Westminster Choir College

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=75 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="006c8c83.gif"> <div> <B> <head> <title>Nora test</title> </head> <marquee width="700" height="20" scrolldelay="80" align="middle" behavior="loop" direction="left">Westminster Choir and Westminster Singers perform a world premire piece by Stephen Paulus entitled Voices of Light with the New York Philharmoinc at Carnegie Hall! April 12-17</marquee>  </B></div> <div> <A HREF="id15.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Voices of Light"><U><B>See The Text of the Paulus</B></U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=179 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="006c8c83.gif"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Corner of the Sky"><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Family"><U><B>Family</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Friends"><U><B>Friends</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <B>Westminster Choir College</B></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id5.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Red Hot and Blue"><U><B>Red, Hot and Blue</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id6.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Lost Colony"><U><B>The Lost Colony</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id12.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Side Show"><U><B>Current Productions</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id7.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Photography"><U><B>Photography</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id8.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Stuff (that doesnt fit in any of the cat"><U><B>Stuff (</B></U></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#CC99FF" FACE="Papyrus" ><A HREF="id8.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Stuff (that doesnt fit in any of the cat"><U><B>that doesn't fit in any of the categories above)</B></U></A></FONT></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=405 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> Westminster Choir College </div> <div> (my home away from home)</div> <div> <IMG SRC="025c2340.jpg" border=0 width="450" height="308" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <I>Pictured above: The anterior exterior of </I></div> <div> <I>Williamson Hall  on the Westminster Campus</I></div> <bR> <div>      Well I'm finally nearing the end of my  four year sentence at <A HREF="http://westminster.rider.edu" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://westminster.rider.edu"><U>Westminster Choir College </U></A>(punishment bestowed upon me for what crime?  Desiring to be a world class musician).  My sentence was recently extended for one additional semester due to bad behavior (<I>a.k.a. adding a newly formed minor in the second half of my junior year</I>).  Don't let those beautifully capped ionic columns deceive you. They may seem ancient and harmless enough, yet by nature they are the very steel bars that have kept and will keep many trapped in this school for eternity.  Although this is all in jest - to say I have a love/hate relationship with my soon to be Alma Mater is all but too accurate.  It has captured my soul, and whether in the long run this will prove productive only time shall tell.</div> <div> The facts are as follows.  I have longed to transfer time and time again.  But something anchors me here.  </div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <I><IMG SRC="0272ca60.jpg" border=0 width="300" height="422" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></I></div> <div> <I>Another view of Williamson taken on a stormy day.</I></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Papyrus" ><I><B>   </B></I></FONT><B> I</B>t has been said that Westminster was once (not too long ago) ranked in the top 3 most <I>stressful</I> schools in the United States by <A HREF="http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/corank.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college"><U>US News and World Report</U></A>, right up there with MIT and Harvard.  Anyone who has ever had any contact with a WCC student understands why.  Running from performance to performance, spending days on rental busses back and forth from rehearsals with the <A HREF="http://www.newyorkphilharmonic.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.newyorkphilharmonic.org"><U>New York Philharmonic</U></A>, <A HREF="http://www.philorch.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.philorch.org"><U>Philadelphia Orchestra</U></A>  & <A HREF="http://www.njsymphony.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.njsymphony.org"><U>New Jersey Symphony,</U></A><A HREF="http://www.njsymphony.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.njsymphony.org"><U> </U></A>while still attending classes, getting your practice hours in during the day, and rehearsing for (in many cases) 2 or more choirs, preparing for mandatory juries and proficiencies, not to mention your voice lessons for which you never practice enough, can surely put a<A HREF="http://216.1.140.188/atoz/SearchAtoz/GetFile.asp?urltogo=http://www.advocatehealth.com/heartcare/common/supratac.html&Site=3&words=tachycardia&results=21&fileName=./temp2/04010103161926481" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://216.1.140.188/atoz/SearchAtoz/Get"><U> strain on one's heart</U></A>!</div> <div>           While Westminster is by far not the school for all people (of my entering class of over 80 we have less than 30 left)  the rewards that one can glean from this institution are unending.  I have performed on the great stages of The Philadelphia Academy of Music, NJPAC, Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall,  under the batons of Wolfgang Swallisch, Zdenec Macal, Kurt Mazur, and Claudio Abaddo.  I have been under the tutelage of Laura Brooks Rice (Winner of the Metropolitan Opera Awards Auditions).  It was through Westminster that I first learned about The Lost Colony Outdoor Drama, which has a long history with my academic Institution. I am proud to say I am on a <A HREF="http://www.delosmus.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.delosmus.com"><U>Grammy Award winning Recording</U></A>! And most of all  I have made friends that will last me a lifetime.   </div> <div>             Despite the <A HREF="id14.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My Brain"><U>entrapment</U></A> I often feel due to its  extremely focused program, Westminster holds me hostage in its people.   Upon coming to Westminster, for the first time in my life I had found people who understand <I>why </I>I wander around constantly humming to myself, <I>how</I> I can simply remember a melody by one catch phrase someone mentions offhand in a conversation, and exactly <I>when</I> it is appropriate simply to shut up and sing.</div> </td> </tr></table></body>