SAI music fraternity to host spring musicale
While most of the nation is preparing for Super Bowl Sunday, members of the Sigma Alpha Iota Music Fraternity will be preparing for their Spring Musicale, a showcase of alumni and college women musicians.
To accommodate for those who watch the Super Bowl, the musicale will begin at 2 p.m. in Haddock Hall of the Lionel Hampton School of Music.
The musicale is free, but SAI will accept donations.
SAI has been in the Moscow-Pullman area for 53 years, said Susan Billin, SAI Alumnae Chapter vice president.
“The fraternity supports music in local, national and international communities,” Billin said. “The funds raised here go to our local philanthropies. We have a grant that is available to music and arts organizations.”
Billin said SAI has donated about 30 instruments to schools, and the funds raised at the musicale will go toward repairing the instruments. SAI has also helped provide music to the UI music library.
The musicale will feature a wide variety of performers, including a flute trio, a women’s chorus, vocal soloists, piano soloists and piano duets. Billin said one performer will even play a traditional Nicaraguan folk melody.
Billin said SAI tries to support American composers as well as women composers, so many of the pieces in the showcase were written by women.
One of Sunday’s performers is UI senior Melissa Appel, who participated in the musicale last year and received the 2013 Upperclass Achievement Award. The award is given out to one member each year for musicianship, scholarship and service.
“Last year, it was definitely a rush when I got up on stage,” Appel said. “But the reason we’re all here is because we love music, and we love making music, so I focused more on that rather than whether or not anybody actually liked my song.”
Appel is pursuing a degree in wildlife resources. She said despite not majoring in music, she spends much of her time in the music building and with her music-major friends. Appel said she joined SAI to enjoy the diverse group of musicians.
Although the musicale usually has mostly classical pieces, Appel said she surprised the audience last year with a musical theater piece. This year, she will sing “The Alto’s Lament,” another musical theater piece.
“I basically get to stand there and complain about how sopranos get all the best parts in the music, and I have to sing the same note time after time,” she said.
About four years ago, Appel used the same song to audition for the music school. She said she was very nervous during her first audition, and although she had the technical parts of the song mastered, she didn’t have the personality and acting she wanted.
“This is almost like a second chance of sorts,” Appel said. “Now that I’ve had time to have voice lessons and strengthen my voice and kind of get over that initial stage fright, I’m more free to let my personality fly. It’s kind of like my last song before I graduate.”
Kelsey Stevenson can be reached at [email protected]