I'm a grad student at Penn State, and an Art History major. I did my undergrad at William and Mary (and loved it there!). Though I'm originally from Michigan — go figure. Oh, and that would make me 25 years old.

I've been involved in choral singing for a long time, but I only got personally involved in a cappella last summer. Previously, I had been in high school choirs, the William and Mary women's chorus and mixed choir (and went to Europe with them — woo hoo!), and a community choir in Michigan during the uneventful year I lived with my parents after college graduation. When I moved to State College in 1994, one of the first things I did was join the State College Choral Society, a really big group that does big works in a serious manner. They're pretty good for the middle of nowhere and all. For the last 2 years I've sung with the choral society's madrigal group (kind of a cappella, huh?) which is loads of fun, especially the feeling that I personally am adding something to the performance (as opposed to the choral society, where sometimes I feel that I could stand in back of the 150 members and pick my nose and sing "rutabaga" and nobody could tell the difference!). Finally, this semester I'm singing in Penn State's Concert Choir — sort of my last taste of college singing, I guess, since I should be graduating with my MA this summer.

Anyway — now for the a cappella part. Besides going to see the Stairwells a few times at W&M, I didn't really have much contact with a cappella before last summer. I saw a flyer last June for auditions for the "A cappella project," which turned out to be a group of people in the Penn State a cappella community from various groups who just wanted to get together and sing and do a couple of gigs in the summer. Shawn Pearce was the director. Auditioned, got in, and had absolutely no idea of what was to happen. Vocal percussion? Guitar solos? These things had never really come up in my previous musical experience. :) Needless to say, I had a great time and when fall rolled around, I decided to audition for Pennharmonics at the suggestion of the musical and business directors, Michelle Barton and Beth Adams, who had both been in the project during the summer. And here I am! I've discovered that in my completely untrained way I have the right kind of voice for a cappella, not solos unfortunately, but I lack any significant degree of vibrato, I blend, and I'm pretty accurate as far as pitch goes. I guess I've finally found my calling. I'm kind of a "utility alto" as far as Penns goes — I'll pretty much sing whatever they need me to.

Anyway, I guess that's it as far as my background goes. I really like a cappella, and wherever I move next, I hope I can find a group to sing with. Hell, if worse came to worst I'd think about forming my own if I had to, but not until I get a few arrangements under my belt, which may be a while. I enjoy hearing various groups and what they do differently and similarly. My exposure to different groups' sounds hasn't been all that extensive yet, but the variety I've seen so far is really interesting.