1550 Owens Store RoadCanton, GA, 30115

April 18, 2012

Judges, Senior ProjectCreekview High School1550 Owens Store RoadCanton, GA 30115

Dear Judges:

My name is Rachel McFarland. For my senior project, I directed and participated in a barbershop quartet. I wrote my paper on the history of barbershop music, which is a style of music for four voice parts based on seventh chords made popular by African-American slaves in the 19th century and which allows for a unique experience unlike any other style of music. Ever since I attended Diva Day in 2010 and 2011, a day of learning and performing barbershop music with a group of other young female musicians from across the state, I have been enthralled with the genre of music. I knew that learning, teaching, and performing music with three other girls would be challenging, but I was positive that I would enjoy it. Because music is something I love, it motivated me to make this project great.

In my research paper, I wrote about the history of barbershop music. Researching this topic allowed me to understand the origins and the technicalities of the music we would be singing and the importance of keeping it alive through the ages. My final product was the performance of a barbershop-style song, A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes. The challenge in this project was mostly in finding the time to rehearse with my quartet. I also had issues with ordering the music which came in much later than I expected. We also did not have time to learn more than one song even though I ordered three songs, which meant that I spent money that I did not have to. We were also not ready to perform by the Festival chorus concert like we had planned to, so we had to figure out a different time to perform in front of my chorus class so I would be able to record it. However, I was more than pleased with the final product. We worked hard on trying to perfect the song and in the end, it paid off and we made beautiful music together.

I chose to direct a barbershop quartet not only because I love the style of music but because I had wanted to become a chorus teacher. Teaching a group is not an easy task and I wanted to experience that challenge first hand. By the end of my project, I learned that I may not want to pursue a music education degree after all. At the current time, at least, being a leader is a challenge for me. I am not sure that my ability to explain ideas and tasks is developed enough to teach others. Alongside that, experiencing such a challenging side of music has made me unsure of whether I even want to pursue a music degree in general. This project has allowed me to see that what I thought I wanted for myself may have changed and even though I still plan on initially studying music education in college, it has made me want to expand my horizons to other fields of education.

The senior project may have been a daunting task, but it has allowed me to change my mind on my post-secondary education before it is too late. Being able to experience a branch of a career first hand has let me discover that nothing is ever set in stone when it comes to the future and with what I want to do with my life. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Rachel McFarland