With a little less than a week before the recital, instrumental music education major Blauvelt explained the work and organization it took to prepare for his upcoming recital.
“I definitely take away a lot of organization because you have to stay on top of learning the music and being prepared for the recital,” Blauvelt said. “Otherwise, it will sneak up on you, and your recital will be next week and you still don’t have a hall set up.”
Blauvelt began preparing for this event last semester when he started looking at pieces. He searched in the Jacobs School of Music’s music library, the music selections through the IU library catalog and even YouTube looking at potential arrangements for the trombone. Blauvelt said choosing the pieces is the hardest part of the process.
“It’s hard to choose just four or five songs for your recital when there’s so much available to choose from,” Blauvelt said. “There’s so much music available, not for just trombone, but you can take stuff and arrange it for the trombone.”
In December, Blauvelt had to pick out a date for his recital. Blauvelt said the application to apply for a hall in the Simon Music Center was pretty straightforward, but being a sophomore undergraduate made it difficult for him to reserve the space.
“As a generic student recital, it can be difficult to get times in those bigger halls because first preference is given to people with senior recitals or doctoral recitals,” ?Blauvelt said.
Since then, Blauvelt has focused on practicing his music for about two hours every day. His lesson teacher requires him to coordinate a recital every year, even though he only needs a senior recital for his degree.
“It kind of gives you something to work on, too,” Blauvelt said. “Instead of just practicing music just to practice, you’re practicing with a purpose. I feel like it gives you more incentive to keep ?working.”
When Blauvelt selected the four songs for his recital, he said he purposely chose some songs that were easier and some that were more difficult for to work on up until the performance.
“I would say ‘The Patriot’ is probably the stretch piece that I’ve been working a lot on,” Blauvelt said. “It’s a lot more technically demanding than the rest of the pieces. It definitely took a lot of work to put into it, but I think it’s at a decent level.”
With a little less than a week away from the event, Blauvelt said he is not nervous and feels pretty well prepared.
“Obviously there’s always more that you can get out of a piece, keep rehearsing to make it better, but I think next Wednesday it will be a really great performance of all of the work I’ve been putting toward,” Blauvelt said.
Although, Blauvelt said he will probably be doing everything he can to counteract his nerves the night of the recital and try to remain relaxed ?backstage.
“The thing I personally do is a lot of breathing before when I’m just sitting back there because it really helps to just relax your body and your mind,” Blauvelt said. “If you just go out there with a really relaxed body and mind, you’re sound will be a lot better. I take a deep breath before you even play the first note.”
With months of practice and preparation, Blauvelt said he will feel relieved once the recital is over because he won’t have to practice the same music. However, he also feels excited to start planning for his recital next year.
“I can start picking music out because I’ve been playing the same music every time I go to rehearse,” Blauvelt said. “So it’s actually kind of fun to now get to go and ?pick four new pieces of ?music.”
