THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 10, 1996 TAG: 9605100053
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HOLLY WESTER CAMPUS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
CALCULUS 2 or Sight Reading?
For many college freshman, choosing between courses is a cinch.
But for Virginia Wesleyan College's Nicole Aldrich, picking between these two classes three years ago was major. The decision determined the path she'd pursue in college, as well as in life.
``I went with my gut,'' she said, ``where I felt really at home.''
The results of her intuition will be recognized Saturday when Aldrich, 21, graduates from Wesleyan with a bachelor of arts degree in music.
``I realized this is what I have to do,'' she said, explaining why she chose to major in music rather than math. ``If I didn't, there would be a big empty spot.''
And she wouldn't be making history either. Aldrich is the first Wesleyan student to pursue a career in conducting.
She's already had plenty of training in the field.
Aldrich started playing the piano at age 6 and sang in school and church choirs throughout her late elementary, middle and high school years. At Wesleyan, she initially studied her first two loves - piano and voice - until a conducting class inspired her.
``I do so many different musical things, I felt like if I chose one over the other, I'd be giving something up,'' she said. ``Then, conducting came along. I had a real instinctual feel for it.
``My niche opened up and I fell right into it.''
Besides course work in theory, ear-training and music history, she has taken private lessons in voice, piano and organ. Aldrich also has been director of choirs at St. Timothy Lutheran Church in Norfolk for two years and has been accompanist and assistant to David Clayton, the conductor of Wesleyan's choirs, for three years.
Aldrich even took over the podium her senior year, becoming the first Wesleyan student to conduct the college choirs. She did it twice - first last fall, leading Benjamin Britten's ``Ceremony of Carols,'' and in March, conducting a Bach cantata with members of the Virginia Symphony.
Aldrich attributes her growth to the individual attention she received at Wesleyan, where most music classes have only four or five students.
``It's the best place,'' she said. ``The people here encourage you to grow as a person. Without that, I couldn't grow as a musician.
``You give up the opera program, and we don't have an orchestra. But (the professors) know whether or not you're practicing.
``The encouragement, the attention, the incredible opportunities - you wouldn't get them anywhere else.''
She's not knocking big schools. In fact, she applied to four graduate schools, including Boston University and the University of Illinois.
She recalled how, for four months, she put off writing one of her application essays, in which she was asked to write about her philosophy of music.
``I'm 21, I don't have a philosophy of anything,'' said Aldrich, who will head to Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., in the fall to study choral conducting. ``Music makes me happy. That's as good as I can say.
``I don't think it's going to keep inner city kids from shooting each other, and I don't think my music is going to save the world.
``But, I can share it with other people. Right now, that's enough for me.''
ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo by Beth Bergman
by CNB