My Story
In my favorite movie “The Sound of Music,” Maria Von Trapp sings,
“Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.” I could
tell you about who I am currently, but I was not born into my
twenty-five-year-old self. I have developed into that person through life
experiences along the way. One thing that has been clear from the very
beginning is that I was born to be a musician. This is my story.
Legend has it that I began to match pitch before I was one and could
repeat melodies shortly thereafter. That was no surprise to my mother
who named me after Benjamin Britton’s Hymn to St. Cecelia. I am the
second of 4 children - a classic middle-child. Singing was what I did –
anytime . . . well, really all the time – much to the chagrin of my siblings.
Of course, while they were perturbed, my parents heard something in my
tiny little voice that inspired them to guide me toward my lifelong dream
of being a singer. My early childhood had also taught me to be a servant
leader. When I was four, I was “hired” as a mentor child in an integrated
preschool classroom. I really couldn’t tell the difference between myself
and the other children, but I took my “job” seriously and was the best
little helper that I could be. We would have tea parties and invite the
whole class over and it didn’t matter if a child were mute or autistic or
had a colostomy bag. My parents believed in inclusion, and I never knew
there could be anything different. They also believed in the importance
of history and my dad’s job as an exhibit designer made it very easy
to raise the four of us on a hardy diet of art, natural history, science, and
music. From that point on I have been enamored with history, often
dragging friends to museums and lectures, and meticulously inspecting
every exhibit to make sure I didn’t miss a thing. I have this innate belief
that all art has value, whether I understand it or not, and it is my
responsibility as the viewer to behold its beauty and appreciate it. During
my undergraduate education at Lee University, I attended every free concert, recital and lecture not wanting to miss out on an opportunity to watch others make music. Attending over 30 performances a semester was one of the best decisions I ever made in college.
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My desire to be involved in service to others continued throughout grammar school and into high school. When I reached the ninth grade, I was immediately plugged into a service club and began to mentor disabled students and participate in the over 100 service projects offered at my high school. I also became incredibly immersed in the music scene. I sang in all the choirs, played flute in the concert band, marched with the marching band, performed the National Anthem at a host of sporting events and was in every theatrical production I could squeeze into my schedule. The highlight of it all was the opportunity I got to play Mary Poppins in a community theatre production of Mary Poppins. Because the age range was so wide, I was being looked up to by students as young as kindergarteners (the penguins). My favorite part was the mentorship opportunity I was afforded through this production. Being able to talk to kids who were nervous about high school, kids wondering if they should be in the marching band at school
or if that was too “nerdy,” and students who just needed a little guidance from an older kid was so fulfilling. There is nothing quite like pouring into a life like that. I find myself still doing it in college. One of my favorite service opportunities in college was a program called ENGin which pairs American and Ukrainian students studying English. The purpose is just to have conversations and let them practice in a non-judgmental environment. I was paired with a student named Karina who was studying in Odessa at the time, and the connection we made over phone calls was mutually beneficial. She would tell me about Ukrainian culture, and I would answer her question about silly American phrases and food we have in the United States. You shouldhave heard her laugh when I shared a phrase southerners use in reference to a good meal - “so good it makes you want to slap your momma...” She got a kick out of that!
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My love for collaboration was born out of both singing harmony in church and touring with the Voices of Lee. In 2017, I was searching for my dream school, and found it in Lee University. I fell in love with their a Capella group “Voices of Lee.” and for three years I had the privilege of traveling the country with them. These seventeen people became some of my closest friends – a tour bus will do that to you. We sang styles ranging from contemporary Christian to traditional hymns and gospel songs to pop music to patriotic tunes. In December of 2019, we travelled to New York to perform a televised concert at the Beacon Theatre with David Jeremiah and sing back-up for Jordan Smith. We also did A LOT of studio time laying tracks for our own music as well as backup for other artists. It was not an easy 3 years, but the chance to collaborate with other passionate musicians was worth every exhausting tour bus trip. The venues where we performed ranged from mega churches the size of football stadiums and huge conference centers where we entertained large organizations like Samaritan’s Purse and The Gideon Society to small intimate gatherings with the sweetest congregations. We gave performances at the Grand Ole Opry and participated in Family Fest with the Gaither Vocal Band, but we always cherished impromptu performances of “The Lord Bless You and Keep You” at almost every restaurant where we ate. Throughout my time with Voices, I became a leader to those who were new to the group and held small group practices for our section. You are only as good as the sum of the parts, so it was important to me that everyone in the soprano section was pulling their weight and equally as important that they felt loved and wanted. Training them up also meant that I could leave the group with confidence my senior year and move on to something different. I was itching to have more experience in opera which is why when I left Voices of Lee, I tried out for the next available opera at Lee University. I was cast as Gretel in Englebert Humperdinck’s Hänsel and Gretel. My whole life I thought I wanted to pursue a career on Broadway, but after my voice teacher gave me my first aria “O mio babbino caro,” that was it. My dreams shifted as they often do in life and opera was it. Hänsel and Gretel was a huge steppingstone to that dream.
