Mary Beth Bjork
Equinox Staff
Sam Noorton1
Student Life Editor
Notes filled with a passion for singing occupied the Alumni Recital Hall. These notes are ones derived from hard work and dedication. Together, Emily Jaworski and Calvin Herst are capable of performing duets that are unforgettable. On Tuesday, April 17, Jaworski and Herst merged their talents into one idiosyncratic performance for the small audience gathered to hear the talent this duo possessed.
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Jaworski said, “ I need to let go of all the technical things and focus on practicing. When I get on-stage, I need to trust the hard work that I’ve done and just let go, because people don’t want to come for an hour and watch me think. It has to be about something else.”
Being on-stage allows for Jaworski’s hard work to be heard through the voice she possesses. For Jaworski, singing is the catalyst for expressing the thoughts and inner emotions that simple words cannot express. “When I get on-stage I’m feeling better and better because my walls are coming down. I’m not thinking, ‘That was flat,’ or ‘I missed a note,’ I’m thinking, ‘Isn’t this the saddest thing you’ve ever heard? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we were in love?’ I can get lost in the message, which is great,” Jaworski said.
However, unlike Jaworski, Herst’s way of channeling emotional expressions is through strumming the slick black and white keys on a piano.
Herst said his goals were to present emotional expressions to the audience through the notes he strums.
“I love to perform. It’s a lot of fun. It’s great to play a beautiful instrument,” Herst said. Given the talent that Herst and Jaworski possess, they are looking for outlets to further their talent.
This year, Herst and Jaworski are competing for the National Association of Teachers Singing competition.
“We started at the state levels and went on to the regional level, so we did the state level of this in March and will be competing in Massachusetts next week, so this is part of the preparation for that,” Herst said.
“I think one of the most difficult things is to reach across that line. You can play brilliantly and have no impact on the audience at all, so I think that’s something we [Emily and I] pay attention to and Emily does that facially. You have to be willing to take the risk. It’s very personal. You have to be brave enough to say, ‘That’s okay,’” Herst said.
Jaworski said that through her performance with Herst, they use their talents to tell a story—a story that communicates to the audience what simple expressions and words cannot. The duo is able to accomplish this difficult task because of how well they know one another.
“That’s the great thing about the rehearsal process, because we [Calvin and I] know each other so well. He knows what I’m going to do. He watches me breathe. We don’t need to iron out the wrinkles,” Jaworski said. Even though Jaworski said she uses singing as a way to express herself, she also said she wants to have fun on-stage.
“As teachers we have so much on our plates. Most teachers don’t get to perform as much as they want to. This has to be fun it takes a lot of time it’s like those Ben and Jerry’s bumper stickers, ‘If it’s not fun, why do it?’ If you’re miserable, what are you doing it for?”
Jaworski attributes her stage performance to the acting experience she possesses. This experience is one that allows her to effectively communicate and express the words that are vocalized, creating one harmonious recital.
Jaworski said, “There are so many awesome things going on in the arts. I’ve gotten the chance to do some pretty serious acting parts. I love the crazy scary roles. I think that’s why I’m drawn to the Spanish set [referring to the Xavier Montsalvatge songs she sang], that’s why hopefully normal people don’t want to cut things until there’s nothing left to cut. What would this person really be like? How would they look at things and see the world around them?”
These questions play a role in how Jaworski chooses the pieces she wants to perform.
“When I start putting things together I look at the list and think what is the one thing I need?” she said. “Some things strike you right away and some are like, ‘That’s nice, I’ll put that on the maybe list.’”
Jaworski said she is also inspired by singers who perform with a voice full of passion. For Jaworski, Brahms and Ralph Vaughan Williams are musicians who instill a sense of inspiration in her. “I learned about him (Ralph Vaughan William) when I was a high school student. I started digging around and finding more and more music of his that I loved,” Jaworski said. This passion and love of singing is one that Jaworski said she sees continuing and developing in the future. But despite her passion for singing, Jaworski that are associated with making her name known as a professional performer. “Being a full-time professional singer is difficult. A small percentage of people do that and they travel all the time and they live in hotels. It doesn’t seem like what I want to do. I love singing so I will keep doing that because I can,” she said.
But rather than letting the difficulties of making her name known get to her, Jaworski continues to spread her passion for singing.
Jaworski said, “I get commercial jingles stuck in my head so when I’m singing some annoying thing from television my husband asks, ‘Do you ever have anything good to get stuck in your head?’” But whatever Jaworski sings, her talent is recognized among the many who take the time to listen.
Sophomore Amy Louis said, “It was beautiful, she has a gorgeous voice, and she’s very expressive. Lord knows I don’t speak German, and we got the message of the songs.”
Louis said her energy shows that Jaworski is in love with all of the pieces she chooses to sing. “You notice with the French song she did some very small gestures, it really shows that she knows the translation, she knows what it means in English.”
Dr. James Chesebrough, assistant professor of music at KSC said, “The fact that Emily is one of the most expressive performers we’ve had, we’re so lucky she came to the lecture concert earlier this year for our performance.”
Mary Beth Bjork can be contacted at
mbjork@keene-equinox.com
Sam Norton can be
contacted at
snorton@keene-equinox.com