Westminster Choir College

My 16-year-old daughter Jessica was just accepted into Westminster Choir
College’s Vocal Institute program for high school students for 2 weeks this
summer. She has a lovely voice (I am not biased – not me!) and has been
expanding her range with her voice coach for the last two years. She has
always loved American and English folk songs and hymns. Her “Amazing Grace”
can make you cry. Jessica has recently developed an additional repertoire of
more classical and other-than-English-language pieces. This is a child who
could warble back a tune at the age of 5 months: Jessica has a very good
auditory memory. The Westminster Choir College is at Rider University in
Princeton, NJ USA and was highly recommended by Jessica’s choir teacher at
Harker.

In addition to choir lessons and practice, Jessica will take 2 electives.
She has asked for Audition/Performance Techniques (with a focus on two
classical pieces she has been working on: Durante’s “Danza, Danza”, and
Obradors’ “La Mi Sola,Laureola”) and Conducting. Her backup choices are
Music Theater (singing Gladys Rich’s “American Lullaby”, and Andrew Lloyd
Webber’s “Close Every Door”), and Piano. It looks like a solid and interesting
program.

Filling in all the forms with her must be good practice for applying for
college next year. I am completely comfortable sending a teenager across
the country alone to a place I have never been. Really, I am.