a lot of people singing around me and I felt supported. I never felt nervous then,” Sordi remarked. “But when I was alone out there, it’s a different kind of scary. It’s different from theater which I’ve done here. I’m not playing someone else or under the guise of some kind of character. I’m just myself.”

“One of the trickiest things is that we don’t usually rehearse in the performance space before the concert. We meet in this smaller room, where the acoustics sound very enclosed and there’s no audience watching us. Once we get into the performance space, the stakes feel higher. The room is much bigger, the lights are on you, you have a hundred, 200 people out in the audience. Everything feels very different,” Hiser added.

On a Tuesday evening, the Bowld was filled with students coming to support their fellow Exonians. Despite the quick turnaround and the short amount of time to practice, the performers and the organizers still found the event a great success and an enjoyable process, both during rehearsal and during the performance. 

“What I particularly love is all the different kinds of music that I get to play with all these different students,” Hiser commented. “There are singers doing musical theater selections or opera arias, and the instrumentalists who are playing concertos or sonatas. And then also singers singing pop and jazz tunes. It encompasses many of my musical interests.”

“I was very nervous about the piece. I was highly aware of the areas in the piece that were less developed. So, I practiced endlessly. I was sure that the certainty of knowing I tried my best and prepared my piece as best as possible would ensure confidence in my playing,” Awuah said.

To overcome the anxiety often encountered from performing in front of a large crowd, many musicians have imagined a different setting, or strived to find a deeper purpose in their music. Sometimes, overcoming stage fright can be as simple as having previous experience, or using a different practice strategy weeks beforehand.

“I realized if you worry about playing a piece hours in advance oftentimes it makes you even more nervous. Sometimes you don’t really want to play the piece that much before the performance,” lower and pianist Roger Guo, who also performed last spring in the Soloist Concert, reflected.

“Instead of worrying about my piece, I simply imagine myself playing somewhere out in the woods, miles from the nearest town. Among the trees, squirrels and birds are watching, but not a single sound is heard,” Su said. “Only the droning of my pipes can be heard, as if I am one with nature, and my music and movements are entirely natural. It’s kind of hard to explain, but I feel like if what I am doing is natural, then it has to be right.”

Yan, who also performed for the Soloist Concert last fall, compared his performance experience. “I felt like this time I was more confident when I played. I played not for the audience, but for myself only.”

Lower and pianist Evan Fan observed, “What made me gravitate towards the piano is that I’ve been playing it for a really long time, like it’s probably been over 11 years now. I’ve always just loved playing and I enjoy performing, getting to share my music with an audience. So the showcase is just a great opportunity to perform, do what I love, and hopefully other people enjoy it too.”

Sordi reflected, “I’ve always steered clear from these concerts during my time here. I never thought I was good enough. I never thought I could do it because of my stage fright, but in the end, it’s great to try, because things might end up working out.”

The Student Soloist Recital would have been impossible without the encouragement and support behind the stage. People such as the Music Department staff, lesson teachers, parents, and peers have all been central in making the recital go on as smoothly as it has. As all the performers took one final bow and the show drew to a close, the audience rose in celebration of their fellow Exonians’ work.