The AMP recital plans to showcase all the students involved in the AMP program with a wide range of music styles and instruments.
Wendy Mazon, music professor, is the advisor of the AMP recital. She states students should expect a plethora of different music styles from her performers.
“You are going to be seeing a variety of instruments as well as vocalists, both male and female, and there will be a mixture of classical music as well as Broadway music and classical, instrumental and jazz,” said Mazon.
Mazon said that the students have been preparing for this recital since the beginning of the semester along with practicing alongside music professionals and digging into the roots of their musical pieces.
“They have done countless hours of practicing and also, which is part of the AMP program, studied with a professional musician on their specific instrument once a week since the beginning of the semester and they also studied the history of the pieces as well as the background,” said Mazon.
In order to be well rounded and understand how to play or sing a piece and understand the style, Mazon said it is important to delve deeper into it.
“This deeper study really creates a more well-rounded musician, so that way when they transfer and they perform these pieces and audition at other universities, they will be versatile with their pieces and be more confident,” said Mazon.
This AMP recital is different from the usual Thursday Concert because it is all Pierce students, when there is usually a professional musician or groups that performs.
“This is actually our Pierce students here showing off their talents that we have at the school and we have a lot of very talented musicians so it’s nice to see just what Pierce has to offer,” said Mazon.
Julianne Sillona, AMP student, says it’s nerve-racking having to live up to the professionals that perform on Thursdays, but is also exciting to show people what they have to offer.
“We are kind of nervous because all of our teachers and peers are going to be there,” Sillona said. “It is exciting to go up and show them what you have been working on the whole semester and they could see how much better you get.”
For Sillona, being an AMP student means the world to her because they are giving the students the best education they can provide and exposing them to performing on stage.
“They made it clear that we are representing the program and the school,” said Sillona. “They want us to transfer and make sure we are comfortable performing on stage and being vulnerable enough to share our art with other people.”
Leonardo Garcia, AMP student, does not think the recital is meant for recruiting or to impress other schools they are considering to transfer too but thinks that it is an interesting idea.
“The recital is meant to help us practice performing, but that is an interesting idea,” said Garcia. “We should put that out there.”
Garcia believes that it is performances like these that separate themselves from the people who simply to music for a hobby.
“This is really where you separate the people who do it for fun and people who actually want to do it as a career,” said Garcia.
