by Isabel Viner
On an evening in early September, at Sweet Briar College, a women’s college in rural Virginia, an outdoor event known as Quad Rocks was well underway. Quad Rocks is a fun way for all students, especially first years, to learn about the fun, and unique clubs that are offered on the Sweet Briar campus.
The large border of the quad was lined with tables covered in posters and brightly colored set-ups, and behind each table were club representatives. There were so many clubs to choose from, such as chemistry club, French club, the outdoors program, sustainability club, ballroom dancing, as well as many others. One table that stood out to me in particular was the Sweet Tones. I walked over to the table. Sitting behind it was Phoenix Brown, a junior with curly pink hair, and she said, “Hi, my name is Phoenix, I’m here to represent the Sweet Tones; we’re the college’s a capella group, our enemy club is the Ear Phones; their deal is that they basically just scream. Are you interested in auditioning?”
“Do you guys do a lot of performances?,” I asked.
“Yes, we perform at Founders Day, convocations, Holiday Pops, and we also have our own concerts.” At this, I filled out my information on their email list, and Phoenix told me, “Auditions will be on Sunday, September 2nd, and it will be a blind audition. Just make sure you prepare a verse and chorus of any song, a capella.”
After I left Quad Rocks and went back to my dorm room, I began to feel excited, but also a little bit nervous. I had auditioned for the girl’s a capella group at my high school, South Lakes, but I was never successful. How could I get into a college a capella group if I wasn’t good enough of a singer for my high school?
At South Lakes High School, in Reston Virginia the girls’ a capella group is called Do Re Migas; I auditioned for this group when I was a freshman, and again when I was a Junior, and I wasn’t selected for call-backs either time. Even though I didn’t make it into the a capella group, I did take classes in the classical guitar program for all four years, and beginning sophomore year, my class and I got the opportunity to perform at the winter and spring concerts. At each concert, Guitar 2, the intro-to-performing class, opens with a set of songs they have prepared, and Guitar 3 and ensemble, the advanced classes, close the show with their set of songs. In between the class performances, however, is a section called, small groups and solos. This is the part of each concert that provides the opportunity for students to showcase what songs they have learned on the guitar, outside of the classroom setting, and these songs can be from any genre, not just classical, and they can also have lyrics as well. In my first concert in the winter of 2015, I had heard about this small group/solo section. I was interested but very hesitant to tell Mr. Trkula, my teacher, that I wanted to do a solo because the idea of going up on stage alone was a terrifying thought. Our performance was on a Monday, and on the Friday before, I finally brought up the courage to tell Mr.Trkula that I wanted to perform; the song that I had prepared was ‘When I’m Gone’ from the Pitch Perfectsoundtrack. He asked me to play a verse and a chorus, so I did, but not without all of my anxiety showing. When I finished playing, he said, “you have a beautiful voice. I think you should definitely play that on Monday. Your playing was affected because of how much your hands were shaking, but you just need to work on breathing more while you play.” I practiced the song and worked on my breathing over the weekend, but on Monday night, my hands were still shaky, my voice was shaky, my heart was racing, and my face was red like a tomato during the performance, but hey, I did make it through the entire song. Looking back, I now know that it was ridiculous to think that I had failed; I was fifteen, and it was my first time performing in front of my peers (all of the fifteen year- olds from my class, as well as all of the Juniors, and Seniors), none of whom actually knew I could sing before that night. I wasn’t sure if I would perform a solo at one of our concerts again, but I eventually told myself that I needed to try, at least one more time. At the spring concert in 2016, I performed a song that I wrote, and I did much better; my hands weren’t as shaky, my voice wasn’t shaky, and In general, I had more confidence. After that night, I did a solo at each concert; there were four, to be exact. Whether it was another original composition or a cover, I made sure to perform because it forced me to confront my discomforts, and in the end, I got better each time. Even though I found my silver lining, sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I had auditioned for Do Re Migas more than twice; would I have eventually made it? The answer to that question, I will never know, but what matters is what I do now.