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Lee University impacted me in so many ways – spiritually, musically, mentally. In 2020, I was given the opportunity to perform with the Lee University Symphonic Orchestra in their spring concert. We performed an arrangement that a friend of mine had composed and it was one of my most treasured musical experiences to date. Being able to bring music that a friend has poured over and created to life was an amazing honor. Helping fellow students has always been an outlet for me show my appreciation and gratitude for this amazing life that God has gifted me with. A professor once told me that it was incredibly selfish to soak up all the musical knowledge you acquire and never give it back to someone behind you and I agree with that whole-heartedly. I would sit in the lobby of the school of music for hours doing homework and would often attract younger students to my table. There I found myself helping them with music theory, history and diction but also just listening as they muddled through relationship issues, family struggles and the stress of college life. This has always been second nature to me. Being there for people like I wish people had been there for me is something I am called to do and have been since elementary school. Sometimes you learn how to be a good person from watching other good people but in my case, I learned by the feeling that I needed to stand in the gap.
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The first foreign language I was introduced to was Italian. I still remember being in second grade and meeting with my fun and passionate Italian teacher once a week. Other kids in my class were not as interested in the subject matter, but I swear it gave me wings. I don’t remember all that I learned because second grade was over a decade ago, but I do remember that my love of language was born there. In eighth grade, I began the journey of learning Spanish. I knew that this language would help me very little musically, but in the melting pot of the USA, it seemed absolutely essential. I went on a mission trip to El Salvador in 2015 and was so encouraging to be able to communicate (even on a beginner level) with the people I was serving! From the very first class, I became obsessed with the language and even considered minoring in Spanish at Lee University. I took two extra courses in Spanish just because I loved the language, not missing one class. Skipping class never seemed like an option for me in any subject. This included my lessons. There were times as an undergraduate student that I would walk into my teacher’s office with a full blown cold and she would say to me, “Cecelia why are you here?! Go home and get some sleep. We can reschedule!” I never want to miss an opportunity to better myself and better my craft. It is so important to me that I soak up as much as I can while I have the privilege of being in school so that when I go out into the world, I can be the best performer I can be. This is one of the many reasons I audition for a variety of different musical opportunities. With a part- time job, this isn’t always easy, but I believe that just going through the audition process makes you a better musician.
Presently, I am loving my time here at Indiana University. I have been in four opera choruses directed by the incredible Walter Huff and have gotten involved in the Gilbert and Sullivan society. I have connected with friends who push me to be a better musician every day and I do the same for them. In the beginning, it was not easy going from one of the smallest music programs to the one of the largest in the country. Shortly after arriving in Bloomington, I decided to look into the one thing that could comfort me in the time of uncertainty and self-doubt. I became a part of Chi Alpha. I knew I needed to find a faith community and to build friendships that would support me in this incredibly competitive discipline of vocal performance. I was searching for weeks until I got connected with a small group. I meet with them every Monday for core group and every Thursday for service. It is not earthshattering Christian teachings, but it IS indispensable community that helps me be the light and hope to others. For the first time, I am the one who can really mentor my peers, most of who are undergraduate students and new in their faith. I also attend a church here called Cornerstone when I’m not singing in service at First Presbyterian Church of Martinsville. I am on a 66-day challenge to read my bible or listen to it every day because I am convinced that God has something for me that I have been too busy to discover. I constantly talk about my journey with non-Christian friends so that I can slowly introduce them to a Christian who really desires to be like Christ. I am singing 3 H.T. Burleigh spirituals on my recital because I want to show my audience that my recital is more than showing off what I have been able to accomplish but really, it’s a display of the amazing things God has done in my life.
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What is life without music? I’d say it’s pretty mundane. Music brings people together to celebrate the greatest joys and to mourn the deepest sorrows. To this day, my grandmother’s favorite hymn, “Great is Thy Faithfulness,” still moves me to tears. What an incredible honor it was to sing it at her funeral. Music is a form of expression, a gift from God, and an envelope that carries some of my sweetest memories.
