Brianna Lambrecht soaks in the moment after performing a solo in Christ Chapel.
Courtesy | Brianna Lambrecht
What led you to become a music major?
During my senior year of high school, I did all the college auditions and then decided I didn’t want to major in music. So my freshman year I went to Spring Arbor University, and I was a marketing major and a music minor.
A big reason why I initially decided I didn’t want to major in music was because I had instructors who were really good and gave me good technique, but were often demeaning or confusing. They weren’t really uplifting or showing me this was something I was good at. And then I had Professor Emily Douglass, who gave me phenomenal technique and had high expectations, but still was very kind. So that was why I went back into studying music.
Why did you decide to transfer to Hillsdale?
I had already decided I was going to leave Spring Arbor. Emily Douglass had been adjunct at Spring Arbor and at Hillsdale. I chose to leave Spring Arbor in July of 2020, and I called her to tell her I wasn’t going to be coming back and I was going to be applying to other schools. And she was like, “you should consider applying to Hillsdale because I’m going to be teaching there full time now.” I always say that God was laughing at me in that moment because my older brother went here and I refused to apply here in high school. So I applied and I thought I would be coming in January, and then I found out five days before move in day that I was accepted for the fall.
In addition to Prof. Douglass, who at Hillsdale has influenced you in music?
When you’re a music major, you have the same two professors for music history and then for music theory. Dr. Tacke I’ve had for theory, and I respect him so much because there have definitely been times that I’ve struggled at different points in those courses, and he’s very patient with people, so he’s been very influential and in that regard. Dr. Stauff, this is my second semester with him, and he is really focused on making his students good writers as well, which sounds very Hillsdalian. Outside of just wanting us to learn the material, he wants us to be able to write research papers and term papers and everything. So he’s been great to have as an extension of the great books one and two that I took in the core.
What have been your favorite parts of being a music major at Hillsdale?
You meet people from all corners of campus when you’re in the music department here because most of us are not music majors, so it’s bridged a lot of gaps for me. Our chamber choir was something that I joined right away and that I have a lot of fond memories from. Some of my dearest friends I met my very first semester in chamber choir. We’ve gone on different retreats. We traveled last year to Colorado, and that has definitely strengthened a lot of my friendships
And then this is just Hillsdale in general, but we have very small class sizes. My classes have six or seven people and for one of my upper level classes last semester, we’d sit in a circle and just talk, which is really nice. There’s also a wide variety of genres of music that you can get involved in here.
How have you seen the music major tie into the core curriculum and liberal arts curriculum of Hillsdale?
Within the mission of the liberal arts, and at least for Hillsdale, we still value the art part, which is great. You have the option within the core to take the music 206 or 204 class, which as a music major, that’s a prerequisite that you do have to take. But I would like to think that in all of our classes, even if it’s theory or history, my teachers have still been concerned with me as a person. I think we approach learning music from maybe a less secular perspective than you would at other schools. And then inevitably, you have your capstone at the end, which one of the first things we read is Aristotle talking about how it’s horrible to pursue the life as a professional musician, and we’re like, “Well, what does he mean by that?” Even as a music major, as something that’s not like English or history or economics, which you think of as very Hillsdalean, you still feel the influence of Hillsdale and your classes and it’s still different than how it is at other schools. And I know that just from sitting in on classes at other schools and going to a different school as well.
What are your plans after graduation?
I have applied to graduate school, and I’ve been doing auditions for that. But I’m also considering teaching– probably at a classical, charter, or private school, and it all just depends upon where I get into school and how much financial aid I get and whatnot. So I definitely want to go and get my master’s at some point, but it might not be next year.
