Most students who prepare for a performance know the stress that is placed on them to perform their best, but senior Cameron Ward’s situation was different. Ward became an emergency conductor Dec. 19 when vocal and guitar teacher Matthew Hanson became so ill that he was unable to direct the vocal classes in the winter concert featuring the band and the vocals classes.
“I first heard [I was going to be conducting the vocals classes] when I arrived at the concert just before 6 p.m. I was running late because of traffic after a vocal lesson in Chapel Hill,” Ward said. “My first thought was that it was a joke, something the guys thought up for a laugh. But once I realized how serious the situation was, I started to prepare as best I could.”
The concert was scheduled to start at 7 p.m. giving Ward less than an hour to prepare.
“It helped tremendously that I was already familiar with the songs and how they worked,” Ward said. “But as far as the actual prep time? I only had about 20 minutes to run through the songs and try to cram all the practice I could before we started.”
Ward was pleased with how the concert turned out.
“The best moment, by far, was in the middle of the third verse of Carol of the Bells, I asked for a huge dynamic from everybody and was blow away by what they gave me,” Ward said. “It was an incredible moment, not only because of the music, but because of the connection I felt with the ensemble at large. They are like family to me.”
The only regret he had was junior Sean Thompson not being able to sing.
“Because I was conducting and [Thompson] was missing, a whole two thirds of the Vocals II bass section was missing,” Ward said. “[Thompson] worked very hard on the music for that concert. It was a major loss that he was unavailable.”
Ward is thankful for the experience this gave him.
“I’d like to say thank you to Hanson and the vocals department at large,” Ward said. “If it wasn’t for them, I would be a much different person today.”
-By Morgan Yigdal
