Students learn from recitals

Playing an instrument in front of a crowd is one thing, but doing it alone is even harder.

It’s the time of year when University of South Dakota music students are preparing for their solo recitals.

Students are scheduled to perform in the Colton Recital Hall in the Warren M. Lee Center for Fine Arts throughout the month of April.

Professor of Saxophone and Jazz Studies Christopher Kocher said the recitals can be nerve-racking.

“The students have been building up and improving their entire time at USD,” Kocher said. “Sometimes they’ve been working on it for a year in advance.”

Senior Baritone Walker Rose will be singing 11 songs for his recital April 14 at 4 p.m.

“I’m a little nervous because I’ve never done anything this long before,” he said.

Rose will sing a variety of songs from Arias and several collections of songs by the same composer with a common theme. His only accompaniment will be a pianist.

Rose is a music education major and said the recital will be useful because it will be recorded. That way, he can use it to show his musical experience when applying for jobs.

“It’s just the culmination of everything that we’ve done in our undergraduate career,” Rose said.

All music education majors must do a senior recital, so many music students are practicing and perfecting their art.

“Some people are nervous, some people aren’t,” Rose said. “There’s a lot of ‘Oh my gosh, I have to do this and this and this.’ For the most part, everybody’s excited, but there’s a lot of things to do and finals week is coming up and the practice rooms are pretty full.”

Graduate student Laura Bertschinger has been preparing as well. The soprano gave several recitals as an undergrad, and her upcoming solo recital, April 6 at 4 p.m., will be her final performance.

Bertschinger will be performing mainly French songs and Arias, but will end her performance with a couple of German and English songs.

“I picked most of the music mainly because I found them to be very beautiful,” she said. “It’s kind of an area I’m exploring. I picked a lot of my personal favorites and also ones that the audience would enjoy and be able to connect to.”

Bertschinger said she hopes to get a role in an opera one day, but is also interested in teaching private lessons.

“You need to have the performance experience yourself in order to teach someone how to perform,” she said. “You have to know how to make it look easy when it’s not.”

Kocher admitted that even though he is an experienced teacher and performer, he was nervous before his own solo recitals in college.

“When you’re performing solo, it’s very exposed,” Kocher said. “It’s not the same as playing as a member of a group. All the focus is on what you’re doing.”

Kocher said it did get easier to play as he continued his education on to his masters and doctorate degrees, but that the fear of performing alone never truly goes away.

“Even now when I do a solo recital, it’s still a little nerve-racking,” he said.

Bertschinger said she’s excited for her own recital and hopes to draw a crowd.

“You want your audience to ultimately have fun and to enjoy the performance, even if it is some of the hardest (music) out there for your voice type.”

All recitals are free to attend.