This past semester, two Nu Alpha sisters have used their voice to be successful on and off campus. Hope Miller and Lauren Holmes are two very dedicated vocalists and members of Nu Alpha and we wanted to highlight their recent accomplishments in the fields of a cappella and classical voice!
In January, senior Hope Miller led The College of New Jersey’s competitive a cappella group The Trentones to victory at the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (hereafter, ICCA) Quarterfinals in Ewing, NJ. As the group’s music director, she wanted to convey a story through the group’s three song set. Through her love of Lizzy McAlpine and suggestions from members, Hope arranged “The Thought of You” by Logan Smith as the opener, “Reckless Driving” by Lizzy McAlpine featuring Ben Kessler, and “If I Go” by Ella Eyre. These songs conveyed a love story where the two people in the relationship are on completely different pages. When talking about the progression of the story, Hope said “We had a love song with the male character’s perspective, a duet where they meet in the middle, and a song with the female character’s perspective.” In addition to being music director, Hope also took on the task of arranging these songs for the group. Hope described the process of arranging each song differently, each song with its own inspiration, hurdles, and emotion. She described arranging “Reckless Driving” as “...a labor of love, and it was such a cathartic experience to arrange one of my favorite songs.” whereas she was less familiar with “The Thought of You”. She wanted to play with the negative space in the arrangement using traditional a capella composing techniques like cascades, movement, and harmony on the solo line. For “If I Go”, she sought inspiration from other media like the Fates in Hadestown, the Broadway Musical and other Ella Eyre songs. She also composed the songs with callbacks to one another like “If I Go” having the lines “I’m a reckless driver” and “I’m a careful driver” in the baritone and alto lines. For the group’s preparation, they started preparing in late October. They would learn a lot of music outside of rehearsals so when they got to rehearsal they could focus on “phrasing, dynamics, story, and blend”. They had a few previous ICCA winners come and workshop with the group and in January they had a 3-4 day retreat back at TCNJ where they focused on choreography and the meaning of the set. After a few more weeks of rehearsals and a showcase for family and friends, they performed at the ICCA Mid-Atlantic Quarterfinal on January 27th. At the end of the night, they placed first, meaning they get to advance to semifinals at the Grand Opera House in Wilmington, Delaware. Hope also received a caption award for outstanding arrangement with other Trentones members Leonor Fontanez and Kayla Wason winning a caption for outstanding choreography. In February, we had another vocalist victory for the chapter when sophomore Lauren Holmes competed at the NJ National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Festival for Collegiate Singers and Beyond in Glassboro, NJ. For the competition, she sang three selections: an English art song, and two art songs in different languages. Repertoire selection was a big part of preparing for the competition. Lauren described her process for preparing repertoire. “I prepared for this competition by selecting past repertoire that was well suited for the competition, attended some coaching sessions and practiced a lot!” Throughout the day, in addition to competing, Lauren attended masterclasses where professors would workshop repertoire with students. In addition to receiving feedback from the judges’ comments, Lauren placed second in the Freshman/Sophomore Classical Treble Voice category and received a small scholarship award. SAI Nu Alpha decided to spotlight Hope and Lauren because it shows their passion and dedication to music outside of the chapter in other organizations. Their participation in these groups shows their commitment to our core values by upholding the highest standards of music in every setting. Congratulations to our talented singing sisters!
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This past summer, Nu Alpha member Grace Trumpy had the incredible opportunity to march with the Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps during their 2023 season titled “Atlas Rising”.
Grace’s audition journey as a trumpet player was quite competitive. It began in the Fall of 2022 when she submitted a pre-screening video and got an invitation to an audition camp. To audition, she had to show skill in playing, marching, and choreographed routines. After her first audition camp in December 2022, she was offered a contract. When discussing her role in the organization, Grace discussed some of the values that were taught in spring training and throughout their summer tour as the show developed. “Each person plays an integral role in the membership as well as the show, and knowing all of your responsibilities, including music and movement, is non negotiable. At the Cadets, we are taught that “how you do something is how you do everything” and what separates amateurs from professionals is not perfection, but consistency.” While in drum corps, members participate in a summer tour as they compete within the Drum Corps International circuit. This takes them around the country via tour bus as they still rehearse and continue to refine the show. Grace says about the experience: “It takes extreme mental focus to stay engaged in the day to day drum corps routine, as well as practicing healthy habits (sleeping, eating, etc) that keep you on the field each day without injury…The Cadets 2023 program, “Atlas Rising,” was very physically demanding, and required physical fitness, which we also trained for on the daily. Once on tour, we continued to develop the show, and also had responsibilities related to traveling and living at a variety of housing sites.” This training proved to be successful when The Cadets traveled to Indianapolis, Indiana to perform at Lucas Oil Stadium for Drum Corps International finals. They placed 5th overall with a score of 94.313. During a whirlwind summer of traveling, rehearsing, and Buc-ee's trips, Grace states that her favorite part of the experience was the people she worked with, all of the traveling (performing in stadiums, seeing new places), and learning to “fall in love with the process”. SAI Nu Alpha decided to spotlight her experience with The Cadets as it show’s Grace’s dedication to our core values outside of The College of New Jersey. She upheld the highest standards of music as she toured and furthered the development of music in America as she toured and performed in various different states. Recently, Grace has announced that she will be marching her next season with Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps and we can’t wait to see all the amazing work she does! Sophia Isnardi, Class of 2020, Music Education Major
This past year, I had an incredible opportunity to take part in an independent study for music composition to write a piece for TCNJ’s Percussion Ensemble. The piece that I wrote, "At Sea", is a multi-movement work inspired by some of the memories that I had with my family at the sea. Each movement of the work correlates to a different memory, such as experiencing winds and turbulent waves when boating, stargazing while laying down on the shore at night, and biking on the trails and beaches of an island. From my piece, my main goal was to communicate to the audience that percussion music is more than “sound”; it can offer an endless amount of sound colors and sonorities from the instruments themselves. Through this experience, I found that writing for percussion ensemble helped me broaden my horizons in understanding percussion music and developing my compositional style in a fun and creative way. One of my favorite aspects of writing for percussion ensemble offers many opportunities to experiment with mixing and matching different sonorities, timbres, and sound colors through the medium of endless varieties of percussion instruments. Overall, I had an amazing time getting to work with the TCNJ percussion ensemble on this piece and experimenting with different sets of percussion instruments and playing techniques. I would like to thank my TCNJ music professors, my family, my friends, and my sisters from SAI for providing their unconditional support on this amazing musical journey. In the future, I hope to challenge myself further in experimenting with various composition methods and writing for different ensembles as well! Video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S_RedZ3pFn_7mMcRSkfm8mSL4vHLtkFW/view |
Sisters of Nu AlphaThis page is dedicated to showcasing members with personal projects that align with both music and the objectives of Sigma Alpha Iota. Archives
March 2024
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