music, and assisting Dr. Anderson with his classes while successfully driving him crazy. I remember one of our late night meetings ending with his words, “Jenne do not make me jump over this desk! I WILL kill you!”. At which point I “wisely” responded, “Bring it, old man!” At least we can both look back on that instance and laugh hysterically at our mature choice of words. It was duri- ng these years, that I had the opportunity to work with The World Youth Choir and to work as a clinician with choirs all over the U.S. both at the University and High School levels. One of my favorite experiences was my work with the International Vocal Ensem- ble, lead by the legendary Mary Goetze.
Over the next few years, I began working more and more with artists from all over the world from all styles of music. At this time, I also began my work with the Academy of Irish Music in Chicago. I worked with their senior group Pleraca, and worked closely with its Director, Noel Rice and his band Baal Tinne.
The cherry on top of the cake that year was when Sting along with MTV, decided to surprise our music composition class and film an episode of Stand In. Sting stood in as our professor that day and I thought I was going to vomit all over myself when he asked me to play a Native Flute solo during a jam session of Every Breath You Take. I am glad to say that the solo went well… vomit free and all! Talk about being at the right place at the right time! Like my fellow classmates, we were all giddy school children in his presence and I still get red faced when anyone mentions the experience. And, funny enough that episode remains the most popular episode of Stand In. This experience doesn’t stand out in my mind solely because we got to jam with a rock star, but also because it was in that moment that I realized I wasn’t a complete fool for pursuing music when others said I shouldn’t. If I could enter a music degree program not knowing how to read music or play piano and get a chance to jam with Sting and not make a total ass out of myself, well, then I wasn’t completely mad. Sting also shared his experiences with us as a musician and offered us invaluable advice. Probably the coolest lecture I’ve ever had the privilege of attending! Those five years spent at UIC were among the best years of my life and they passed far too quickly.
Fast forward to the night of graduation, and I found myself in the last place I ever expected to. I was selected as the commencement speaker for the ceremony and was being awarded the stu- dent service award, given to one student annually. I was one of the program’s success stories, having learned to read and write music, conduct, and play piano well in only five years, while I was preparing for my first tour as a solo Celtic artist across France and the United Kingdom.
The walk to the podium felt endless and I can’t remember being more frightened as the mo- ment came for me to approach the microphone and give my speech to hundreds of gradu- ates and thousands of family members and supporters. Who was I to tell people about what it was like to be an artist? What advice could I possibly offer to my peers that they hadn’t already learned during their careers at UIC? Would anyone listen or even care? I deli-
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