As this semester draws to a close, the Music Department is hosting a variety of recitals by junior and senior students from the music, music education, and vocal performance degree programs. In order to meet their graduation requirements, these students must complete a half and/or full vocal recital, which involve 20 to 40 minutes of singing.  

The pieces selected traditionally stem from a variety of languages and musical eras, including, but not limited to, French, English, Italian, and German selections, which span the Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Modern periods. Genres featured include art song, opera, oratorio, and musical theater, with the precise mix often depending on the performer’s interest. 

A student hitting the stage on April 18 at 7 p.m., Rachel Handrick, is a senior double major in vocal performance and music education. She sat down with the Lumen on April 12 to discuss the process of preparing for her full recital, its highlights and challenges, and what the experience has meant to her. 

On her recital, the soprano will be featuring selections by Debussy, Du Parc, Bach, Puccini, and Floyd, among others. The selections were made in collaboration with her voice teacher, Prof. Emeritus Dan Johnson-Wilmot. Depending on precise tempo and other timing factors, her sets take between 36 and 38 minutes to perform.  

When asked about her goals in completing the daunting task, Handrick replied, “I want to do the best I can…and show friends and family what I’ve been working on. I don’t think my extended family…knows what I’ve been up to or what I sound like, so I think it’ll be a neat shock to hear what they have to say.” 

In the area of challenges, the one that came to Handrick’s mind first was timespan. “In a normal world,” she explained, “people who do full recitals would get nearly a full year to work on [them], but due to COVID and the postponing of our half recitals, [this year’s seniors] have had only a little over a semester to prepare.” 

Despite this, for the performer, the rewarding parts of her preparation journey have far outweighed the daunting. “Finally taking the music away,” she noted, made her realize that “I have this memorized; I’m actually farther along and better prepared than I think I am—and that was a really nice feeling.” 

Thankful, she reflected on her work with her coach accompanist, Judy Stafslien. “She’s been very patient with me,” Handrick said, “which is always fantastic. It feels really nice when [Judy] says that she’s [getting closer to actually being able to ‘play’ with me rather than simply ‘accompany’]: there’s more freedom for us to work together as artists making music, rather than her just being the support system.” 

The soprano packaged this appreciation with a reflection on how her relationships with her recital instructors have grown in recent years. “It’s a different feeling from working with them freshman and sophomore year,” she explained. “I think they see me as more of an adult—which is nice—and I know them better, so I know what they expect of me. I’ve had some mental health struggles this past year, and I’ve been able to advocate for myself more to them.” 

In connection, the senior had some advice for younger students who are going to perform recitals of their own in the future. “Don’t procrastinate; get into the practice room. Even if the only time you have available is 8 p.m. on a Tuesday, you should probably go—it’s going to be so much easier to learn music when you’ve got it in front of you and you’re sitting at a piano.” “Take care of yourself,” she added. “Check in with your body all the time. Drink water; don’t let your mental and physical health fall behind just because you think you need to excel academically.” 

Handrick will be performing her recital alone, a feature which will be shared by her classmates, Gavin Mason, Joseph Lange, Morgan Bramstedt, and Ella Rose Mahlum. All will be performing full recitals for the general public and Viterbo community to view in-person.  

Notes: The university cannot support livestreams for these events due to copyright concerns. Attendance is limited to audience members who have signed up and given their names for a contract tracing list. Links to these sign-up forms should be released via Viterbo Music Department social media in the days to come. Only the singer will be unmasked during the performance, as per recommendations from the COVID-19 Response Team. The capacity of the Nola Starling Recital Hall has been adjusted to meet social distancing guidelines.