Lindsey Stamper

MUSE 150, Dr. Hendricks

21 April 2015
Musicianship Statement
Personal musicianship is developed through years of practicing,
hard work, and dedication. In terms of my journey to musicianship, I
am hopefully on my way to greatness. I have demonstrated much
potential in this aspect through activities, competencies, assignments,
lessons, and leisure time, and I will improve so much over my four
years here at Ball State.
Firstly, I display personal musicianship through class activities. In
music education, I often volunteer to lead the class in solfege,
TaKaDiMi, or guitar exercises to gain experience. I have improved a
great deal over this year. I also enjoy exploring new ways of utilizing
instrumentse.g. guitar, ukulele, pianoin the classroom. I
experiment with strum patterns, chords, etc. Furthermore, my
competencies in not only music education but also piano demonstrate
my musicianship. I have earned ten out of ten for all but one of my
piano competencies. Last semester, I earned an A on my music
education skills competency. These results demonstrate my progress.
In terms of assignments, I have done well. Out of twenty-five, I have
never received a score lower than a twenty-four on a singing log. I also
have done very well in my peer teachings, earning As on both. But

grades aside, I display my musical capabilities through classroom

involvement, assignments, and competencies. Additionally, I have
progressed much in voice lessons. Each week I improve my vocal
quality and tone with my voice teacher, Dr. Truitt. We are working hard
not to simply learn music, but to make it musical and interpretive. This
is a sign of higher musicianship. I hope to improve even further in the
future than the leaps and bounds I have made this year. Lastly, in my
leisure time, I enjoy singing solfege. It is true; I often have a song
entirely in solfege stuck in my head during the day. With my friends, I
like to test them on their echo translation or Curwen hand sign reading
capabilities. This is all very fun to me. I enjoy being immersed in music
its culture, its influence, its performance. Music is my life.
In terms of improvement, there is much to come and I have
immense hope for the future. I will, of course, continue with voice
lessons for all four years of my schooling at Ball State University. Dr.
Truitt is a phenomenal instructor, and he brings out the shimmering
qualities of each of his students voices. I cannot wait to see where my
years of studying with him take me. Over the summer, I will learn one
song each week for a total of twelve songs. This will not only improve
my discipline for making time to practice, but it will also enhance my
vocal production and stimulation growth as a musician. The only way a
musician can get better is through rehearsal, and I intend to do a lot of
it. I will continue to implement periods of rehearsal for voice, piano,

guitar, etc. into my schedule so that it becomes habitual for me. This
will improve my overall musicianship enormously, and these habits will
stay with me through my entire career. I also hope to grow through the
courses at Ball State. Vocal Technique, taken spring of sophomore year,
is a rigorous course meant to challenge educators mentally and
musically. I expect to grow so much from this course as well as music
theory and sight singing. All of the curriculum here aggregates to a
very well rounded musician come senior year.
Overall, I am on a lifelong journey to stellar musicianship. I have
grown so much and so quickly this first year of college. I hope to grow
even more these next three years through voice lessons, music
curriculum, and lots of practice. I am very excited to see what the
future has in store for music education and for me.