Thandi Ware
Assistant Arts Editor
As soon as senior criminology major Kolini Coleman sang the last poignant note of Ernest Charles’ “When I Have Sung My Songs,” family and friends sprang from their seats and gave her a standing ovation.
“I felt her emotion while she was singing her song, and I thought it was really touching,” junior math major Lauren Hernandez said. “It touched my heart.”
The music department presented a student recital April 1 as a part of its monthly Friday concert series in Morgan Auditorium.
Six student singers and pianists performed an array of music pieces to an intimate audience of about 20 people.
Associate Director of Career Services Jennifer Mojarro said she was also a fan of Coleman’s performance.
All performances were solos, with a pianist as their only accompanists.
The vocalists were not equipped with a microphone and had to project their voices to fill the entire auditorium.
Sophomore music major Zachary Magdaleno, who performed the German song “Ich grolle Nicht” written by composer Robert Schumann, felt that even with an accompanist, it was all on him to get his performance right.
“Everything’s relied upon you…if you don’t sing it right or the second you stop singing, everyone notices,” Magdaleno said.
Magdaleno, who is a member of the University’s men barbershop quartet, noted that singing solo is incredibly different from singing with others.
“Although we each sing our own individual parts, we still have everybody else and we can lean on each other,” he said.
Magdaleno said he appreciated the small and laid back atmosphere of the recital compared to competitions and other shows, which are intense.
He described his feelings towards these other shows with a simple, “Ugh.”
Another performer was junior music major Terry Dopson. Dopson performed two songs; the first being “The Roadside Fire” written by Ralph Vaughan Williams and the second “Avant de quitter ces lieux,” a French song written by Charles Gounod.
Dopson commanded the stage and nearly overpowered the pianist with his deep baritone voice and sang both songs with passion and fervor.
“I really enjoyed Terry’s (performance), just his expressions and the way he reached out to the audience,” Mojarro said.
The students worked very hard to perfect their performances.
Magdaleno said that he did a lot of his rehearsing on his own, outside of class.
“I only have a half hour class for rehearsal once a week so it’s basically on me to actually learn it,” Magdaleno said.
All of the student’s hard work ended up paying off because the audience was quite pleased with the show.
“It was amazing, I was so impressed by the students, how hard they worked, and their voices,” Mojarro said.
“I sat there and I thought ‘Wow, I can’t believe that I know people that sing like this.’”
The next student recital will be held at noon on May 13 in Morgan Auditorium. Admission is free.
Thandi Ware can be reached at thandiwe.ware@laverne.edu.