I began singing for fun when I was in sixth grade, and at the same time, I began learning to play ukulele as well. In November 2011, I went on a trip to a music store with my aunt — a trip that ended with the purchase of two ukuleles, and an agreement that we would both learn to play. The first song I wanted to learn to play was ‘Rolling In The Deep’ by Adele; I researched the chords and lyrics and started on my way. I didn’t even know if I was a good singer, but I liked to sing, so it was happening no matter what. Then, in April 2012, my aunt came back to visit, and I played the song for her — she loved it.
In September 2013, I entered eighth grade and took an elective called ‘Music Participation Lab.’ In this class, the students learn to play basic guitar and piano, using instruments supplied by the school. Because I had already been playing ukulele for two years, learning to play guitar came much easier to me than the piano, and when the elective ended in December, I knew I wanted to continue playing. Then, for my fourteenth birthday, in February 2014, my parents bought me a steel string guitar, and I practiced both instruments every day.
When I got to high school, I signed up for classes in the guitar program, and during my tenth grade year, all sophomores were required to participate in a year-long project known as the MYP (Middle Years Program) Project. We were supposed to think of a personal project that could last us from October until May, and also ask one of our teachers to be the project supervisor. The MYP Project is designed to make students use their interests as a vehicle of learning new things and learning more about themselves; they must meet with their supervisor at least three times and write three journals about what they learned and how it changed them. I decided to write a song on the guitar because it was something that I hadn’t done before. I thought that would be challenging, and I decided to ask Mr. Trkula to be my supervisor. He said yes, and when we had our first meeting, he taught me how to travis pick (finger- pick chords). I had already started writing my lyrics; the song was going to be about overcoming difficult days, and after Mr. T taught me various travis picking patterns, I decided to try them out on other chords. By the time I had my second meeting with Mr. T, I had come up with my own chord progression to travis pick: Em7, D, A, and G. Outside of school, I was working on my song with John, my guitar instructor at Reston Music. John helped me play the travis picking patterns in time with a metronome, and he taught me how to sing while keeping a constant strum on the guitar — which was pretty difficult to learn. I continued to work with John, and we finished the song in March 2016, two months before the MYP project was due. The guitar program’s Spring concert was in May, and Mr. T encouraged me to play my song in the small groups and solos section, so I signed my name and the title of my song, ‘Mountains and Rivers,’ on the sign-up sheet. I know that this may sound confusing, but performing an original song is actually easier than performing a cover because the people in the audience do not know the song so they cannot tell you that you played it wrong. However, since this was my first time performing an original song, I was very nervous that people were not going to like it, and that they wouldn’t think it was any good. Of course, when anyone writes a song, they want people to like it, but you should not place all of your worries into wondering if everyone will like your work. On the night of the concert, I was very nervous, and my friend Missy made me run through the song as loud as I could three times in a row in a practice room in the music wing. The first time I played it for her, my entire face turned deep red, and we laughed about it, causing it to turn more red. The second and third time, I played the whole song all the way through and as loud as I could, and she would say, “That was so good! Play it again!” Missy made me laugh so much that day, and I was grateful because she knew how nervous I was, and she helped me take my mind off of it and actually have fun. Finally, we went out into the open hallway, near the top of a big staircase, the loudest and most echoing place to stand, and she had me play my song one more time, where anyone could hear it. Later that night, I stood in the right wing of the stage, waiting to go on. My heart was racing, and Mr. T whispered, “Don’t worry, you have a beautiful voice, and you’re going to do great!” When it was finally my turn, I walked out from behind the curtain. The lights hit the stage in a way that made it look like a dark blanket was covering the audience, and it wasn’t until I got closer to the front that I could actually see faces. The audience was silent. I took a breath and began to play my song and start singing; I maintained a steady strumming pattern, and I was loud and clear in my voice. I did not miss a word or a chord, and I did not mess up the travis picking or strumming patterns. When I finished, the audience applauded louder than they had before. I walked backstage and Mr. T gave me a high-five and said, “I knew you could do it!” The next day, I gave my presentation for the MYP project. I brought my guitar and played the travis picking intro to my song. I am glad that I had decided to write a song because the process was fun and it really forced me to think outside-the-box. After doing this project, I continued to write and perform my own songs, and I even played two more original songs at our guitar concerts.
