Lindsy Rittenhouse vocal performance senior and soprano sings at the NATS recital on Nov. 4. This will be her fourth year competing in NATS. “It’s a learning experience and you get your name out there,” Rittenhouse said.
Students practice for competition at recital
To practice and gain experience, six students sang in the National Association of Teachers of Singing recital Nov. 4 at Akin Auditorium.
“Not only will it improve my character,” Steven Singleton, vocal performance junior, said. “It’ll improve my voice, and it’ll improve my career plan because this is something that I want to continue and become a professional at.”
The singers were singing to practice for the upcoming 68th Texoma NATS Regional Conference that will take place at Baylor University Nov. 7-10 where they will compete against 600-700 other students.
“Of course it’s fun to perform,”Lindsay Rittenhouse, vocal performance senior, said. “It’s awesome, and if you advance there are prizes, but really the main reason I go is the experience of listening to everybody else and learning what they do right what they do wrong technique-wise and training your ear to hear those things.”
The singers, five soprano and one baritone, sang three to four songs each in a variety of different languages.
“Singing this type of music is important to me because it fits my voice and it makes me feel good,” Singleton said. “It makes me feel good about myself, and it helps you to be yourself. It also helps you to act out your own character despite which song you sing, as long as it’s a part of the story.”
Despite the small audience of some 50 people, the performers said they still had stage fright.
“I always get stage fright, but today wasn’t so bad,” Singleton said. “I remember the first time I started my recital I had super stage fright. My legs were shaking, I wanted to vomit, but over time the more and more I did it, the more I got used to it. Of course there’s still some tiny bit of stage fright here and there, but it gets better.”
Rittenhouse said singing is fresh and challenging.
“I just love it. School has been easy for me — I went to college my junior year in high school. I’m never really stimulated by anything,” Rittenhouse said. “Singing not only is a little bit more of a challenge for me, but it’s never the same. It’s always different. It’s exploration, and it’s just inspiring when you do it right. When you hit that note and it just resonates and you can feel it, it’s just that heart-filling inspiration.”