It’s 7:00 p.m., and the audience slowly settles. On stage at Egan’s Ballard Jam House stands the vocal music class with professional musicians Jake Sele on the Piano, Chris Patin on the drums and vocal music teacher Marina Christopher on the bass cello. The small 45-person venue feels lively, buzzing with excitement as the audience waits for the students to begin their song.
What followed was the class’s first and last public performance of the semester: nine songs ranging from whole-class performances to solos. With the final note, the show that took a whole semester of preparation and musical progress ended.
However, even with all the practice they could possibly fit into the semester, some students in class naturally felt anxiety entering the performance.
“I felt anxious because I’ve never really sung in front of people, but it was nice that it was a small venue and there weren’t a ton of people there,” senior Gwen Hampden said.
While anxiety did affect Hampden’s performance, she thought the show was still successful largely due to the support of her peers.
“I definitely messed up a little bit, but everyone was really supportive and chill about it,” Hampden said. “I felt really comfortable singing in front of the other people just because we had a nice community in the class.”
Full of laughter, applause, and of course singing, songs performed included “Someone Like You” by Adele, “Fly Me to The Moon” by Bart Howard and a special performance of Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” from sophomore Angelina Hinojosa who ‘rickrolled’ the whole venue.
The vocal music class boasts one of the lowest enrollments out of all classes with seven students. However, Christopher not only believes that everyone can sing, but that it is important.
“I’ve met so many adults in life that say they can’t sing, but really, that means somebody in their past told them they can’t sing, or they just decided for themselves,” Christopher said. “I hope that’s what [my students] take away, the confidence to sing in front of people, because public speaking is [often] people’s number one fear.”
