NMU “Idol Style” Music Competition
We’ve all heard the phrase “singing for your supper,” well the music department at Northern Michigan University put a spin on things and held a competition “NMU Idol Style” for students to “Sing for a scholarship.”
“NMU Idol Style” is a solo competition where music majors and students taking studio lessons compete for a thousand dollar scholarship. Students say they practiced for months leading up to the competition where they can perform advanced instrumental and vocal repertoire.
“I decided mostly for the experience, the people that are performing are fantastic, my chances of winning are as good as anybody’s, I just want to perform a difficult piece and play it well,” said Robert Strieter, Music Major.
“I decided to enter the competition for performance experience, as a music major it is good to perform as much as you can and a thousand bucks in my pocket, not too bad. My piece is Concertino da Camera by Jacques Ibert, it’s a French piece written in the 1930’s. It’s really fast, really fun to play so I am really excited to play it,’ said Audra Hagan, Music Education Major.
Music Department faculty selected Jacob Barnby from Onway, Michigan who played the euphonium as the winner.
The performances were so outstanding that the staff decided to name two honorable mentions and they were Amanda Fliflet from Tony Wisconsin and Audra Hagan from Iron Mountain.
Scholarship money for the competition was donated by the Board of Trustees.