In the days before my Sweet Tones audition, my friend Isabelle White, a hallmate, helped me find the right song to sing. The first songs I tried out were ‘Your Song’ by Elton John, ‘Change’ by Lana Del Rey, and ‘Lost Boy’ by Ruth B. All of those songs were good, but I Éwas used to singing them while playing guitar, or ukulele. Without instruments to fill the silence of voice pauses, the flow of the songs did not feel natural. They felt choppy. Then Isabelle and I learned I could sing ‘La Vie En Rose’ by Edith Piaf with a natural flow, without playing guitar.
In the middle of the summer, while I was recovering after my left knee surgery, I had a lot of free time. One of my favorite singers to listen to is Édith Piaf because her songs are beautiful, and her voice is iconic. My favorite Édith Piaf song is ‘La Vie En Rose,’ which I had been wanting to learn for a while, but I always got too intimidated. I would tell myself,“you can’t speak French, so you shouldn’t even try to learn this song.” Since I had a lot of free time, I decided that this was the perfect opportunity to finally learn to sing and play, ‘La Vie En Rose.’ First, I looked up the lyrics, learned what the words meant and how to pronounce them, and I listened to the song over and over until I could make out each word; this process took a few days. The guitar part was much easier to learn, and even though the original recording did not have a guitar, I came up with a plucking-strumming combination that went well with the fast pace rhythm of the song. After a while, I was able to sing the entire song without looking at lyrics, as well as with and without my guitar. Isabelle and I decided that ‘La Vie En Rose’ was perfect for my Sweet Tones audition. I had found my song.
When Sunday, September 2nd finally came, I was ready for my audition. Later that day, at 4:00 PM, I walked over to Babcock Performing Arts Center, and waited in the basement with a bunch of other girls, nervous with anticipation. Minutes later, a former Sweet Tone and Sweet Briar graduate named Cassie came downstairs and handed us each a piece of paper with a list of questions to fill out. After everyone finished answering the questions and handed their papers to Cassie, she told us that the Sweet Tones were ready and asked, “Who wants to go first?”
A sophomore named Theresa raised her hand and said, “I’ll go, I just want to get it over with.”
Cassie nodded at Theresa and said, “Okay, let’s go upstairs,” and turned to the rest of us and said, “You guys can start warming up if you want to.” With that, a group of five girls and I crammed into a practice room and began a series of vocal warm-ups. Even though I was nervous for my audition, I did feel some reassurance that warming up my voice would help prevent mistakes. After a few minutes, Cassie came back down stairs and said, “Who wants to go next?”
I looked around at the other girls, turned back to Cassie and said, “I want to go.” As Cassie and I walked upstairs to the choir room, I felt my heart pounding inside my chest, and I told myself, “You can do this, you know the song, and anyways, it’s a blind audition; they can’t see you, and they don’t know who you are.” I was right. I opened the door to the choir room and a couple of feet in front of me was a movable black partitioner; the Sweet Tones were on the other side of it, and Cassie instructed me not to speak so that the group couldn’t tell who I was.
Cassie announced to the Tones, that the next person was in the room, and when a voice, from behind the wall, called out, “Hi, thank you for your interest in the Sweet Tones. What song will you be singing?”
I began to respond, and Cassie quickly said, “Shhhh!,” and placed her hand over my mouth. She then handed me a piece of paper and a pen, and motioned for me to write the title of my song. I quickly wrote the title down, handed the paper and pen back to her, and she announced, “She will be singing ‘La Vie En Rose.’”
