Christine Carey, a senior contemporary music major at Eastern has been spending the past few months gearing up for her upcoming senior recital.
Carey has been performing for as long as she can remember, and although she grew up playing multiple instruments, Carey’s go-to musical outlet is her voice.
While Carey’s main form of musical expression is through her voice, she also finds it difficult; “when emotions are a thing, sometimes singing isn’t really possible” said Carey. When emotions become overwhelming, Carey will then turn to her guitar or piano, or even writing her own music.
Beyond singing, Carey has been playing guitar and piano since she was very young, and recently picked up playing violin as well.
Carey likes to delve into music that matches her vocal tone. She specializes in singing blues, jazz, and folk music, which also affects the way she writes music as well. Although she tends to be influenced by the music that she listens to, she tends to sing where her voice feels the strongest.
Carey has been working towards setting up her senior recital since July, when she had her jury to select her song arrangements for the recital. The recital will feature jazz, contemporary folk music, musical theater songs, and a few of Carey’s original songs as well.
A jury for music majors can be seen as a middle point in a senior thesis; “ It requires a weekly rehearsal with a team of collaborators, a lot of research into songs, understanding text, where they are coming from, and knowing what the story is so I can better tell it,” said Carey.
There are a lot of things that Carey had to take into consideration while planning her senior recital. Everything had to fit within a certain time frame, she had to find a proper accompanist for each piece, and she had to make sure that all of her songs fit with the theme of her contemporary music major.
Carey is also an active member of the music ensembles; Turning point, University choir and Eastern Winds.
Beyond music, Carey takes on an active role in several clubs on campus. Alongside her music endeavors, Carey is a third year Student Chaplain in Gough Hall. She is also the music coordinator for the swing club, Ethels.
All around, Carey has always been an artistic soul, in her free time she enjoys dancing and sketching when she has the time to do so.
“I like to read but I don’t get much time for it, practice takes a lot, if you really want to get good you have to give a lot of time to practice” said Carey.
Practice is important for any musician to master their craft. However “you can’t practice too much vocal, not safe, even just listening/visualizing pieces, other instruments can spend hours practicing pieces” advises Carey.
Carey’s advice for anyone looking to pursue music as a career is “to keep trying, even if it feels wrong or like you’re not getting anywhere. Practice takes time, you can’t just rush through stuff, take it slow and muddle your way through it. It is not an easy art, it is a hard discipline, you just gotta keep pushing.”
Carey’s senior recital will take place on Oct. 15 at St. David’s Episcopal Church at 7 p.m.