Music Observation Paper

On Sunday April 7 , 2013 I attended the Junior Recital for Michelle Ellison (soprano) and Rachel Stanton (piano) at Oberlin College & Conservatory. Coming to my second show at Oberlin College I really didn’t know what to expect this time around. On this nice day at Oberlin College I observed many students outside playing their instruments and various groups outside singing in circles enjoying the weather. I could tell that these students were very passionate about music. Inside of the conservatory building the recital was held inside of the Kulas Recital Hall. This was my first time entering a room that was made specifically for musical recitals. The hall wasn’t too big but it was large enough to fit a nice sized crowd in a narrow room.
Rachel Stanton sat down on the piano with another female and Michelle Ellison stood directly in front of the piano wearing and elegant purple dress. I was unclear of what type of music that would be performed. Rachel Stanton began playing a very slow soft rhythm. Michelle began to sing in a warm very high pitched tone and this is when I realized that I was at an opera recital. Michelle was singing in what I believe to be Italian. She seemed very familiar with the language as if she studied it. This was completely new to me because I had never been to hear an opera singing before. As Rachel Stanton changed the tempo she played on the piano Michelle would begin to sing more aggressively as she was competing with the piano. The way she controlled her voice showed that she has put in a lot of work and practice into her singing. The way she switched from singing in a very high tone back to low very quickly show Michelle’s versatility and it was simply amazing. As she sung she had a very emotional expression on her face. She was very into the performance. Each song she sung had a different tempo and style but since I couldn’t understand the language she was singing in it all kind of ran