Capstone Project

For my Senior project at Principia College, I put on an hour classical piano concert. This is the live performance in May 2008. I had a pretty dress, and I dyed my hair the day before the concert. It was unarguably burgundy, and I was terrified it looked awful, but it ended up matching the dress perfectly. Cameron Hanses did my hair all pretty. I think she was probably my biggest emotional support during that time. :)

The Music Department apparently convened at one point, and decided I wasn't going to be able to do a full hour, and tried to convince me to cut it down to a 1/2 hour concert.  I knew I would be disappointed with myself if I didn't live up to my full potential, and so I doubled my efforts, determined to prove my worth. When I finally did the concert, my sweet, lovely voice teacher, Sarah Rockebrand who was lending a hand shaping me up, leaned over to Marie, my strict but amazing piano professor, and said, "It's a miracle."   I think the concert was the best I've ever played in my life.

There was also a really funny (in retrospect) debacle to do with the program notes I prepared for the concert.  I had emailed them to someone a night or two before the concert, not bothering to take any more responsibility than that, assuming once I emailed the file, it would be taken care of.

Lo and behold, 5 minutes before the concert, Marie, my amazing (but very strict) piano professor told me there were no program notes.  I was nervous enough, already.  She told me I would have to announce the program to the audience.  I hadn't practiced announcing anything, and didn't know if I would remember the order of the names of the Bach pieces, the numbers of some of the movements, or the french names of the Debussy pieces.  I ended up doing OK, but that was a lesson to me in follow-through.


J.S. Bach - English Suite No.1 in A

I. Prelude


II. Allemande


III. Courante i & ii


IV. Sarabande


V. Bouree i & ii


VI. Gigue


Johannes Brahms - Rhapsody Op.79 No.2


Claude Debussy - Selections from Preludes, Book I

(dansuese de delphes) (the dancers of Delphi)


(la fille aved le cheveux lin) (the girl with the flaxen hair)


(des pas sur la neige) (footsteps in the snow)


(voiles) (sails or veils)


Franz Liszt - Hungarina Rhapsody No.13