What was your Senior Program capstone course like? In what way did it “cap off” your academic experience in your major field of study?

As a double major, I had two capstone courses: one for Music, and one for Arts Administration.

The Arts Administration course was really a forum for the majors to meet once a month and discuss what we were doing at our internship. This allowed me to hear about all the other internships that my classmates were involved in and opened my eyes to other career opportunities. The last two weeks of class, we each prepared a 5-minute presentation on our experience at our internship, which was not only informative but interesting.

My music capstone course was a little different from other music majors’ capstone course. In order to accommodate my full-time intern schedule for my arts administration degree, Dr. Schulenburg willingly met with me once a week, at a different time than the rest of the class met, and I would get the assignments and class notes from the rest of the class. In addition to discussing the class material, I got personal one-on-one attention and help with preparing for my senior recital, the major highlight of my whole college experience. Dr. Schulenburg gave me regular lessons on the harpsichord — he even let me use his own harpsichord for my recital — and he coached me in my piano pieces. I am extremely grateful to him for accommodating me so that I was able to complete my double major.

Would you briefly describe your internship experience?

I feel like preparing my senior recital was a bit of my own internship. I put together, performed and marketed the entire thing, and therefore was able to apply aspects from both my majors to help me. It was a ton of extra work and responsibility that needed to be taken care of, but in the end one of the most worthwhile things I have ever done.

My “real” internship, though, was with the League of American Theaters & Producers. It is located at 246 West 47th Street, between Broadway and Eighth Avenue. I think it still hasn’t hit me that I worked in Times Square. I sometimes had to just stop and remind myself, “I’m working in the coolest place on Earth.”

This was the best possible internship for me. I have always had an incredible passion for Broadway. Attending Broadway shows is probably one of my favorite pastimes; there is nothing that makes me cry, laugh or get the chills quite like a good musical. At the League, I was directly involved in promoting the Broadway industry. The league is the national trade association for Broadway shows and touring Broadway companies. Its members include theater owners and operators, producers, presenters and general managers in New York and across North America. Its goal is to strengthen the Broadway community and acknowledge the Broadway brand as one of the strongest generators of revenue for New York City and other cities with live theater industries.

How did you choose — or how were you chosen for — your internship?

I randomly found this internship posting on the livebroadway.com Web site during the 2005-06 winter break. I was doing a lot of Google searching for internship possibilities for the upcoming summer, since I was planning to spend that summer living in Manhattan. The League’s internship came up, and I applied. I interviewed with Rachel Reiner that spring, but did not get the internship. Instead, I got an internship at Central Park SummerStage, a venue that provides free entertainment in Central Park every weekend throughout the summer. At the end of the summer, Ms. Reiner from the League e-mailed me to let me know she was accepting applications again for the fall if I was interested in resubmitting mine. I resubmitted again in October, requesting consideration for the following spring. I went in for an interview in November 2006, and by December I was hired as an intern.

I realized that the second time I interviewed at the League was incredibly different for me. The first time I interviewed, the previous year, I was very quiet and had no prior internship experience. I’m convinced that the confidence and experience I gained through interning at SummerStage won me the internship with the League.

What did you get from your internship? What did you give?
I got networking possibilities. I learned about the hundreds of possible jobs out there for arts administrators. I learned that even though starting salary is nothing in this business, I don’t care, because I want to work on Broadway and I want to move up — where, eventually, I will get a higher salary. I want to earn a higher-paid position, and I want to be directly responsible for things that happen in the Broadway community.

I learned just how important the League of American Theaters & Producers is to Broadway. To be honest, I didn’t really understand what the League did before I started. I had never heard of it before, and all I knew about it came from their Web site.

I gave everything I had to the internship. I was always on time, never abused my lunch breaks, and was always willing to help out my bosses in any way. I completely absorbed myself in the work force and wanted to take in as much information and experience as I could, which I feel I accomplished.

Would you briefly summarize your thesis paper? How/why did you choose that topic?

Dr. Schulenberg helped me pick the top of Beethoven’s pianos. I was not aware of the volume of information available about this interesting topic, or that Beethoven had access to so many kinds of pianos during his lifetime. I became very interested in my topic. The topic was also very appropriate, since I was playing a Beethoven piece for my recital; it helped tie everything together for me. In my paper, I talked about the five main types of pianos that Beethoven had during his life, then highlighted specific pieces he composed when he had each kind of piano, pointing out specific differences and changes throughout his composing career.

What did you learn about your field of study in preparing your thesis?

I learned about Beethoven’s life while also learning the history of the piano, my main instrument. There were a lot of books, Web sites and journals published about my particular topic, and realizing the depth to which some people went on the subject and the studies that some scholars had done was very eye opening for me. I enjoyed reading about music and about this topic and want to continue reading scholarly material written about music.

What did you learn about yourself?

I learned more about myself during my final semester than any other semester at college.

In preparing my thesis, I really enjoyed researching the history of the piano, because it’s a topic that I can directly relate to, being a pianist. Because this research directly related to the piece I was playing for my recital, I also felt especially connected to the piece when I performed it. I learned that researching a piece or song I am preparing to perform makes the performance that much more meaningful to me. I wished that I had done as much research for all the pieces in my recital, although that would have been a huge project.

For the recital, I learned how I have grown as a musician and performer since I started college. I would never have been able to put on my own recital when I began college. I did not have the confidence, repertoire or stamina to do that. I knew since my freshman year, however, that I wanted my senior recital to be one of the highlights of my college career, and since freshman year had been preparing possible selections for it. Accomplishing the feat of preparing my recital was a four-year culmination of work, learning and polishing — a four-year project that will forever remain with me.

At my internship, I learned that I like the 9-to-5 office work-life. I have to admit, because the League opened my eyes to so many amazing jobs that deal with Broadway, I’m a little more confused now than ever about exactly what branch of theater production I want to work in — producing, general managing, marketing, press, the list goes on. I now have the tools and networking skills, though, to figure it out on my own, which is more than I could have asked for.