Three-Year YCA Veteran

Erin Parr

I have participated in the Oregon Bach Festival for the last three summers. It has been the most influential academic experience in my career. The Oregon Bach Festival’s Youth Choral Academy is an auditioned choir made up of high school students from all over the United States. It is an inspiration for all the young musicians who have had the privilege of participating in it, including myself.
For eleven amazing days each summer, I had the opportunity to advance my musicianship by the courses and concerts we attended, and by the world-class performers we met. Our choir director, Dr. Anton Armstrong, is an incredible leader and musician who has the ability to direct us so that we can sound our best and have a passion for the music we perform. While I was there, I learned how to take care of “my instrument” (my voice) with physical and vocal warm-ups and exercises. I studied music theory, conducting, and Baroque performance in our musicianship classes. We had to look at each of our choral pieces to determine their musical elements and go into great depth to better understand them. We were also fortunate to attend many concerts while we were there, to be better exposed to the great works of composers such as Bach, Brahms, Tan Dun and Beethoven.
Being a part of the Youth Choral Academy program has been an awesome experience and has helped to increase my enthusiasm for music and especially for vocal performance.