Judson College :: Choir, FAITH, Ensemble

What do you do when someone has a birthday at Judson?  Today was my suitemate Miriam's 19^th birthday.  While she was in a class, my roommate and I decorated her room with streamers, ballons, and signs some of the other girls made for her.  When you first walked in the room, there were streamers looping back and forth from one side of the wall to the other.  We finished up just before she headed back to the dorm, and decided if we wanted to go all out: the perfect way to top it off would be to have Happy Birthday playing when she came in the door.  We found a funny version pretty quickly through the Internet that had a similar sound to the Beach Boys.  When she came in the door, we jumped out to surprise her.  I'm pretty sure she enjoyed it :)  After she had looked at her room a little more, we headed to lunch in the dining hall, then afternoon classes. 

My first recital at Judson was tonight, so I was nervous all day.  This recital was for new music students taking voice from Dr. Betty or Piano from Dr. Brown.  Since I am taking piano and voice, I had two voice pieces and one piano piece.  My last class for the day got out a little early, and I headed back to my room to dress up for "the big night."  As soon as I finished getting ready, I headed over to the Alumnae Auditorium to run through my songs with Dr. Betty and play through my piano piece.  When it was time for the concert, I was first on the program with a Sonatina for my piano piece.  Once on stage, the time went by so quickly!  After I finished, I got to listen to the other piano pieces; they sounded so pretty!  After the piano students all finished, the voice students went on stage with Dr. Betty as their accompanist.  When it was my turn to go on stage again, all the nerves had disappeared.  I made it through both songs without missing any words, and the concert closed with Miriam's voice pieces.  Dr. Betty told us ahead of time that since she was the last one to perform in the concert, she was going to play Happy Birthday for everyone to sing to her.  When Miriam finished, Dr. Betty told the audience it was her birthday, then started playing.  Since we were still backstage, at the end of the song, we all peeked around the curtain to sing the last "you" in the song to make a funny ending.  When we peeked around, the entire audience laughed.  :)  The concert turned out not to be as bad as I had envisioned, and I was more prepared than I thought I was. 

To top off the night, they brought out the Hamburg Steinway piano.  Before today, I had not played on it.  It is hard to believe pianos can play so differently until you can actually feel the difference under your fingers.  Now that I've experienced it, I can definitely say I'm looking forward to my next opportunity to play on that piano.

Live life in passion! - Johann Sebastian Bach 

As part of the Jud 101 Orientation class, one activity included in that class is an etiquette luncheon. Prior to the luncheon, freshmen watch a video on proper etiquette before they put what they know into practice.  For the luncheon Thursday, we all dressed up and headed to Archibald Hall.  Each table had a hostess, and we were pointed in the direction of our seat when we walked through the door.  My hostess was Kezia Dahl.  It was a full course meal, with soup, salad, lemon pepper chicken, and cheesecake for dessert.  It was so much fun, and the food tasted wonderful! 

Part of college is learning how to balance everything, and this week definitely tested me in that area.  I had an eight page History paper that counted for 25% of my grade due Friday.  After working on it every chance I got, I spent my day Friday finishing my paper.  One of the girls that helps with history study sessions was a big help in making sure I got the formatting right.  I think this assignment was a reminder that my time management skills still aren't perfected, but I'm getting there.  It's amazing how quickly a schedule can fill up, and it's important to keep control of your time and not let it slip away.

When I finished my paper, I finally had the chance to breathe a little, and headed to eat before getting ready for the Judson/MMI bonfire.  It was a perfect reward to go outside and talk, play around, drink hot chocolate, and relax a little.  After the bonfire, we headed inside the J to play some games and snacks.  Since it was Scholarship Day weekend, I was able to meet a few perspective students that had already arrived.  I played Apples to Apples for the first time and had a lot of fun.  It is so good to be finished with my history paper, and the bonfire was a great end to a stressful week.

"Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors" - Unknown

Hockey day is one of the many traditions here at Judson.  Each year, seniors play against the freshmen and jr/sophs in a game of field hockey.  I really wanted to participate, but I had too many other things going on this year.  My roommate and I already have plans to make sure we play next year! 

Even though we didn't play, my roommate, suitemate and I still wanted to watch, so Saturday morning, we headed to the hockey field to watch the big game.  The weather turned out to be perfect, which made watching the game even better.  There were two games, one was the freshmen and jr/sophs vs. the seniors, and for the second game, girls were chosen from each of the two teams to play against the Alumnae.  Between the two games, we headed into the gym to watch the skits each class had prepared.  They were all very creative!  After skits, we went back outside to the hockey field to watch an intense game of field hockey, which the all-stars won.  :)  When the game ended, girls hurried over to the front steps of Jewett to serenade our audience with step sing songs.  As part of the tradition, the Alums gathered on the steps with current students to participate in the step sing.  Next on the agenda was lunch, then Wishing Well. 

Wishing Well is an event where the seniors re-enact some of the things that happened during their time at Judson.  It was really funny to watch them do skits to some of the things they experienced, from their experiences as a freshman, to pageant, all the way through their senior year.  Some of the pictures at wishing well inspired the three of us to toilet paper roll Chelsey and Jamie's room in good humor!  We knew they wouldn't be in their room for a while, so as soon as Wishing Well ended, we hurried back to their room to get started.   I think we covered their room pretty well.  When they came back, they got to see their room and had a good laugh about it. 

I can't wait until next year's hockey day!

"...in the end, all that really matters isn't the things you did, but what its effects are today, not the knowledge you have learned, but how you applied it, not the words that were said, but how they made you feel, and most of all, not the moment of occurrence, but how it's now just a part of our memory... Everyday, we make memories... Let's paint lives with happy ones..." - Unknown 

One class I have come to look forward to the most this semester has been choir.  We meet two times a week and work on music for upcoming performances.  The two days we meet are by far my busiest days of the week, and it is always a nice stress relief for me to go sing a few songs.  Our class time normally starts out with vocal warm-ups.  Dr. Ransom always keeps these interesting, from singing forwards and backwards to the number nine super fast in scales, to "sirens," as well as a few other exercises that I do not believe can be adequately described with words.  :)  Aside from my church choir, this is my first time to participate in something like this, and I have enjoyed it quite a bit!  We have worked on a wide variety of music; some written in Italian and German, some fun songs, some serious songs, and some religious pieces.

We had been working on several pieces for our first choir concert of the year.  During this concert, the Judson Singers, FAITH, and Handbells all had a chance to participate.  A lot of preparation went into this concert, and it was amazing how well it turned out. The Alumnae Auditorium has some really good acoustics, so the sound turned out really nice!  It was also really nice for us to be able to bring out the Hamburg Steinway concert grand piano for the concert.  It has such a rich sound, and several people here refer to it (rightfully so) as "the baby."  The Choir sang a few songs while Dr. Brown played away on the piano, followed by some impressive performances from FAITH, where Mrs. Washburn took a turn playing, as well as a few songs from Handbells.  Our night of singing wrapped up with a few more songs from the Choir, and ended with a wonderful reception.

Now that our first concert is over, we get to start working on Christmas music for Vespers.  I can hardly wait to see what Dr. Ransom has in store for us!

Click here to learn more about Judson's Music program!

"Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.  Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing."

                                                                                                                      Psalm 100:1-2

Brittany Hall