After Cassie left the room, the voice from behind the partitioner said, “you may begin whenever you are ready.” I took a deep breath, and began singing; I sang at a steady rhythm and volume, remembered to breathe at the right times, hit the high note, and successfully finished my song. After my song, they asked me to match pitch with someone playing up and down a scale of the piano. This made me more nervous than before. Once again, I took a deep breath and began to match pitch with the piano as the notes got higher, and I felt confident that I was doing well, but then the notes got lower, and I started to hear that I was off key. When the audition was over, the voice behind the partitioner said, “Thank you, you may leave.” I walked out of the choir room and left Babcock. I was worried– worried that I had messed up my audition by not matching pitch well enough.
On the Tuesday after my audition, I got an email from Dean Marcia, which said, “Congratulations! You have been selected to attend the Sweet Tones call-back auditions, on Wednesday, September 5th, at 6:30 PM in Babcock.” I was shocked; I didn’t mess up my audition like I thought I had. No, I actually did pretty well. The email also said that we didn’t need to prepare a song for call-backs, that the Sweet Tones would be teaching one to us, and at the end, the girls who got call backs would sing the song together.
On Wednesday, September 5th, I arrived in the Babcock choir room, at 6:20 PM; all of the Sweet Tones were there, each of them wearing a brightly colored hat. Eight other girls were there for call-backs, and at 6:30 PM, the Sweet Tones told us that we would all learn a voice part for ‘Barbara Ann,’ by the Beach Boys. They quickly performed it so we knew what the song sounded like, and they separated us by voice parts. A junior named Asha and I were both placed into the Soprano 1 voice part with Phoenix, the only Soprano 1 in the group. Asha and I both had some difficulties, since neither of us had heard ‘Barbara Ann’ before, and since we were learning our part in a limited amount of time. After Asha and I were more comfortable with our part, we rejoined the rest of the group. Each girl got to sing her selected voice part with a member of the Sweet Tones who was also on that voice part, and we all performed ‘Barbara Ann’ multiple times, while three members at a time walked around, listening to our voices. After multiple runs of ‘Barbara Ann’ the Sweet Tones President, Erin, said, “Thank you all for your interest in Sweet Tones. Starting on Sunday, September 9th and going until Thursday, September 13th, please stay inside your room from 9:00 PM until 12:00 AM. Make sure you do this each night, until you find out if you got in or not.”
On Sunday, September 9th, at 9:00 PM, I locked myself in my room, and stayed there until 12:00 AM. No one came. Again, on Monday, September 10th, I locked myself in my room at 9:00 PM, and no one came. Then, on Tuesday, September 11th, at 9:00 PM, I locked myself in my room, and five minutes later, I heard loud singing coming from the Meta Glass stairwell. Oh my gosh, it was them. The Sweet Tones were in the building. I could hear them singing on the third floor, as I waited in anticipation. My friend, Ingrid Stacia, ran down the hallway, to my room, to make sure I was there, she knocked on the door, and when I answered it, she said, “Good, you’re here. The Sweet Tones are upstairs tapping. Now stay!” A moment later, I heard the Sweet Tones re-enter the stairwell, they were coming back down stairs, and then their singing was clearer than before; they were on my floor. As they walked down the hallway, their singing grew louder and louder, until they were right outside my door, and then they stopped. I waited for a knock on my door, and when it came, I opened the door, and Erin, the club president, smiled and said, “Hi! Can we come in?”
I said, “Yeah, of course.” I stepped aside, allowing Erin and a second girl inside my room.
After I shut the door, the other girl said, “I’m Nora, I’m your mom.”
Erin was holding a plastic candle, and a piece of paper, while Nora was just holding a plastic candle. Erin asked, “Do you want to be a Sweet Tone?”
I said, “Yes. I really do,” she smiled and read allowed a pledge, and at the end, I said, “I pledge.” With that, Erin, Nora and I walked out of my room. I was handed a poster adorned with sparkly rose stickers, and in the middle, my name, Isabel ‘La Vie En Rose’ Viner, was written in big pink and red letters.
One of the girls’ shouted, “Hey baby, what’s your name?!”
I said, “Isabel ‘La Vie En Rose’ Viner!” It was official, I was a Sweet Tone.
At the end of the night, I knew three things: one, I was very excited to be a Sweet Tone; two, I loved my poster; and three, I had come a long way since high school.